Nominations for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced on July 12. Two days later members of SAG-AFTRA joined writers on the picket lines. This dual strike, finally resolved in November, pushed the Emmys from a September date to Monday night. Which means that this year, the Emmys, which are often late to the game, are really doing the time warp for the 2023 awards.
For one thing, they are being given out in 2024. And because the Emmy eligibility window dates back to the old fall-spring broadcast schedule, the series up for awards Monday night had to have aired between June 2022 and May 2023. Which means that some of the nominated series premiered roughly 19 months ago, and also makes for some weird dissonance between the Emmys and last week’s Golden Globes.
For example, the FX series “The Bear” dominated the musical or comedy category at the Globes — it won best series, the star Ayo Edebiri won a Globe and so did the show’s newly ripped lead, Jeremy Allen White, as Carmy. This was White’s second Globe, and that’s because those awards, which align eligibility to the calendar year, were honoring the stressful comedy’s second season, which aired last June. But the Emmys are still stuck on the even more stressful Season 1, with a Carmy who works out less.
What does it mean to give awards to shows that finished their runs so long ago? Such delays have been more common in recent years because of the coronavirus pandemic, which delayed various editions of the Grammys, Oscars and Golden Globes for months. The 2020 Tonys were pushed back more than a year. But in terms of television, which has kept churning out show after show and season after season even as the picket lines were packed, these postponements can feel more confusing and acute.
For instance, “House of the Dragon,” which premiered in August 2022, is nominated for eight Emmys, including outstanding drama series. (Most of the other nominations were in design categories; the show won for best fantasy or science fiction costumes.) There was a time when this “Game of Thrones” prequel dominated online discourse. (Remember the negroni sbagliato? Maybe not.) But “House of the Dragon,” which won best drama at last year’s Golden Globes, aired its most recent episode almost 15 months ago and has rarely been mentioned since.
Voting for the Emmys took place in August 2023, when some shows were already well in the rearview. That was a year after “Better Call Saul” which has been nominated for 53 Emmys over its six seasons but has yet to win one, aired its final episode. On Monday night, it is up for best drama, writing and acting, for the stars Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn.
“Dead to Me,” which earned Christina Applegate a nomination for outstanding actress in a comedy series, also wrapped more than a year ago. The Emmys will consider Season 5 of “The Crown,” when Princess Diana is still alive, rather than the already concluded (and Globe-awarded) Season 6, in which she is not for most of the episodes. Similarly, the Emmys are assessing Season 2 of “Only Murders in the Building” — there have been more murders and an entire musical since then. And how many more meals has “The Bear” plated since the first season dropped in June 2022?
Television moves fast. Awards are slower entities, and the algorithms are always suggesting something new. By now, many viewers may be wondering “Better Call” … whom? “Dead to” … what? Let’s hope the people in the theater, at least, have good, long memories.
