72nd Primetime Emmy Awards

On July 28, the nominations for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards were announced. Netflix is king with 160 nominations, which is a new record. Netflix is now the network that has gotten the most nominations in one year. Netflix only had 118 the year prior. HBO is number two with 107 nods this year, dropping from its 137 total in 2019. NBC is third this year with 47 nominations, also falling from last year. ABC is fourth with 36, rising from last year, and FX Networks is fifth with 33. CBS is eighth with 23, falling from last year. FOX is twelfth with 15, also falling a bit from last year.

Several new, streaming networks were launched this past year and they were recognized. Of the new ones, Disney + is ahead with 19 nominations. Apple TV + follows with 18 nods and Quibi is on the board with 10. The majority of Disney +'s recognition is the result of The Mandalorian (2019), which got 15 nods, including Outstanding Drama Series. The Mandalorian is notable for introducing the world to baby Yoda, which made it an instant, Internet smash and perhaps helped to propel it into the top three shows this year.

The Mandalorian follows Netflix's Ozark, which has 18 nominations and HBO's Succession also with 18 nods. Rounding out the eight programs up for Outstanding Drama Series are Better Call Saul, Killing Eve, Stranger Things, The Crown and The Handmaid's Tale. Netflix has three dogs in the fight, that of Ozark, Stranger Things and The Crown. They might cancel each other out. Better Call Saul is critically beloved but has been nominated every year for the past five year and has won nothing. The Handmaid's Tale has won before but has not gotten much buzz this year that I saw. Killing Eve could pull an upset over Succession, which is leading in some predictions.

The other major category is Outstanding Comedy Series. There are also eight entries here. They are HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm and Insecure, Netflix's Dead to Me and The Kominsky Method, Pop TV's Schitt's Creek, NBC's The Good Place, Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and FX's What We Do in the Shadows. With 20 nominations total, the most for any comedy this year, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel leads the pack. It won before in this category and most likely will do so again. However, predictions say Schitt's Creek will win with its 15 nominations, the second-most for any comedy.

What gives Schitt's Creek a bit of an advantage is because this season was its last for which it got a bit of buzz. That translated to the show's creator and featured actor, Dan Levy who got three nominations this year, for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series. Levy also represents what television, especially television of the past decade has done best, which is promote diversity. Levy is openly gay. When it comes to diversity, Levy is one of the few representing the LGBTQ community.

However, the headline this year has to be HBO's Watchmen, which garnered 26 nominations, making it the most-nominated program this year. The series featured a cast, half of whom were African-American and spotlighted a key event in Black history, that of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. In fact, 4 out of the 6 acting nominations for Watchmen are Black actors, including Regina King for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jovan Adepo and Louis Gossett Jr. for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series. Adepo and Gossett were even nominated for playing the same character, a gay or possibly bisexual, black super-hero. 

Speaking of Black and the LGBTQ community, other actors were recognized for playing Black and LGBTQ characters. Andre Braugher is nominated again for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. This is his fourth time for his character, Raymond Holt on NBC's Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Wanda Sykes is nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role of Moms Mabley in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Billy Porter is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role, Pray Tell on FX's Pose. Samira Wiley is nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for playing Moira Strand on The Handmaid's Tale. Ron Cephas Jones is up for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for playing William Hill in NBC's This Is Us. Laverne Cox is up for Outstanding Guest Actress for playing Sophia Burset in Orange is the New Black. Jeremy Pope is up for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for playing Archie Coleman in Netflix's Hollywood. Kerry Washington is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for playing Mia Warren in Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere. Tituss Burgess is up for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Seriess for playing Titus Andromedon in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs. The Reverend. RuPaul was nominated for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program for his role in VH1's RuPaul's Drag Race. Karamo Brown was nominated in the same category for his role in Netflix's Queer Eye and Nicole Byer was also nominated in that same category for Netflix's Nailed It. That's over a dozen nominations for Black, LGBTQ representation.

Brown and Byer are first-time Emmy nominees this year. Yet, they're not alone. There are quite of few people of color who are first-time nominees at the Emmys. Abdul-Mateen II and Adepo are the two from Watchmen. Pope from Hollywood is another who was mainly known from his work on Broadway. Corey Hawkins also comes from Broadway like Pope, having also been up for a Tony Award. Hawkins is up here for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama for his role in Quibi's Survive. Jasmine Cephas Jones who is also known from Broadway, specifically the hit musical Hamilton, is also new to the Emmys. She's also the daughter of Emmy-nominee Ron Cephas Jones. She was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama for her role in Quibi's #FreeRayshawn. Stephan James (Race and Selma) is also a first-time nominee and he played opposite Jasmine Cephas Jones in #FreeRayshawn. James' fellow nominee in that category who is also a first-timer is Mamoudou Athie for his role in Hulu's Oh Jerome, No.

Jones is not the only Hamilton star to be a first-time Emmy nominee. Leslie Odom Jr. is nominated for Outstanding Character Voice-Over for his role in AppleTV's Central Park. Recent Oscar-winner Taika Waititi is up in the same category for his role in The Mandalorian. Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o is for Outstanding Narrator for Discovery Channel's Serengeti. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is nominated in the same category for History's Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution. Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer is also a first-time Emmy nominee for her role in Netflix's Self Made: Inspired By the Life of Madam C.J. Walker.

Two of the the most impressive first-time Emmy nominees would have to be Ramy Youssef and Zendaya. Youssef's show Ramy on Hulu has been great at pushing forward Muslim representation on American television, which right now is sorely lacking. His show presents a Muslim family with nuance, complexity, compassion and humor that is rare for such a family. Youssef won the Golden Globe earlier in the year, much to even his surprise, but it paved the way for a fantastic second season, which included Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali who is also nominated this year for his role in Ramy. Zendaya is a former child actress who exploded on the scene with prominent roles in two hit films in the same year, that of Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and The Greatest Showman (2017). This past year, she took notice in the provocative HBO series Euphoria.

Notable names include Sterling K. Brown who is a double acting nominee for his roles in This Is Us and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Giancarlo Esposito is also a double acting nominee for his roles in Better Call Saul and The Mandalorian. Dave Chappelle is a double nominee for his two comedy specials and Angela Bassett is a double nominee, one for acting in HBO's A Black Lady Sketch Show and one for being a narrator in Disney +'s The Imagineering Story. Maya Rudolph is a triple acting nominee for her roles in The Good Place, Saturday Night Live in which she played Kamala Harris and Big Mouth. Shout out to Rain Valdez, one of two transgender nominees this year.