A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit.
It is finally time to stop watching and start voting, people. Emmy ballots are in hand (or laptop), and if you think this has been a long season, it has actually been longer than that.
I cannot remember a year in the four decades or so that I have been a voting member of the Television Academy where the campaign cycle has been this exhaustive. By my count, I have received at least (I lost track) 450 official invites sent through the TV Academy on behalf of every FYC and event or viewing lineup networks, streamers and studios could dream up. The first one came way back on Jan. 5, for an FYC event for Palm Royale. The most recent one came last Sunday for Wonder Man, both held at the Academy’s Saban Media Center in North Hollywood, which is raking in the dough for these FYC events, usually consisting of an episode screening followed by a panel with stars and creatives and finally a reception with free drinks and food. Or if they aren’t doing an FYC, they are sending out their entire portfolio for digital viewing. There have been hundreds of them. Since May 1 alone, I have received 210 emails from the Academy, either informing me of another FYC event, or viewing program for our digital platform from the various companies with Emmy hopefuls this year. Who can possibly watch all this content???
The list is endless, and of course it includes starry evenings with the likes of Hacks, The Pitt, The Bear, Beef, and on and on with the usual suspects. No show with any Emmy hopes at all will pass up the chance to do one of these events, because the audience (and there are usually turned away crowds) is likely made up from the 24,000-strong membership of the Academy. It is a must do, even for those without such high profiles and big bucks behind their campaigns. I got invites to see such shows as Subway Takes With Kareem Rahman, Michael Cruz Conway: Sorry For Your Loss, League of Legends: World Championship Opening Ceremony, Grandma Stand, Amy’s Dead End Dreamhouse and Balance: A Perimenopause Journey, to name a few with Emmy dreams popping inside their head.
Of course this isn’t free. All these entities pay a fee to get their wares in front of the members. Still, considering the volume of missives from the Academy, I was a little surprised to see that actual submissions, when all was said and shot, were 555 entries in the top 14 program categories. That is down from last year’s 600 or so entries. A look at the ballot in just the program categories (and we all get to vote in those, plus individual branches if you are a member of one of them like I am in the Writers Branch) sees 110 entries for Drama and 71, about even with last year, for Comedy. The sorriest category I see after perusing the ballot is Outstanding TV Movie, once again a mere shell of the prestige category it used to be. The streamers which make the most movies these days generally seem to prefer trying to go for Oscar rather than Emmy, and you can see that from the lack of hot titles. Netflix has one of the best, Remarkably Bright Creatures with Sally Field, and there was some talk about holding that back for Oscars, but instead the decision was made to jump into the Emmy race. Beyond that, it is slim pickings there again, a handful of good films including People We Meet On Vacation and Swiped, but to fill out five choices, it might be tough, unless I go for The Wrecking Crew, A Grand ‘Ol Opry Christmas, Balls Up and Pizza Movie.
Some of the campaigning has been getting a little more inventive this year. The Traitors staged a big fashion show at L.A.’s Trophy Room. Jury Duty: Company Retreat brought food trucks (with hot sauce) to the mall. Just this week, Jimmy Kimmel Live! invited Academy voters to see a taping of the show, not in the actual audience, but next door at the El Capitan Theatre on a live feed, followed by a barbecue with Jimmy and Guillermo (they were in person). Recently, I got an invite to have dinner with the cast of The Madison at a curated farm-to-table meal in Los Angeles. I didn’t make either one but the turnout I understand was strong, and how many chances are you ever going to get to have trout with Michelle Pfeiffer?
By the way, the campaign for Taylor Sheridan’s shows on Paramount+ is especially heavy this year. With genuinely great television programs like The Madison and Landman, could this finally be the year Sheridan breaks through? For some reason, the Academy has never warmed to his enormously popular and exceptionally well-crafted lineup of shows the ways audiences do. There is a reason he is able to attract actors of the highest caliber over and over. Sheridan himself stays out of the limelight, but it seems to me the Academy might take a look before casting that ballot.
Voting is now live with final ballots due June 22 at 10pm.
English (US) ·