Just six months after a strike-delayed ceremony, the Emmys are back.
Nominations for television’s most prestigious award show will be unveiled on Wednesday morning. “Shogun,” the lush period drama, and “The Bear,” the anxiety-inducing comedy, are poised to have a big day. Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” is expected to stand out among limited series.
There is a considerable cloud hanging over Emmy nomination day this year. Last year’s double strikes, along with several years of cost cutting, have put the industry in the throes of a contraction. The Peak TV era is now firmly in the rearview mirror. To wit, the number of shows submitted for Emmy consideration this year plummeted.
Here’s what you need to know:
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How to watch. Nominees for several major categories will be announced at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and can be watched via the Emmys website or YouTube. Two past Emmy winners, Tony Hale (“Veep”) and Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”), will host the proceedings. Nominees for every category — there are more than 100 of them — will be available on the Emmys website shortly thereafter. TV series eligible for Wednesday’s nominations had to premiere from June 2023 to May 2024.
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“Shogun” could dominate. “Shogun,” the FX hit about 17th-century feudal Japan, will probably lead in a drama category that will be filled with newbies. Success for “Shogun” would be a moment itself. Though it was made by an American network (FX) for a domestic streaming service (Hulu), the show’s dialogue was mostly in Japanese. Americans have shown a much greater appetite for series with subtitles in recent years. Look for freshmen shows — possibly “Fallout” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” — to join first-time best drama nominees, maybe “The Gilded Age” and “The Morning Show.” The final season of “The Crown” could be the only returning nominee in the category.
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“The Bear” might break a record. “The Bear,” the big winner in the comedy categories at the strike-delayed January Emmys ceremony, is poised to clean up in the nominations, and it could break a record, too. No comedy series has ever scored more than the 22 nominations “30 Rock” received in 2009, and Emmy forecasters believe “The Bear” has a shot at it. A big day could unleash a new round of debates over whether the show is really a comedy. And keep in mind — though it is confusing — the voting is for the season that premiered last year, not last month.
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A lighter lineup. Some categories are losing nominee slots because of a lack of submissions. The best talk show category will winnow from five nominees to four (which means a perennial nominee like Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers or Jimmy Kimmel could get snubbed). And the best actor and actress in a limited series categories will fall to five slots from six.
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The winners will be unveiled in two months. The prime-time Emmy ceremony will be on Sunday, Sept. 15, airing on ABC. The delayed January ceremony, which aired on Fox, had an audience of only 4.4 million viewers, a record low. ABC has not yet announced a host.
