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Here’s a fun anecdote to remember when Emmy party season rolls around: Over the last decade, only three sitcoms have won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. Let that factoid roll around in your noggin for a bit. Three shows in ten years while we’re in the midst of Peak TV. That is, and I do not use this term lightly, some straight-up claptrap. That’s right. Claptrap. The Emmy Awards are supposed to represent the apex of quality television; they’re the summit of TV prominence, yet to the Academy, variety is decidedly not the spice of life.
Since the 2006-2007 ceremony, the Outstanding Comedy Series honor has been awarded to 30 Rock (3 times), Modern Family (5 times), and Veep (2 times). To illustrate this immense lack of variance, we created a helpful visual aid:
Don’t get me wrong, these are three exemplary shows that deserve recognition, but the fact that only a trio of programs have been honored in a decade is symptomatic of a larger issue: the award show’s inability to adapt to change. Never is this matter more prevalent than with the way the Emmys value dramedies.
Since 1990, only two dramedies have captured that elusive Outstanding Comedy award: Ally McBeal (1999) and Sex and the City (2001). That type of cold, hard data is stark enough to make a dancing baby take a break from haunting stressed out lawyers and ponder just what the hell is up with the lack of Emmy wins for this ascending genre. The dearth of victories for the brooding cousin of the traditional comedy may have something to do with the ambiguity inherent to dramedies. They’re hybrid shows that check more than one box, so while they may be more emotionally engaging than a sitcom, they often don’t possess as many traditional jokes. Plus, there’s the issue of nuance.
The three comedies that have racked up Emmy wins over the past decade aren’t exactly known for their subtlety. They’re fiercely clever and howlingly funny, but their humor is overt. Two blazingly original programs, Atlanta and Master of None, earned well-deserved Outstanding Comedy noms this year. What these two shows lack in hard jokes they recoup in sensational storytelling and delicate nuance. But the problem with nuance is that it doesn’t typically translate to a broader audience.
Fortunately, the Emmys seem to be trending upwards when it comes to the genre, albeit it at a glacial pace. From 2000-2010, only five dramedies — Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Weeds, and Nurse Jackie — nabbed Outstanding Comedy noms, while six dramedies — Girls, Louie, Orange is the New Black, Transparent, and the aforementioned duo of Master of None and Atlanta — have earned a spot at the table over the past five years.
Slowly but surely the number of dramedies nominated continues to rise but that has yet to translate into additional Outstanding Comedy victories for the genre.
So what about this year’s show? Can Master of None or Atlanta — which earlier in the year captured the Golden Globe for Best Comedy — thwart the insult-spewing juggernaut known as Veep as it goes for the three-peat? I asked Decider’s resident Emmy soothsayer Joe Reid if he believed either of the Davids could topple the award show’s reigning Goliath. “I would feel better about Atlanta having an outside chance if it had gotten a few more total nominations,” he said, “but yeah, I think it could pull it off with a smart campaign.”
History says Team Veep will leave the Emmys with yet another fancy knick-knack for their bookshelf, but if the Academy finally decides to embrace the subtle charms of the hybrid genre, Donald Glover and company will score the first Outstanding Comedy Series win for a dramedy since 2001.
