It’s not you, it’s the Emmys: Voters have reasons for ignoring your show

Disappointment is standard. Elation? Rare, but it happens. Overall, though, the 78th Emmy Awards nominations yielded a typical slate of choices.

That’s a polite way of saying there were few major category surprises — and I realize many “Heated Rivalry” fans may find offensive.

But where are my manners? I’ll start over: Greetings to all you Ilya and Shane shippers, fans of “The Madison” and other loyal subjects of snubbed shows and performers who tuned in to Wednesday’s nominations announcement livestream. Maybe you had high hopes, only to watch them crash against the sky-high cliffs of calcified Television Academy voters’ habits. Maybe, for some reason, you’re newly invested in this whole Emmy nominations business and found the results confusing.

If that’s the case, you are not alone. But you should also know that very few of this year’s nominations qualify as unpredictable. Emmy voters love repeat winners and nominees, which is why most of the categories have a very “the gang’s all here” vibe about them. “The Pitt,” last year’s best drama winner, leads the pack with 25 nominations, including another best actor nod for Noah Wyle. Its HBO Max sibling “Hacks” scored 24 nominations for its fifth season swan song, setting a new record for the top comedy category.

Netflix’s “The Diplomat,” Hulu’s “Paradise” and Apple TV’s “Slow Horses” are repeat best drama nominees, as expected. Joining them are the HBO powerhouses “The Gilded Age” and “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” along with Apple TV’s “Your Friends and Neighbors” and last year’s biggest prestige TV conversation piece, “Pluribus.”

A more recent Apple TV sleeper, “Widow’s Bay,” netted 19 nods – one more than “Pluribus,” which racked up 18.

For twice-nominated stars such as “Widow’s Bay” lead Matthew Rhys (who was also tapped for his work in the limited series “The Beast in Me”) and Nick Offerman (nominated for “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” and the limited series “Death by Lightning”), the 78th Emmy Awards ceremony is already shaping up to be a very nice night.

Ditto for Jason Bateman, who has a best actor limited series nod for “Black Rabbit” and a supporting nom for another limited series, “DTF St. Louis,” as well as Colman Domingo, nominated for “The Four Seasons” and his “Euphoria” guest star appearance, and Laurie Metcalf, who scored a guest actress nod for “Hacks” and a supporting nomination for Netflix’s “Monster: The Ed Gein Story.”

And it’s impossible to find fault with Harrison Ford’s supporting actor in a comedy nomination for his superb work in the recent season of “Shrinking,” or Rob Reiner’s posthumous nomination for his moving comedy guest star turn on “The Bear.” Then again, this places Reiner in competition with “Shrinking” guest stars Michael J. Fox and Brett Goldstein, Hamish Linklater for his work on “Widow’s Bay,” Christopher McDonald for “Hacks” . . . and “Heated Rivalry” sensation Connor Storrie, nominated for his hosting stint on “Saturday Night Live.”

If you’re baffled by that choice, or Michelle Pfeiffer’s comedy supporting nod for “Margo” while getting nothing for carrying “The Madison,” you’re right to have very pointed questions.

Here, then, are a few somewhat informed explanations about (waves hands wildly) all this, although they may not make you feel much better.

Based on the “WE RIDE AT DAWN” tenor of the chat accompanying this morning’s livestream announcements, many people assumed that TV’s biggest cultural phenomenon of the past 12 months would earn some notice from the Television Academy. I don’t mean to snark at your pain when I say this, but that presumption was your first mistake.

It helps to understand who does the nominating. Variety has a meticulous, by-the-numbers breakdown of the process, but mainly what matters is that in 2026, the Television Academy calls on its 24,000 members and splits them into 31 peer groups to vote within their professional field of expertise.

All eligible voters can cast ballots in the top races. And whether it’s the Emmys, the Oscars or other awards bodies that make selections based on the input of hundreds or thousands of industry professionals, there will always be a tendency to reward the familiar as opposed to the fresh. If that familiar show is fronted by a known star and made by people’s friends, it’s even more likely it’ll get some love on nominations day.

Ordinarily, that might explain why “Heated Rivalry” didn’t show up among the 14 major categories’ nominees. But the real reason is much simpler. To qualify for an Emmy, a program must be an American production or co-production, and the first season of Shane and Ilya’s romantic arc is as Canadian as a rich poutine.

With that said, Storrie’s “SNL” nomination is the voters’ way of signaling they’re down to come to the cottage, as it were. If HBO co-produces the second season, “Heated Rivalry” may have a shot in the next nominations round.

Setting one’s expectations as low as the recent ratings for Emmy night telecasts is good practice because the Television Academy is notoriously allergic to change. I’m sure some voters take issue with that characterization, and I’ll concede that the range and variety of nominees have been better in recent years than many others.

Maybe not this year. Look at the best comedy race, for example. “Hacks” is facing off against ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” (again), FX’s “The Bear” (again), Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This,” (again), Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” (are you seeing a pattern here?) and Apple TV’s “Shrinking” (can the choir say: AGAIN-nuh), along with Apple TV’s freshmen “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” and “Widow’s Bay.”

