Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast Roundtable Dissects the Emmy Nominations — Including This Year’s Biggest Shockers

It’s a “Severance” world. The Apple TV+ series dominated this year’s Emmy nominations with 27 nods, and despite the show’s critical and ratings acclaim, Variety‘s Awards Circuit podcast hosts were still taken aback.

“Huge,” said Variety chief awards editor Clayton Davis. “I don’t think I even thought that much. That is more than ‘Shōgun’ last year.”

Davis was joined by Variety executive editor, TV, Michael Schneider, as well as senior TV features editor Emily Longeretta and senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay for the Awards Circuit Roundtable. Listen below!

The quartet also looked at some of the other big news from this week’s nods, including another Apple TV+ powerhouse, “The Studio,” which led all comedies with 23.

“We all knew ‘The Studio’ was going to do well, but I didn’t expect that,” said Longeretta. Schneider noted that it was helped by sheer dominance in the comedy guest actor category, where five of the six nominees were from the show: Bryan Cranston, Dave Franco, Ron Howard, Anthony Mackie and Martin Scorsese. Of that crop, only Cranston played a character other than himself.

“If you guested on ‘The Studio,’ then you better have gotten a nomination or there’s something wrong with you,” Schneider quipped.

Among some of this year’s snubs and surprises, the group was taken aback by so little Emmy love for the final season of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” including the lack of a nod for star and exec producer Elisabeth Moss. And then there was the complete absence of any noms for Netflix’s “Squid Game.”

“The shock of that because it was, viewership-wise, the biggest show and Season 1 did so well at the Emmys,” Longeretta said. “Then Season 2 is nowhere to be found. My hunch is that between ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Squid Game’ they’re a bit too heavy for people in the Academy. With the amount of things that are happening in the world, that’s not what they want to watch.”

Schneider noted that perhaps “Severance” gets a pass from that because there are plenty of quirky, humorous moments in that series.

Davis has another theory, that ‘Squid Game’ benefited from a COVID-era viewership and ‘Shōgun’ benefited from the Hollywood strikes, but in ordinary years there’s still a hurdle to non-English programs.

Among other surprises: Meghann Fahy’s lead limited series actress nomination for “Sirens”: “I’m not mad about it because Meghann Fahy can do no wrong,” Longeretta said. “I’ve been rooting for her since day one. I was in shock that the word sirens came out of Brenda Song’s mouth on Emmy nomination morning.”

Said Davis: “I think the jaw dropper name of the day was Jeff Hiller from ‘Somebody Somewhere.’ I wasn’t even tracking a top 10 for Jeff Hiller. Congratulations, very well deserved.”

Schneider also shared some of his patented Emmy trivia and oddities, including the fact that Beyoncé and Jay-Z are facing off in the variety special (live) category, while it’s a bit of a coincidence that “American Graffiti” (1973) co-stars Harrison Ford and Ron Howard finally received their first acting Emmy noms.

So who are some of the category frontrunners? It’s Adam Scott vs. Noah Wyle. Kathy Bates vs. Britt Lower vs. Bella Ramsey. And Tangcay also has a favorite nomination: Julianne Nicholson, for both “Paradise” (as Sinatra) and “Hacks” (as Dance Mom).

Speaking of Nicholson, Longeretta noted that supporting drama actress is a complete jump ball: “Patricia Arquette, Carrie Coon, Katherine LaNasa, Julianne Nicholson, Parker Posey, Natasha Rothwell and Aimee Lou Wood. There’s not even a leader. Every single person is such a heavy hitter.”

Schneider bows down to one more queen: Catherine O’Hara, nominated for both “The Studio” and “The Last of Us.”

There’s so much more to discuss: The surprising success of “Presumed Innocent.” The TV movie category, with nominees that didn’t get any other attention. The decline in representation with this year’s noms. The return of “Survivor” in reality competition. And so much more.

Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.

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