Emmy Snubs And Surprises: ‘Lovecraft Country,’ ‘Emily in Paris’ and More

When HBO pulled the plug on Misha Green’s Lovecraft Country a few weeks ago, it was thought that the network lost faith in the ambitious series all together. Championed by former ace exec Richard Plepler before his exit, the series dazzled with its electric performances and inventive take on horror and sci-fi. While critics debated whether or not the series stuck its wild landing, the show’s high points were many and vaulted. It seems Emmy voters thought so, too.

With 18 nominations, Lovecraft Country is HBO’s most-nominated series of the year. Not even Mare of Easttown with its 16 nods did better. The show was nominated for Best Drama Series, Best Drama Actor and Actress — Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett — and Best Supporting Actors Michael K. Williams and Aunjanue Ellis. Creator Misha Green also earned a nomination for writing the show’s incredible premiere episode, “Sundown.”

So what does this mean for Lovecraft Country’s legacy? Well that despite its flaws, it was a beautifully imaginative work of television. Maybe HBO regrets not picking it up for a second season, but what’s done is done. Plepler has already lured Green over to a development deal at Apple TV+.

A few years ago, it would be inconceivable to think that a titan like Nicole Kidman could be snubbed at the Emmys. Indeed, Kidman and her work on Big Little Lies helped usher in a whole era were big Oscar-winning movie stars started flitting to the world of TV to nab what seemed to be easy pickings in awards territory.

However, as the landscape has become inundated with top-tier talent, the competition has gotten tougher. Case in point: Kidman getting snubbed for HBO’s The Undoing. Her co-star Hugh Grant managed to snag a nomination, but in the ultra-competitive Best Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, Kidman was shut out by the likes of Michaela Coel, Cynthia Erivo, Elizabeth Olson, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Kate Winslet.

The critic in me can’t take fault with the final five nominees. All of those actresses threw down career-best performances. But the awards-watcher in me is stunned to see Kidman shut out.

Look, I don’t hate Emily in Paris! I simply think it is the macaron of TV comedies: sweet, decadent, nutrition-less, and a few years off trend. That’s why it simply doesn’t fit in with the likes of ground-breaking work like Hacks, Ted Lasso, and Pen15. Moreover, the Television Academy didn’t nominate the show in any other category outside of Best Comedy Series except for Production Design. That means the writing, directing, and acting…none of it is competitively up to par.

But maybe the true reason why Emily in Paris’s Best Comedy Series nomination feels like a blot on the Emmy’s ledger is because the Golden Globes, a far less prestigious awards show, came under a gross amount of scrutiny for heaping praise on the show. It got to the point where in Tinseltown, it was basically known as an open secret that the HFPA were bribed into voting for the saccharine-sweet series. So why would Emmy voters flirt with that negative connotation? Je ne sais pas! (That’s French for beats me!)

Back when it premiered on Showtime, I wrote here on Decider that you shouldn’t sleep on The Good Lord Bird. The darkly comic series looked at abolitionist John Brown (Ethan Hawke) from the perspective of “Little Onion” (Joshua Caleb Johnson), a young Black boy whom Brown believes is a girl he has rescued from slavery. In fact, he’s ensnared the boy in a deadly trap, where he can’t leave Brown’s side or point out the truth for fear of his life. Ethan Hawke’s performance was earth-scorching and perhaps the best out of his whole career.

And Emmy voters clearly slept on it.

Look, I get it! There’s a lot of TV to watch! I miss stuff, too, and it’s my job to watch television. But Ethan Hawke’s performance was one for the ages and omitting it will only look stupid, wretched, and bad in retrospect.

But perhaps not so bad as John Boyega and Small Axe’s snubs…

Going into Emmy nominations, John Boyega was another odds-on favorite to scoop up a nod for his gorgeous work in Steve McQueen’s anthology film series Small Axe. Both Boyega and the series were considered highlights of the 2020 TV season, although they caused consternation for awards writers. Did McQueen make a TV anthology series or a series of short films? Who can say? Either way, the fact that only cinematographer Shabier Kirchner got recognition for the series feels like a huge snub.

Was Boyega passed over in favor of a slew of Hamilton performers? Did voters think they had to choose between Amazon’s Small Axe and The Underground Railroad? Did they realize that’s kind of messed up? (HBO got two series, I May Destroy You and Mare of Easttown in the category!) Did people simply think Small Axe was bad?!?! (That’s impossible.)

For whatever reason it was neither Boyega nor Small Axe’s year.

But the Emmy nominations did do one or two things right…

Maybe some of the most pleasant surprises in the morning came from major nominations for beloved streaming hits like Amazon’s The Boys, Netflix’s Cobra Kai, and Hulu shows like Pen15 and Shrill.

It’s easy to look at Emmy nominations and just see a sea of juggernauts duking it out for ultimate supremacy, but the beauty of awards shows is sometimes they shine a light on an underdog. The Boys is a huge hit on Prime Video, but its nomination proves the Television Academy is finally responding to great TV, no matter the genre or the place it’s streamed. Likewise, Cobra Kai is a lovely Netflix show, but in earlier years would be passed over for a network multi-cam. Experimental Hulu comedies like Pen15 earned Best Comedy nods, while Shrill star Aidy Bryant earned two nominations. First, for starring in Shrill and second as a Supporting Actress on Saturday Night Live.

The point is the Emmys suck, but they also rule. So despite all the snubs and upsetting shocks, there’s still a lot to praise in this year’s Emmys nominations.