As for the individual acting races, Quinta Brunson from “Abbott” and Ayo Edebiri from “The Bear” are repeat contenders facing Smart alongside Lisa Kudrow from “The Comeback” and “Margo” star Elle Fanning, a recent Oscar nominee, in the best comedy actress category. “Paradise” star Sterling K. Brown and “Slow Horses” lead Gary Oldman are joined by “Task” star Mark Ruffalo and “The Diplomat” co-star Rufus Sewell in taking on Wyle for best drama actor.

The comedy lead actor race is a little more surprising, with 2025 nominees Jason Segel (“Shrinking”) and Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”) facing off against Steve Carell (“Rooster”), 2026 two-time Emmy nominee Matthew Rhys (“Widow’s Bay”) and, in one of this round’s pleasantly astonishing selections, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II of “Wonder Man.”

However, when half or nearly 50% of the supporting nominees for drama are poured into “The Pitt,” that speaks of a lack of creative thinking on the part of voters more than anything else. Out of seven drama supporting actress slots, four went to “The Pitt,” including nods for Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, newcomer Sepideh Moafi and last year’s winner Katherine LaNasa. That ensemble is doing stellar work, but other casts also turned in award-worthy work that was left out of the running.

The recent season of “The Gilded Age,” for one, merits more individual acting notices than the sole nomination for Carrie Coon in the lead actress race. Her competition includes Chase Infiniti (“The Testaments”), Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”), two-time Emmy winner Zendaya (“Euphoria”) and Rhea Seehorn, who should have won for her work on “Better Call Saul” but gets another shot with “Pluribus.”

Only the limited series and anthology series categories are somewhat immune to the malady of sameness: Competing in the top show category are Peacock’s “All Her Fault,” HBO Max’s “DTF St. Louis,” FX’s “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette,” and two from Netflix: “The Beast in Me” and previous category winner “Beef.” (I did say somewhat.)

In the run-up to Emmy nomination morning — and, honestly, at any other time of the year — you may have heard super-producer Taylor Sheridan preemptively flipping the bird at Emmy voters and critics. On a recent episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” he gruffly declared, “You’re not going to win no Emmys with me, but I’m not trying to win Emmys.”

He’s right on both counts. While fans may be upset that Sheridan’s Paramount+ dramas “The Madison” and “Landman” were snubbed, he’s perfectly content to play to the masses on the same level as franchises such as “CSI” and “NCIS,” neither of which has won a major category Emmy. For that matter, “Law & Order: SVU,” the longest-running series in that franchise, has a single Primetime Emmy to its name, won by this year’s host, Mariska Hargitay.

But the creators of those series were never as aggressively dismissive of the industry as Sheridan has been – and not only recently, but for many years. Combine that with the various and very public sins associated with Paramount Skydance Corporation’s owner and Trump ally David Ellison, from the ruination of CBS News and “60 Minutes” to the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to its impending merger with Warner Bros.

If Emmy voters wanted to register their disdain for this administration’s punitive censorship and the dangerous ramp-up of media consolidation, denying honors to one of the faces of Paramount+ is certainly one way to do it.

I mean Sheridan, not “Madison” star Pfeiffer, who secured her shot at gold with her supporting performance in “Margo’s Got Money Troubles.” By the way, that show was created by her husband, David E. Kelley, who is also its showrunner and an executive producer.

Conversely, Colbert’s fandom can take heart in the nine Emmy nods “The Late Show” scored for its final run of episodes. So there’s that.

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Lastly, some omissions are very simple to explain . . .

Like I said, disgruntlement is part of the Emmy nominations tradition – and in some respects, this year spreads it around a little more evenly. Color me less shocked, for instance, that “Task” was left out of the best drama race. At least the voters tapped Tom Pelphrey to take part in the supporting actor contest, alongside Billy Crudup (“The Morning Show“), Carlos-Manuel Vesga (“Pluribus”), Gerran Howell, Shawn Hatosy and Patrick Ball (all from “The Pitt”).

Meanwhile Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Liza Colón-Zayas previously won Emmys for their work on “The Bear.” Not in 2026. I would have loved to see “The Lowdown” get something, but no such luck. Broadcast TV has it worse – its series barely show up in the main categories aside from “Saturday Night Live” and its 11 nominations, “Abbott Elementary,” the late-night talk shows, including Colbert, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” and unscripted stalwarts like CBS’ “Survivor” and ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” Fox is represented by “The Simpsons” and “Bob’s Burgers.”

It’s rough out there. But don’t take it personally on your favorite shows’ behalf, because Emmy voters don’t know or see everything. They’ll probably be looking out for the next season of “Heated Rivalry” regardless of what happens. Everybody needs a feel-good watch.

The 78th Emmy Awards air live on Monday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on NBC and stream on Peacock. 

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