Nobody really knows what television, or the country, or the planet may look like in a few months, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t Emmy nominations. The announcement was unconventional, and done remotely (of course), but the nominees are very much a mix of the old and the new.
1. Netflix is a giant. Netflix had more nominations than any other network or streaming service—160, ahead of HBO, which was in second place at 107. The highest-ranked broadcast network, NBC, is in third place with 47 nominations, 15 of which are for Saturday Night Live. It’s not just that big dramas like Unbelievable and Stranger Things and The Crown did well. It’s not just that they’re solid in comedy now, with Dead to Me and The Komisky Method, both nominated for outstanding comedy series. It’s also that Netflix, like HBO, is now represented in almost every major category, from variety to reality.
2. Emmy nominations are for Emmy nominees. There’s a lot of repetition in these nominations: Ozark, Stranger Things, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Crown … even as shows (Handmaid’s comes to mind) become a little less buzzy than they used to be, it’s not uncommon for their nominations to continue rolling in.
3. You may not have liked The Morning Show, but these voters did. The star-studded Apple TV+ show about the behind-the-scenes shenanigans at a morning news program didn’t make a huge splash when it came out, despite the presence of stars Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell. But it grabbed eight nominations (two more than the most-nominated broadcast prime-time show, The Good Place), including acting nods for Carell and Aniston, plus supporting actors Billy Crudup and Mark Duplass and guest actor Martin Short.
4. Baby Yoda is no joke. Disney+ didn’t hire as many famous actors for The Mandalorian as Apple did for The Morning Show. But the Star Wars series got 15 nominations, and while many were on the technical and production side, it was also nominated for outstanding drama series, where it will face off against the most “prestigious” shows in television, including Succession, Killing Eve, Better Call Saul, The Crown, Stranger Things, Ozark and The Handmaid’s Tale.