The pessimists view of this years Emmy nominations would start out with the idea that Game of Thrones weakest season just shattered the record for most nods in a single year (32, lapping NYPD Blues 26 in 1994), including writing and directing for the widely-panned series finale. It might then go on to note that Better Things and its creator/star Pamela Adlon were ignored after Adlon was nominated in each of the last two years, or that fantastic performances like Better Call Sauls Rhea Seehorn, GLOWs Alison Brie, and everyone on The Good Place not named Ted Danson continue to be overlooked.
The optimists view would cover basically everything else.
The Thrones steamroller was inevitable. Its the TV phenomenon of our time, in its final season of eligibility. HBO has one of the biggest voting blocs in the entire Television Academy, and several other major contenders like The Handmaids Tale sat out this eligibility window specifically to avoid being burned to ash by Drogon(*). Thirty-two nominations including three of the six drama directing slots and four of the six drama supporting actress slots would feel excessive even for a creatively stronger season, but it also seemed inevitable, given the shows success and the relative lack of competition. (That writing nom for the finale was the shows creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, gaming the system by only submitting one script in the category, knowing theres no way theyd be omitted altogether.)
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(*) In a quirk of the Emmy system, the few Handmaids episodes that aired after last years window closed were eligible this year, and the show picked up a couple of nominations, including for writing and guest star Bradley Whitford.
Thrones did so well in large part because the exciting work in TV over the last year has largely been done in comedies and in limited series. Not coincidentally, the nominations in those areas were far more exciting.
Veep still seems the comedy frontrunner for many of the same reasons as Thrones (HBO, beloved show in final season, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as an inner-circle Hall of Famer who also beat cancer since she last won). But there was also room for thrilling newcomers like Netflixs Russian Doll and Amazons Fleabag (the two best shows of 2019 so far) and their creator/stars Natasha Lyonne and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. (Fleabags support was wide-ranging enough to get supporting actress nominations for Sian Clifford and Olivia Colman, though Colmans recent Oscar win might have helped, too.) The Academy also managed to acknowledge a late-breaking success story like Pops Schitts Creek and its comedy legends Eugene Levy and Catherine OHara. The Good Place finally broke through for a comedy series nod in its third season, and got a writing nomination for the marvelous Janet(s), where DArcy Carden (who announced the nominations but didnt get one herself) played most of her co-stars roles. There was even a writing slot for Anna Ishii-Peters, the heartbreakingly well-observed penultimate episode of Hulus wonderful first-year comedy Pen15. And when you extend things out to animated comedies, BoJack Horseman finally got its first nomination (for the episode-length monologue Free Churro), as did Netflixs sick and sweet Big Mouth (for its episode about Planned Parenthood).
And there was remarkable work to be found throughout the limited series and TV-movie categories. (So much so that Im sad but largely understanding that none of the actors from Deadwood: The Movie were honored, though the film itself was nominated.) Patricia Arquette picked up her expected double nod: lead for Escape at Dannemora, supporting for The Act. When They See Us, Ava DuVernays searing Central Park Five miniseries for Netflix, got 16 nominations. HBOs devastating and inspiring disaster epic Chernobyl did even better, with 16. If Arquette wants to keep her Dannemora win streak alive, shell have to defeat a powerhouse group that includes Sharp Objects Amy Adams, Fosse/Verdons Michelle Williams, her The Act daughter, Joey King, and When They See Us Niecy Nash and Aunjanue Ellis.
Even amid the silly Game of Thrones pile-on, there were impressive choices to be found throughout the drama categories. Pose and its leading man Billy Porter were nominated, though none of the shows trans performers were. The ongoing Seehorn snub is particularly glaring given how virtually everyone else on Better Call Saul got nominated, but that show remains terrific, and maybe theres a chance it or Pose derails some of Thrones momentum when its time to present the actual awards. (And any of those supporting actress nominees would make a deserving winner, no matter how odd it looks for Kit Harington to be nominated as one of the best dramatic lead actors in all of television for his work as Jon Snow.)
Honoring all the great work is damn hard in Peak TV, even when some categories expanded to seven or eight nominees. But given the parameters of what was eligible, what was inevitable, and what was deserving, theres a lot more to cheer than to scoff at. I call that a win.