Jay-Z and Beyoncé are in an Emmy State of Mind. Let’s just hope the power couple stays Drunk in Love even after this year’s competition, where they’re competitors in the outstanding variety special (live) category.
Jay-Z, under his real name Shawn Carter, is among the executive producers nominated for Fox’s “The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar,” which earned four nods total. Beyoncé is up for Netflix’s “Beyoncé Bowl” as executive producer and performer (billed as Beyoncé Knowles-Carter); that Christmas event also landed four nods.
Perhaps Jesse Collins can keep the peace. Not only is Jesse Collins Entertainment once again producing this year’s Emmy telecast, but the company was part of both the Kendrick Lamar halftime show and the Beyoncé event. On Emmy night in the production truck, Collins is likely to face 99 problems — hopefully this isn’t one.
That’s just one of this year’s slices of Emmy nomination trivia and oddities, some of which have been well-documented already. “Matlock” star Kathy Bates, at 77, is now the oldest person ever to receive a best actress nomination, while “Saturday Night Live” star Bowen Yang just scored his fourth nod — the most ever for an Asian actor. Also, Apple TV+’s “The Studio” just became the most-nominated freshman comedy in history, with 23 — which also ties “The Bear” (which last year also earned 23) for most comedy nods ever.
Here is a roundup of a few more odd, unusual and just plain unique— but mostly trivial — takeaways from this year’s nominations:
BELATED ACTING KUDOS: “American Graffiti” came out in 1973, and among its enduring stars were Ron Howard and Harrison Ford (in a brief, but breakout role). It took 52 years, but both actors finally scored their first-ever acting Emmy nominations this year. Howard, 71, grew up on television (“Andy Griffith Show,” “Happy Days”) — yet he finally received an Emmy nod in comedy guest actor, for playing a version of himself on “The Studio.” Ford has been focused on film most of his career, but has more recently turned to TV, and at 83, he’s getting some of the best reviews of his career for “Shrinking.” For that show, he was rewarded with a comedy supporting actor nod — making him the second-oldest person ever in the category.
NOMINEE OVERACHIEVER: Jimmy Kimmel is one busy star. He and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” were once again nominated in outstanding talk, but then Kimmel also earned nods for outstanding short form comedy, drama or variety series (“The Rabbit Hole With Jimmy Kimmel”) and outstanding game show and outstanding game show host (“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”).
Among other multi-hyphenates: Quinta Brunson (comedy lead actress and comedy writing for “Abbott Elementary”), Ayo Edebiri (comedy lead actress and comedy directing for “The Bear”), Seth Rogen (comedy lead actor, comedy directing, comedy writing for “The Studio”), Michelle Williams (limited lead actress and limited series for “Dying for Sex”), Colin Farrell (limited lead actor and limited series for “The Penguin”), Stephen Graham (limited lead actor and limited series for “Adolescence”), Julianne Nicholson (drama supporting actress for “Paradise,” comedy guest actress for “Hacks”) and Catherine O’Hara (comedy supporting actress for “The Studio,” drama guest actress for “The Last of Us”).
EMMY ANXIETY: Rising superstar Doechii isn’t nominated this year, but she had quite a hand in helping others get their nods. Nike’s nominated commercial “So Win.” features Doechii’s narration, while the 67th Grammys landed a choreography for variety or reality programming nod for Doechii’s musical performance on the kudocast.
STARS, THEY WRITE JUST LIKE US: Among this year’s comedy writing nominees, nearly every nominated show includes a nominated writer who’s also on camera: Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Paul W. Downs (along with Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky, “Hacks”), Nathan Fielder (along with Carrie Kemper, Adam Locke-Norton and Eric Noarnicola, “The Rehearsal”), Bridget Everett (along with Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, “Somebody Somewhere”) and Seth Rogen (along with Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory, “The Studio”). That leaves just “What We Do in the Shadows” (no performer, but Sam Johnson, Sarah Naftalis and Paul Simms do a fine job writing).
“SNL’s” MIXED BAG: As a standalone program, “Saturday Night Live” scored just seven nominations this year — its lowest tally since 2008. But because of the sheer amount of 50th anniversary fare surrounding “SNL” this year, the franchise actually picked up a grand total of 31 — a best-ever for the “SNL” industrial complex. That was thanks to 12 for “SNL50: The Anniversary Special,” six for “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert,” three for the docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” two for the doc “Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music” and one for the tech entry “SNL 50th The Anniversary Special: Immersive Experience.”
TV ACADEMY GETS META: In a year where A.I. dominates the conversation, the Emmys’ emerging media program category didn’t include much of a vibrant choice: All three nominees come from Meta. Besides “SNL 50th The Anniversary Special: Immersive Experience,” that included “Impulse: Playing With Reality” and “Shawn Mendes: Red Rocks Live in VR.” The “SNL” and Shawn Mendes entries were for Meta Quest; “Impulse” was a partnership between Meta, France Télévisions and others. Last year, Meta had four of the five nominees.
MAKING UP IS HARD TO DO: “The Last of Us,” “The Penguin” and “The Pitt” all managed to double dip in the contemporary make-up fields, picking up nominations for both contemporary makeup (non-prosthetic) and contemporary makeup (prosthetic).
