The Biggest 2021 Emmy Nominations Surprise Is: They Aren’t That Bad!

I was ready to be angry with the 2021 Emmy nominations, full of ire over snubs and railing against the systemic problems of this corrupt awards body down to its very categories. But in truth, the 2021 nominations actually aren’t that bad. The major categories have a few good surprises mixed in with the usual nonsense, and as you get into Supporting and Guest actors things get fairly rote and boring, sure. But on the whole, the 2021 Emmys looks like won’t be horrifically offensive to television. That’s progress!

Having said that, the Emmys are still a problem. The awards aren’t necessarily a celebration of great television so much as a chess game that ends with arm wrestling. Networks and publicists and sometimes actors themselves are extremely careful about what they submit for, and where. What, truly, is the difference between a limited series that is later renewed for Season 2, or a series that is cancelled after one season? These are the meditations of madness that we must continue to consider, because of Emmy games.

Perhaps the Emmy voters were on point more this year, though, because there was simply a lot less television. The 2021 awards, more than 2020, are the true COVID-19 Emmys. The eligibility period ends in May, which means that in 2020, TV production was only just starting to ramp down because of precautions and restrictions. The 2021 nominations were more affected by the full result of pandemic shutdowns: fewer shows, fewer returning shows, few series (versus limited, once again the most competitive category).

If there is one positive way to describe these nominations, it’s that they are For the People. Cobra Kai! The Mandalorian! Ted Lasso! Bridgerton! WandaVision! The Boys! These series were all big, popular hits that were also indeed very good. The Emmys are rarely snobby (to a fault), but this year there does seem to be an uptick in shows that viewers-at-large did actually watch and enjoy and will feel some investment in.

But the other reality is that a lot of Emmy outcomes are based simply on who controls the most voters or has the budget to push for nominations—there is a ton of money spent hawking “For Your Considerations” throughout the year. HBO, historically, has had a major Emmy voting bloc (HBO/Max received the most nominations this year with 130), and Netflix has muscled in hard to that scene (Netflix had the second-most nominations with 129). But when you step outside of individual networks, another more corporate picture emerges: The Walt Disney Company—which owns ABC, Disney+, Freeform, FX, Hulu, and National Geographic—came out with 146 total nominations. (Also of note, Quibi, a dead platform whose originals now air on Roku, got 8 nominations while PBS only got 3. Distressing.)