The Television Academy’s decision to change the formula for the number of nominations in each category may have benefited artisans and below-the-line talent in the shows more.
While the number of comedy and drama nominees expanded to eight, all the other categories had to rely on a count of submissions to determine how many slots they had. For most supporting artist categories, that also meant an expansion to eight. However, most of the categories that were already in six stayed there.
In some cases, the new rule actually meant the loss of a nominee: In variety talks, because there were only 24 submissions, the race went from six to five slots, forcing the expulsion of “The Late Late Show with James Corden. ” In the variety sketch and children’s show, the number of nominees was reduced to just three, due to a negligible number of participants.
But many of the craft categories, which in the past were limited to five nominations, garnered a few more spots thanks to the sheer number of submissions. Editing single-camera images for a dramatic series category, for example, jumped to eight nods. Categories that expanded to seven nominees included contemporary costumes, major title design, and music supervision. Many more were able to add one more nomination, five to six, including various categories of casting, hairstyle, makeup, and sound editing.
However, not all expanded categories resulted in more nominated shows. In the comedy writing career, four shows spanned the seven expanded slot machines (including three winks for “What We Do in the Shadows” and two for “Schitt’s Creek”). The same thing happened in drama writing, where “Ozark” took three out of seven places, and “Better Call Saul” got two.
Here are more oddities and trivia behind this year’s Emmy races:
FROM THE MOON TO THE EMMYS: When Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins filmed their escapes to Apollo 11 in 1969, did they think they would get a Primetime Emmy nomination for him in 2020? Probably not. But Aldrin and Collins were nominated in film for a non-fiction program category, for CNN’s “Apollo 11”.
FOR BETTER OR WORSE: For the second consecutive year, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino, married executive producers of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” will face each other in the comedy directing category, where they will face different episodes.
VOICE CHANGES: After much discussion about underrepresentation among animated TV voices, this year’s voiceover category represented a major evolution: Four of the six nominees are artists of color. Maya Rudolph (“Big Mouth”), Leslie Odom Jr. (“Central Park”), Wanda Sykes (“Crank Yankers”) and Taika Waititi (“The Mandalorian”) were shortlisted with two stars from “The Simpsons” Nancy Cartwright and Hank Azaria (whose list credits no longer include Apu, the character he said helped to spark the conversation). Coincidentally, Rudolph and Sykes also clash in the field of the comedy guest actress. Separately, four of the five narrator nominees are black: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Angela Bassett, and Lupita Nyong’o. (David Attenborough is the fifth nominee.)
MULTI-LOVE: Multi-camera comedies don’t get much love at Emmys these days, but there are two categories you can trust: cinematography for a multi-camera series, where this year “Bob Hearts Abishola”, “Family Reunion”, “The Ranch” and “Will & Grace” confront; and multi-camera image editing for a comedy series, where “The Conners”, “One Day at a Time” and two episodes of “Will & Grace” are in the mix.
POSITIVE ADDRESS: Four of the six nominees for a limited series / motion picture / dramatic special director are women: the late Lynn Shelton (“Little Fires Everywhere”), Maria Schrader (“Unorthodox”), Nicole Kassell (“Watchmen”) and Steph Green (“Watchers”).
HAIR APPARATUS: It feels perfectly that the ambitious episode “Black-ish” “Hair Day”, which delved deep into the complex subject of black hair, earned the show a nomination in the category of contemporary hairstyles.
PROPER AGE: Norman Lear has broken his own record as the oldest Emmy nominee in TV Academy history. Lear, who just turned 98 on July 27, got a second consecutive wink for “Live in Front of a Studio Audience.” (Because the nominations were made in early 2019, he was 96 years old, making him two years older than the last time he was nominated.)
BRIEFLY: Sometimes stars take an unusual route to land their first Emmy gesture. Take Brie Larson, for example, who has not been nominated as a performer, but has just earned her first Emmy nomination in the original interactive show category as producer of Oculus’ “The Messy Truth VR Experience”.
APPLE, MEET APPLE, MEET APPLE: How many apples are there? With the launch of Apple TV Plus, there are now three different versions of Apple nominated for this year’s Emmys. Apple TV Plus’ inaugural year garnered 18 nominations, earning it the most nominations for shows and performances for a streaming service in its first year, including five acting nominations for “The Morning Show” and six shows overall. Meanwhile, Apple Music received another nod to “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” in the short form variety series category. And then there is the “Bounce” commercial for Apple AirPods, which was nominated for Outstanding Commercial. While that nomination is credited to Pulse Films and TBWA Media Arts Lab, it is an Apple product. (Amazon Prime Video’s mother Amazon also received a commercial nomination, for “Before Alexa,” from Somesuch x Revolver / Will O’Rourke and the advertising agency Droga5 London.)
REGISTRATION-ISH: “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson’s sixth consecutive nomination for leading comedy actor makes him the most-nominated black actor in the same-role category, a record previously held by “Benson” star Robert Guillaume . (Don Cheadle also won his sixth leading actor in a comedy nomination this year, for “Black Monday.” His main comedy scripts are divided between “Black Monday” and “House of Lies”.)