SATURDAY NIGHT LYRICS: Two “SNL” alum will face off in the original music and lyrics category: Adam Sandler is among the nominees for the track “Adam Sandler’s Song: 50 Years,” which he performed on the “SNL50: The Anniversary Special.” He’s up against Kristen Wiig, who helped write the music and lyrics to “Harper and Will Go West,” a song from the Netflix documentary “Will & Harper,” starring another “SNL” alum, Will Farrell.
MOST AWKWARD NOMINATIONS OF THE YEAR: You may recall “The White Lotus” creator Mike White and composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer had quite a falling out this year over the direction of the show’s Season 3 theme and music. Tapia de Veer has quit the show prior to Season 4, citing creative disagreements with White, which he spilled to the New York Times. White responded on “Howard Stern” that he thought Tapia de Veer’s decision to talk to the paper right before the Season 3 finale was “kind of a bitch move.” Either way, Tapia de Veer scored noms for original main title theme music and music composition for a series (original dramatic score). Maybe Emmy noms can heal old wounds?
THE RETURN OF FICTIONAL CHARACTERS: In recent years, the increase in dramas depicting real-life events has led to the limited/anthology acting fields to be filled with actors portraying real people. Not this year: The only three Emmy-nominated depictions of true individuals all came from Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”: Cooper Koch (as Erik Menendez), Javier Bardem (as Jose Menendez) and Chloë Sevigny (as Kitty Menendez).
NAME GAME: Among all nominated performers this year, comedy guest star nominee Cynthia Erivo (“Poker Face”) leads with the most credited character names: “Cynthia Erivo as Amber Kazinsky / Bebe Kazinsky / Cece Kazinsky / Delia Kazinsky / Felicity Price / Fauxlicity (Amber) / Fake Delia (Amber).”
STACKED FIELD: Imagine being nominated in the outstanding narrator category, where your competition is the king of narration, Sir David Attenborough (“Planet Earth: Asia”), former President Barack Obama (“Our Oceans”) and American treasure Tom Hanks (“The Americas”). Oh, the other two have cool British accents too: Idris Elba (“Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color”) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Octopus!”). That’s quite a face-off.
THE COMEDY WHISPERER: He may not be a household name, but John Irwin knows what he’s doing when it comes to stand-up comedy specials. Irwin is nominated for three of the variety special (pre-recorded) entries as an executive producer: “Adam Sandler: Love You,” “Ali Wong: Single Lady” and “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze.” Five of the six nominees in the field come from Netflix, so it’s hardly a joke.
TALK CONSOLATION PRIZE: With just three slots open for the outstanding talk series Emmy nomination, there wasn’t much room to squeeze in. Luckily, there’s also the short form comedy, drama or variety series category, and Seth Meyers landed there for “Late Night With Seth Meyers Corrections,” and Jimmy Fallon is there with “The Tonight Show Commercial Break.”
LIFE AFTER LATE NIGHT: And it’s not over even if you’re out of late night. Just ask Conan O’Brien and David Letterman, both of whom are in the running for outstanding hosted nonfiction series or special. Well, sorta. Letterman doesn’t like to put his name up for consideration, so he’s not actually listed among the producers on Netflix’s “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman,” but that show, with his name in the title, scored a nod, as did HBO Max’s “Conan O’Brien Must Go.”
FYC GETS PERSONAL: Not only do they work hard at making sure Netflix’s programming is recognized come awards time, but Netflix awards execs Kelly Caton and Nyle Washington are now Emmy nominees themselves. In the shortform nonfiction or reality series category, Caton is supervising producer, and Washington is producer on the nominated “Adolescence: The Making Of Adolescence.”
DIRECTING HISTORY: Jessica Lee Gagné is the first woman to be nominated in both the categories of cinematography for a series (one hour) and directing for a drama series, via “Severance.”
TV MOVIE ISLAND: For four of the five television movie nominees (“Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” “Mountainhead,” “Nonnas,” “Rebel Ridge”), that’s its only nomination. For the fifth, “The Gorge,” it’s one of just two.
NEWBIES: It’s quite a list of first-time nominees this year, including some A-list names, as we mentioned above. That includes Javier Bardem (“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”), Ike Barinholtz (“The Studio”), Kristen Bell (“Nobody Wants This”), Adam Brody (“Nobody Wants This”), Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Owen Cooper (“Adolescence”), Erin Doherty (“Adolescence”), Colin Farrell (“The Penguin”), Harrison Ford (“Shrinking”), Scott Glenn (“The White Lotus”), Stephen Graham (“Adolescence”), Jake Gyllenhaal (“Presumed Innocent”), Shawn Hatosy (“The Pitt”), Jeff Hiller (“Somebody Somewhere”), Robby Hoffman (“Hacks”), Jason Isaacs (“The White Lotus”).
Also: Cooper Koch (“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”), Zoë Kravitz (“The Studio”), Katherine LaNasa (“The Pitt”), Britt Lower (“Severance”), Anthony Mackie (“The Studio”), Cristin Milioti (“The Penguin”), Ruth Negga (“Presumed Innocent”), Deirdre O’Connell (“The Penguin”), Tom Segura (“Bad Thoughts”), Chloë Sevigny (“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”), J.K. Simmons (“Die Hart: Hart to Kill”), Jenny Slate (“Dying for Sex”), Tramell Tillman (“Severance”), Christine Tremarco (“Adolescence”), Michael Urie (“Shrinking”), Ashley Walters (“Adolescence”) and Aimee Lou Wood (“The White Lotus”).
variety.com
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