Are the Emmys Shutting out Revivals?

The current primetime lineup is filled with a lot of familiar faces. A lot of shows that were a big deal in the ’90s and early ’00s are back on the air again, which is a generally welcome sight since all of those shows got a ton of praise during their initial run. But even though shows were popular way back when, and even if their revivals are doing fine today, the Emmys definitely don’t seem as into the revival craze as the general population.

That’s not to say the Emmys don’t love repeat winners. For example, only two shows (Modern Family and Veep) have won Outstanding Comedy Series in the ’10s. But as the revival trend persists, it seems like the latest round of Emmy nominees has exposed an unwritten rule we didn’t even know the Emmys had: revivals don’t get nominations.

Okay, it’s not as extreme as that sounds. Revivals do get some nominations. But when you look at the shows that have made a comeback and compare the number of nominations and wins they got then to how many they’re getting now, it seems obvious that Emmy voters aren’t as interested in reboots as TV execs.

Let’s look at how four revivals–Arrested Development, Roseanne, The X-Files, and Will & Grace–have fared during their revivals compared to their initial runs. Back then, these were all major, major players in the Emmys game. Those four shows amassed 191 nominations and 42 wins between them. More specifically:

Arrested Development
2003-2006 Run: 22 nominations, 6 wins; 3 nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series with 1 win in 2004; acting nominations for Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett
2013 Revival Season: 3 nominations, 0 wins; 1 nomination for Jason Bateman
2018 Revival Season: 0 nominations

Roseanne
1988-1997 Run: 25 nominations, 4 wins; acting nominations for Laurie Metcalf, Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Sara Gilbert; 3 wins for Laurie Metcalf, 1 win for Roseanne Barr
2018 Revival Season: 2 nominations (1 for Metcalf, 1 for Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series)

The X-Files
1993-2002 Run: 61 nominations, 16 wins; acting nominations for Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny; 1 win for Gillian Anderson; 4 nominations for Outstanding Drama Series
2016 Revival Season: 0 nominations
2018 Revival Season: 0 nominations

Will & Grace
1998-2006 Run: 83 nominations, 16 wins; 6 nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series with 1 win in 2000; acting nominations for Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes, and Megan Mullally; 2 wins for Megan Mullally, 1 win for Sean Hayes, 1 win for Eric McCormack, 1 win for Debra Messing
2017-2018 Revival Season: 5 nominations; 1 nomination for Megan Mullally

Knowing how much the Emmys loves old favorites (remember how John Lithgow was nominated for every single season of 3rd Rock from the Sun?) and knowing how much the Emmys loved those shows years ago, it would have been not at all shocking to see Arrested Development or Will & Grace back in the Outstanding Comedy Series mix. But they’re not.

Admittedly some of these revivals got the exact amount of nominations they deserved. No one expected Anderson and Duchovny to elbow their way into the competitive drama fields based on two lackluster X-Files seasons, although it is quite surprising that the show wracked up no awards in the Creative Arts fields where it truly dominated in the ’90s.

On the comedy front, all the buzz around Arrested Development and Roseanne has been drowned out by bad press and problematic Emmy-winning actors. If AD was gonna get another Comedy Series nomination, it would have been for the much hyped 2013 season, but that didn’t happen. If Roseanne hadn’t exploded so spectacularly and thoroughly right as this year’s voting process started, maybe it could have gotten one or two more nominations, but reaction to the new season was still mixed. Laurie Metcalf getting a nomination for a significantly reduced role in the revival after her 3 wins in the ’90s, though? That’s the Emmy favoritism we know and love in action.

Really, the only show that I think can make a legit shut-out claim is Will & Grace, which came back stronger than every other revival season and turned out episodes that ranked up there with some of the series’ best. Seriously, they all turned out Emmy-worthy performances this season. But only Mullally got a nomination, even as some acting categories ballooned out to eight nominees. Y’all couldn’t make room for Sean Hayes and his magnet Spanx, seriously?

The real test determining whether or not the Emmys are overlooking revivals will happen next year when we have a full, all-new season of Murphy Brown in the running. That show was nominated for 62 Emmys during it’s first run and won 18, the most wins of any show I’ve talked about. It won two Outstanding Comedy Series trophies, and Candice Bergen won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy 5 times. It’ll be telling if Murphy Brown is a hit with critics and audiences and the show gets shut out next year.

But there is one revival out there that is actually enjoying more Emmy success this time around. Full House got zero Emmy noms during its original 8-year run, but Fuller House just got its very first nomination ever… in the Outstanding Children’s Program category.