LITERALLY NAILED IT: Speaking of making history, “Nailed It” star Nicole Byer became the first black woman to be nominated for Outstanding Host for a competition or reality show category.
QUICK BITE OF THE BIG: FX Networks CEO John Landgraf was probably cheering on Tuesday when his company garnered 33 nominations, up from 32 last year. But he also had reason to celebrate Quibi’s tour: As an executive producer on the Reno 911 revival of the mobile transmitter (a relic from his days as boss of Jersey Television), he earned a nomination in the short drama or comedy category.
LATE NIGHT, PART 2: The short form variety category continues to serve as an extension of the variety talk career, such as spin-offs “Beeing at Home with Samantha Bee”, “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” (from “The Late Late Show with James Corden “) and” Jimmy Kimmel’s Quarantine Mini-Pilots “all together, along with” Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: The Movie, Sorta’s Uncut Interviews “and” The Randy Rainbow Show “. In short non-fiction or reality series, the “Pandemic Video Diaries” in “Full Front” and “Between Scenes” in “The Daily Show” also received nominations.
UNTOUCHABLE: With 15 new, “Saturday Night Live” has now extended its number of lifetime nominations to 285, well ahead of second place “Game of Thrones” (161). The next two shows, “ER” and “Cheers”, have also been gone, ensuring that “SNL” will continue to fly well ahead of the rest. Executive producer Ditto “SNL” Lorne Michaels, whose 90 career names add to his leadership over Sheila Nevins (77). Nevins, however, remains the most winning individual in Emmy history, at 31 years old.
COVID CONTAINERS: The coronavirus pandemic came late in this year’s eligibility period, but its impact can also be seen in the nominations. In addition to the aforementioned “Beeing At Home,” “Pandemic Video Diaries,” and “Quarantine Minilogues,” there is “Amy Schumer Learns to Cook,” a show that came out of quarantine and now has a nod to unstructured reality; and “When We Stayed Home,” a nominee for the interactive show that chronicles empty cities during quarantine. Then there is Brad Pitt, a guest comedy actor nominated for playing Dr. Anthony Fauci in “SNL”.
THE RETURN OF FERN: “Between Two Ferns with Zack Galifianakis” was a staple in the short-form categories when they were first presented: it earned nominations in 2013, 2014 and 2015 in the short-form live-action entertainment program category and won in 2014 for an episode with President Barack Obama and in 2015 for one with Brad Pitt. But after that, the rules changed, and only the series were eligible, leaving unique videos like “Ferns” excluded. But in 2020, the digital series of uncut interviews “Between Two Ferns with Zack Galifianakis: The Movie, Sorta Uncut Interviews”, which was posted on Netflix is a prank channel on YouTube as well as on FunnyOrDie.com, was eligible, and “Between Two Ferns” is back in the Emmy, nominated for short variety series.
FIRST TIMERS CLUB: In addition to new streamers like Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus and Quibi, all newcomers to the Emmy career include Epix, which garnered its first four nominations: three for “Laurel Canyon” and one for “Godfather of Harlem.” Also, in the new world order, in its first round as the newly formed ViacomCBS Entertainment & Youth Group, the division led by Chris McCarthy garnered 41 Emmy (nominated for 15 for Pop TV’s “Schitt’s Creek”). And in its first full year of eligibility after the merger with 20th Century Fox, the robust new Walt Disney Co. promoted 145 Emmy nominations, including a rare increase in the ABC broadcast (36, up from 26 last year). ). Top stars with their first winks included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (“Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution”), Cate Blanchett (“Mrs. America”), Lupita Nyong’o (“Serengeti”), Octavia Spencer (“Self Fact: inspired by the life of Mrs. CJ Walker “), Taika Waititi (” The Mandalorian “) and Cristoph Waltz (” Most Dangerous Game “).
THE WINNERS: In addition to Rudolph, who garnered two guest actress nods (“The Good Place” and “SNL” as well as her voiceover nom), Daniel Levy of “Schitt’s Creek” is this year’s triple crossover threat, nominating for supporting comedy actor, comedy director, and comedy writing. (He also received a fourth nomination as part of the producing team for “Schitt’s Creek”, nominated for Best Comedy.) Then there is Kerry Washington, who was nominated as a producer in three different categories (limited series, TV movies, and live specials), as well as being the lead actress in a limited series / TV movie for “Little Fires Everywhere.” Double nominees in major categories include Jason Bateman, Sterling K. Brown, Ramy Youssef, Giancarlo Esposito, Angela Basset, and Sykes.
Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly stated that Anthony Anderson was the most nominated black actor in the leading actor category for comedy. Anderson is the most nominated for a single role, a record previously held by “Benson” star Robert Guillaume. Don Cheadle also earned his sixth nomination in the category, his second for “Black Monday,” in addition to his four nominations for “House of Lies.”
