The 76th Emmy Award nominations: Why our critic's list of gripes is a lot shorter than usual

The ongoing quibbling over whether "The Bear" is a comedy or a drama received a new splash of accelerant when the FX series landed 23 Emmy Award nominations on Wednesday.

Ordinarily, this honor probably would pass without a thought beyond, "Yay." The series already won the top comedy Emmy for its first season in January, and stars Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach took home some coveted hardware.

At the time, many pointed out that the second season was even better, which made this morning's wealth of nominations all but a foregone conclusion.

What may get under some people's skin, though, is knowing its 23 nods represent a new feat: the most in a single year for a comedy series. "30 Rock" previously set that record, with 22 nominations in 2009. But "30 Rock" was clearly a comedy, right?

Counterpoint: Who cares? Studio and network gamesmanship is always part of awards considerations. Besides, if the whole intent of this exercise is to honor the best TV, "The Bear" fits in smoothly with most of the nominees for the 76th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

The 25 Emmy nods for FX's "Shōgun" represented the most out of all series, with "The Bear" coming in second place with 23. Traditional comedy fans may be pleased to know that Hulu's "Only Murders in the Building" wasn't too far behind, with 21 nominations. You'll always have that, along with the notices for the other bright light of our TV viewing lives: "Abbott Elementary."

"B-b-but 'The Bear' isn't . . ." Pipe down, because you know what else isn't an obvious classic TV ha-ha-half hour? "The Gentlemen," which is also in the running for best comedy. Do I think it should be in the same awards classification as "Hacks" and "What We Do in the Shadows"? No, but I'm less upset about this than I am pleased to see "Reservation Dogs" finally get the attention it deserves after being largely overlooked by Emmy voters in its first and second season seasons. Ditto for its star D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai.

I'm not even peeved about the best comedy nomination for "Curb Your Enthusiasm."  The final season was enjoyable, despite its nominated star Larry David's assault on Elmo.

While this nominations slate isn't an "I have no notes" situation, my list of gripes is a lot shorter than usual. Overall, this new list of Emmys contenders reflects the Television Academy's increased openness to variety, albeit within limits.

In years past, we might have lamented the paucity of notice for Prime Video's "Fallout." This takes into consideration the awards season that recognized the excellence of HBO's "The Last of Us." Academy voters have long awarded HBO shows that would have otherwise been ignored if they played on other networks.

It garnered 16 nominations, tying it with awards season darlings "Hacks" and "The Morning Show," along with fellow Amazon production "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

Some tendencies remain in place. Netflix racked up the most nods of any single network with 107, and FX came in second with a record-setting 93 nominations. Coming in third place, with 91 nominations, were HBO and Max.

Even so, only one major performance category — best actor in a limited series or TV movie — lacked non-white representation. Considering the whiteouts in past years, this represents growth. The numbers bear this out, as Variety notes, with 30 people of color receiving nominations across all individual acting categories.

Nine races feature multiple non-white nominees, with best comedy actress honoring four performers of color in six total slots, including Edebiri, Quinta Brunson ("Abbott Elementary"), Maya Rudolph ("Loot") and "Only Murders" co-star Selena Gomez, her first acting Emmy nomination. (Edebiri's co-stars, Lionel Boyce and Liza Colón-Zayas, also received some love in the supporting comedy acting categories.)

Woon-a-Tai's comedy lead nod is the first for an Indigenous actor in Emmy history. Along with this are individual acting nominations for Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone ("Under the Bridge") and Kali Reis ("True Detective: Night Country"), both competing in the supporting actress in a limited series or movie category. Their selections also make Television Academy history as the first Indigenous women to be nominated in a major Emmy acting category.

The competition for Gladstone and Reis includes "Baby Reindeer" star Nava Mau, the second trans performer after "Loot" star Michaela Jaé Rodriguez was nominated for lead drama actress in 2021 for "Pose." Rounding out the category are Dakota Fanning ("Ripley"), Jessica Gunning ("Baby Reindeer"), Aja Naomi King ("Lessons in Chemistry") and Diane Lane ("Feud: Capote vs. the Swans").

"I have serious questions about whether anthology series should actually be considered dramas . . ." Didn't we resolve this nitpick years ago?

By that argument, one might (wrongly) posit that "Shōgun" should have been entered as a limited series, as was the network's original intent. Now that it's coming back for a second season, it qualifies as a drama.

And aren't we glad? "Shōgun" earned its 25 nominations through its ornate and meticulously rendered production and riveting performances by Anna Sawai, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano and Takehiro Hira. This total far exceeds the 1980s miniseries' 14 Emmy nods, including a nomination for its lead Richard Chamberlain.

"Shōgun" acting honors comprise the majority of Asian American and Pacific Islander nominees at this year's Emmys, joined by Maya Erskine ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith"), Greta Lee ("The Morning Show") and Bowen Yang ("Saturday Night Live").

Sanada's nomination marks his second by an American industry awards body in his decades-long career. The Television Critics Association, of which this author is a member, gave him his first nod in its individual achievement category, though the award ultimately went to Sawai. Such notice for Sanada is long overdue; it's finally happening.

It's all happening, including the voter habits that always frustrate critics on nominations morning.

One explanation for the unexpected and pleasant surprises within this nomination pool is that there were fewer submissions this year, a lingering effect of last summer's dual strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA and the end of Peak TV. (We already experienced another, with the 75th Annual Emmy Awards ceremony airing in January 2024 instead of September 2023 due to the strikes.)

According to a report from ProdPro shared by The Los Angeles Times, film and TV production in the U.S. has declined by about  40% in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2022.

If it seems like many of the same series vacuumed up most of the nominations, this is partly why.

But we can't let Emmy voters off the hook entirely. Though Emma Stone and Kate Winslet topped the list of snubs this morning, along with Stone's Showtime series "The Curse," which critics were far more passionate about than "The Regime," the TV Academy remains easily swayed by star power.

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Larry David? He's fine, but Jharrel Jerome’s work in “I’m a Virgo” was inspired, as was that series. Emmy voters also passed over "The Sympathizer" and its star Hoa Xuande in the limited series competition, while yet again falling for the schtick of having one very famous actor play multiple roles through layers of prosthetics.

Stone may not have the opportunity to snag an Emmy to match her Oscar, but Robert Downey, Jr. will as the sole representative for "The Sympathizer" limited series.

Multiple nominations for "Fargo" across several limited series categories are deserved — I was especially gratified to see Lamorne Morris in the supporting actor mix — but was Diane Lane truly better in "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" than Jennifer Jason Leigh? C'mon.

And while comedy guest stars Bob Odenkirk, Jamie Lee Curtis, Olivia Colman and Will Poulter all turn in extraordinary performances in "The Bear," where is Oliver Platt's pat on the back?

One might and should also take issue with the number of nominations for shows that qualify as pleasant diversions, or whose value rests solely in individual performances as opposed to work as a whole. I'm looking at you, "Ripley," and wishing your six-letter title were replaced by "Expats."

Deep breaths — inhale, exhale — it's time for me to calm down and remember that while good may be the enemy of perfection, a very good Emmy nominations block should be categorized as a victory. Let's leave it at that.

The 76th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will air Sunday, Sept. 15 on ABC.