Emmy Awards to Celebrate the ‘Golden Age of Television’
The 2022 Primetime Emmy Award nominations celebrate a wide spectrum of great television, making history in the process
While many predicted nominees missed out on the recognition, some major streaming services pulled in record breaking nominations this year.
July 27, 2022
On July 12, JB Smoove and Melissa Fumero, co-stars of the new Netflix comedy series “Blockbuster,” announced the nominees for the upcoming 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Before they began, Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy, made the important observation that these nominations “reflect only a fraction of the incredible television being made right now.”
This statement proved true, as many predicted nominees ended up missing out on the coveted recognition, including big names such as Selena Gomez and Sadie Sink, who were not nominated in their respective acting categories.
Despite these snubs, both of their series were recognized in other categories. Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” in which Sink stars as high schooler Max Mayfield, received 13 nominations, including in the outstanding drama series category, the night’s highest honor.
Netflix also received 14 nominations for breakout South Korean hit “Squid Game,” the first non-English language series to be nominated in the outstanding drama series category. Actors Lee Jung-jae, Jung Ho-yeon, Park Hae-soo and Oh Young-soo received nominations in their respective categories for their impressive performances in the series, which has already been renewed for a second season.
Gomez’s co-stars, comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short, received nominations in the lead actor in a comedy series category. Their show, “Only Murders in the Building,” also received nominations in the outstanding comedy series category — meaning Gomez, who is credited as an executive producer on the show, is an Emmy nominee. This nomination also made Gomez the third Latina woman in history to be nominated as a producer in the outstanding comedy series category. Despite making history in this way, Martin said he was “dismayed that Selena was not nominated because she’s so crucial to our performances, really.”
In total, the acclaimed Hulu comedy series received 17 nominations, including nominations for Nathan Lane and Jane Lynch in the guest actor and actress, respectively, in a comedy series categories. Other nominations for the series include two outstanding directing for a comedy series nominations for Cherien Dabis and Jamie Babbitt and an outstanding writing for a comedy series nomination for John Hoffman and Steve Martin.
HBO scored big in the limited series categories, with satirical anthology “The White Lotus” pulling in 20 nominations, including outstanding limited or anthology series and eight acting nominations.
“Only Murders in the Building” received the most nominations among Hulu’s eligible shows, followed by limited series “Dopesick,” “Pam and Tommy” and “The Dropout,” with 14, 10 and six nominations, respectively.
All three limited series received lead acting nominations for Michael Keaton (“Dopesick”), Lily James (“Pam and Tommy”), Sebastian Stan (“Pam and Tommy”) and Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”), with many commentators considering Keaton and Seyfried to be strong contenders to win their respective categories.
Hulu’s 56 nominations broke the streaming service’s personal record, previously held by 2018’s haul of 27 nominations, but the studio with the greatest number of nods overall was HBO and its accompanying streaming service, HBO Max.
The network’s leading contender, dramedy “Succession,” also received the most nominations of any series with 25. These nods included two lead actor in a drama series nominations for Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox, three supporting actor in a drama series nominations for Nicholas Braun, Kieran Culkin and Matthew Macfadyen, and a supporting actress in a drama series nomination for Sarah Snook.
Additionally, HBO scored big in the limited series categories, with satirical anthology “The White Lotus” pulling in 20 nominations, including outstanding limited or anthology series and eight acting nominations.
My personal favorite series of the year — HBO’s “Barry” — received 14 nominations, including outstanding comedy series, lead actor in a comedy series (Bill Hader), two supporting actors in a comedy series (Anthony Carrigan and Henry Winkler), outstanding directing for a comedy series (Bill Hader) and two outstanding writing for a comedy series (Bill Hader and Alec Berg; Duffy Boudreau). Writer, director, star and showrunner Bill Hader received four nominations for his work on the show — in addition to a nod in the guest actor in a comedy series category for his appearance on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” — but his co-star Sarah Goldberg was notably absent from the nomination list, despite garnering critical acclaim for her performance in the show.
The first season of “Severance,” a psychological thriller series created by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle, pulled in an impressive 14 nominations.
Despite launching fewer than three years ago, Apple TV+ pulled in a significant nomination haul of 52, largely due to strong contenders “Ted Lasso” and “Severance” in the comedy and drama categories, respectively. The former is the reigning champion in numerous categories, including outstanding comedy series, lead actor in a comedy series (Jason Sudeikis) and supporting actress in a comedy series (Hannah Waddingham). The series received nominations in each of those categories again, culminating in a total of 20 nominations — including an astounding 10 acting nods — for the feel-good comedy.
The first season of “Severance,” a psychological thriller series created by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle, pulled in an impressive 14 nominations, including lead actor in a drama series for Adam Scott, two supporting actor in a drama series for John Turturro and Christopher Walken, and supporting actress in a drama series for Patricia Arquette.
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While streaming services dominated the nomination list, ABC’s breakout school-set hit sitcom “Abbott Elementary” pulled in seven nominations, making creator and star Quinta Brunson the first Black woman to receive nominations for producing, writing and starring in a comedy series. Tyler James Williams, Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph also received supporting acting nominations for their work on the series.
Despite the aforementioned snubs, and many others — one as-of-yet unmentioned example being FX’s “Reservation Dogs,” created by Sterlin Harjo and Academy Award-winner Taika Waititi, which received zero nominations despite winning a Peabody Award and two Independent Spirit Awards earlier in the year — this year’s nomination list largely met expectations, with reigning champions “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” leading the way in nominations, further paving their way to victory at television’s biggest night on September 12.
The full list of nominees can be found here.
