The 2024 Emmy nominations were announced Wednesday. New York Times television critics James Poniewozik and Margaret Lyons discussed who made it and who didn’t, why the Emmy categories are becoming increasingly irrelevant, and which nominations made them smile.
JAMES PONIEWOZIK Happy Emmy Day, Margaret! It seems like we’re talking about the Emmys—which we sort of were, since the most recent awards were handed out in January due to a strike delay.
This pause in the strike, coupled with the recent axing of some marquee shows like “Succession,” may have something to do with one of this year’s big trends: The cupboard is looking a little bare. There’s a lot of pretty good (dare I say average?) TV on the charts, but not a lot of great shows. (We can discuss the exceptions, though: I’m very happy to see “Reservation Dogs” getting recognized.)
Still, there are just a lot of awards, so there’s always something to talk about. It was a big year for “The Bear” in comedy (or is it?) and “Shogun” in drama (I really felt like it was a miniseries when I saw its story end). I feel like there’s been a lot more talk this year about categorization and category games, but let me know what you think.
MARGARET LYONS The categories are unreadable and increasingly absurd. What would we gain by putting, say, “Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr.” in competition with “How To With John Wilson”? The mix of talk and variety is boring, and the category game between “The Bear” and “Shogun” seems, if not pathetic, at least a little stupid! The Emmys rise and fall in legitimacy, and I wonder if it’s even possible for an awards format structured like this to retain any meaning as television itself becomes more flexible and its genres more porous.
PONIEWOZIK Yes, the solution to eliminating arbitrary divisions into categories would be… not to have them. Just have the best show! The best cinematography! The best direction! Unless we resurrect Aristotle to fix this, I think any suggestion of changing it (sorting shows by length? cable or streaming? weight class?) would just lead to more nonsense. But the Emmys exist to give out Emmys, and I suppose reducing their number would be like a Hollywood campaign about cutting welfare.
But whether or not Shogun is a drama series, it at least managed to break through what was shaping up to be a pretty weak category. While I would have hoped it would have left room for the excellent “The Sympathizer” as a miniseries, this series was only noted for its weakest aspect, the repeated casting of Robert Downey Jr.
LYON Jim, free your mind from the shackles of “best”! My dream would be for the Emmys to reward excellence, regardless of the quality present in a given year. If five great dramas blow us all away, then five great dramas will get Emmys; if everyone is average, we’ll try again next year. Think of it as a higher but broader standard. It’s never going to happen – but then again, I thought the Emmys would never wake up to Matt Berry’s performance in “What We Do in the Shadows,” and I’m glad I was wrong.
PONIEWOZIK Margaret, I just want to hear Matt Berry’s acceptance speech. He doesn’t even have to win, he could do Jeremy Allen White’s if necessary!
There were plenty of things that made me smile on this list. The wonderful animated series “Scavengers Reign” may have been cut short for Max, but the Emmys didn’t forget him. D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai broke into the comedy category for the final season of “Reservation Dogs” (even though Devery Jacobs should have done the same). And everyone applauds Alan Cumming’s nomination as a reality TV host, a hilarious Shakespearean peacock in “The Traitors.”
LYON In addition to “Scavengers,” I was thrilled to see “Blue Eye Samurai” get a nomination — a gorgeous, violent historical epic that will be competing with “Bob’s Burgers” because, again, the Emmy categories suck.
I was also thrilled to see the documentary miniseries “Telemarketers” nominated; it was one of my favorites last year, a show that tackled multiple topics at once without being muddled or unfocused. I also loved John Early’s special “Now More Than Ever,” which is nominated for best writing for a variety show, a category that also includes the Oscars.
I am perplexed by the lack of recognition that “The Righteous Gemstones” receives. Who do you think is missing?
PONIEWOZIK I have a few snobs, too. But I guess if I’m going to complain about what should have been on a list, I have to say what I’d take away to make room. Only life can pay for life. So: Put the inventive “I’m a Virgo” on the list of outstanding comedies and remove the period satire “Palm Royale.” Replace Jharrel Jerome from “Virgo” with any of Larry David, Steve Martin or Martin Short. (You’re national treasures! You don’t need that!) Replace the whimsical mediocrity of “The Gilded Age” with the embarrassing horror of “The Curse.”
And then there are the surprises. “Elsbeth” was such a jam-packed program for A-list guest stars that I expected it to get a bunch of nominations, like Linda Lavin or Jane Krakowski. And speaking of “The Curse,” no Emma Stone? Does the TV awards’ deference to movie stars count for nothing anymore?
LYON It’s crazy that “The Curse” didn’t do well and I’m also shocked that “Expats” did the same. I found Lulu Wang’s direction to be mind-blowing.
If there was one show this year that was undeniable, it was “Baby Reindeer,” and it did indeed garner a ton of nominations.
PONIEWOZIK “Baby Reindeer” was what I wanted more of this year—something that would grab me and wake me up all at once.
Instead, it felt like half a season of television, and I can only be half-passionate about this Emmy list. Like Randy Jackson of “American Idol,” I don’t blame him. Most of the good stuff got recognized. “The Bear” may be a comedy, a drama — it’s the tasty cannoli of television — but it was one of the best. watch of the season. (Keep in mind, we’re talking about the glorious Season 2, not the pared-down Season 3.) Ultimately, that’s what matters, not how you arrange the menu.