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The 2017 Emmy Awards air on Sunday, September 17th and Decider is here to help you get ready for TV’s biggest night. Check here all week long for all our coverage previewing this year’s Emmys.
This is Us was a jolt to NBC’s Fall 2016 line up. The family dramedy featured a winsome and relatable ensemble cast, and tricky plot twists that banked on actual human emotion. Sure, it didn’t have a dragon, but it had Sterling K. Brown — an actor who can deliver a heartfelt monologue with more fire than any of the Khaleesi’s dragons could puff out. It was a critically-acclaimed monster hit for NBC in a time when the word “network drama” usually means “the fifth spin-off of CSI.” (By the way, there hasn’t yet been a fifth spin-off, unless you count a made-for-tv movie.)
So experts weren’t necessarily surprised when This Is Us scooped up five Emmy nominations this summer, but what might be a bit alarming is what a big win could mean for the show, NBC, and the industry at large. Gerald McRaney has already won one Emmy for the series for his guest turn as Dr. K and Sterling K. Brown is the odds-on favorite for Best Actor, but the big race for This Is Us to win is Outstanding Drama Series. It’s a tight race this year, and with Game of Thrones ineligible this round, it’s the most open race we’ve had for Best Drama in a long time. The stakes are high, too, for any show that wins.
If This Is Us wins, it will mean that cable channels and streaming services no longer have a total chokehold on the Emmys; if it loses, it might represent the official end of broadcast TV’s artistic relevance.
Let’s be nerds and go back through the history of Emmys. NBC has actually won more Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series than any other network in history. It’s true. They have won 21 of the last 68 races. In fact, NBC used to dominate the category with classics like The West Wing, L.A. Law, ER, and Hill Street Blues. However, they haven’t won a single Emmy in the category since 2003 (when Season 4 of The West Wing took home its fourth consecutive award). What happened the next year? Well, Season 5 of The Sopranos won the honor, marking a distinct shift in the television landscape. Since then, HBO, Showtime, and AMC have just about swept the Best Drama category. No traditional network drama has won since 2006 — FOX’s 24 if you’re wondering — and none of the big four networks has even had a show nominated since 2011. It’s a category now dominated by streaming services, cable channels, and Downton Abbey.
That is until this year. This Is Us finally broke through the wall and got NBC its first real contender in the category since Season One of Heroes flew into our collective hearts and The West Wing walked and talked its way into the sunset. So if This Is Us wins, it immediately catapults NBC, and the big four networks, back into Emmys relevancy. But could it happen?
NBC’s smash hit family dramedy This Is Us is nominated for Outstanding Drama Series along-side three Netflix shows (Stranger Things, The Crown, House of Cards), an AMC critics’ darling (Better Call Saul), Hulu’s big upstart smash (The Handmaid’s Tale), and HBO’s would-be Game of Thrones replacement (Westworld). Gold Derby’s experts and editors and users are just about split between Stranger Things and The Handmaid’s Tale, with the edge given to the uber-popular ’80s-set thriller. Since these two new shows are just about neck-and-neck with prognosticators, it could open up the race for a “dark horse” candidate to win. That could be feel-good drama This Is Us.
Emmy voters can be a conservative crew. True, they occasionally get things right and fete ground-breaking new voices, but often it takes them a while for them to get with the general cultural shift. So a “safe” show, like Netflix’s lush period drama The Crown, could also take the top prize. Then again, Westworld is entering this Sunday’s awards show with the same amount of Creative Emmy wins as Stranger Things, so…it’s anyone’s bet.
Yes, This Is Us could win the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series this weekend. It would be a huge upset for the streaming networks angling for their first big win. (Neither Netflix, Hulu, or even Amazon has nabbed an Emmy for Outstanding Drama or Comedy.) Its nomination alone is a huge step in the right direction for NBC, a network that used to pump out the best shows year after year and has floundered a bit in the last decade. And its inclusion means something else: even if streaming has changed the landscape of television, traditional broadcast networks aren’t totally irrelevant to the critical conversation yet. NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX still may have something important to add to the TV eco-system besides reality TV, live sports, and procedurals; They can still produce great television.
