As TV gets to be more and more fractured, the Emmys continue to seem less and less relevant across all categories. That fracturing makes the Emmys seem all the more frustrating when you see great TV shows continually overlooked in favor of many of the same shows nominated every year. The reason is that Emmy voters are just like you and I: there's only enough time to watch so many things and the nominated shows are the consensus picks. They're the shows that are good that a lot of people are watching en masse.

If you want a full list of nominees, you can find them across any number of sites today. Variety has a clean list. Click that below.

The three key categories, however, nominated:

Best Drama
Better Call Saul, Euphoria, Ozark, Severance, Squid Game, Stranger Things, Succession, Yellowjackets

Best Comedy
Abbott Elementary, Barry, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hacks, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Only Murders in the Building, Ted Lasso, What We Do in the Shadows

Best limited series
Dopesick, The Dropout, Inventing Anna, Pam & Tommy, The White Lotus

Emmys 2022: The Complete Nominations List
For the first time in memory, the Television Academy announced this year’s Primetime Emmys nominees without an acknowledgement of which network or platform leads the list. That left programmers lik…
VarietyJordan Moreau

In terms of Emmys By The Numbers, here is what the network breakdown was this year:

HBO/HBO Max - 140
Netflix - 105
Hulu - 58
Apple TV+ - 51
Disney+ - 34
Amazon - 30

105 nominations is impressive, but I suspect there will be a solemn tone at Netflix looking at how far ahead HBO Max has moved. It doesn't reflect well on the narrative that other services have better content.

Dan's Emmy thoughts

  • The White Lotus feels like a lock on best limited series, pushing out The Dropout. I would be very surprised, however, if Amanda Seyfried doesn't win for her performance in The Dropout.
  • Speaking of The White Lotus, it seems like all the notable cast members of the series were nominated (in Supporting Actor/Actress), which makes me suspect that they may all split the vote in their respective categories. If any cast member makes it through, I'd suggest Alexandra Daddario might be able to do it.
  • Don't expect Squid Game to win for best drama. The Emmys are very much an industry award and Squid Game did nothing to create local production jobs within the Hollywood machine. Yes, Parasite did take out Best Picture at the Oscars a few years ago, but that came off the back of a lot of sensitivity around the politics  "Oscars So White". The Emmys never quite have that same pressure and they do tend to vote for jobs a bit more than the slightly more idealistic Academy Awards voter. Succession seems the frontrunner.
  • How was Midnight Mass completely shut out of Best Limited series?
  • Also see: Station Eleven. Great that Himesh Patel got a nomination, but surely Mackenzie Davis should have gotten a nom.
  • Great to see Norm MacDonald was nominated for his final special.
  • Stranger Things star Sadie Sink should probably have been nominated. If only for her name alone.
  • Weird that the populist Emmys didn't nominate Yellowstone... There's something to be said for the criticism that the Emmys do reflect elite coastal tastes to its detriment.
  • Lovely that Barack Obama got his first Emmys nomination for narrating Our Great National Parks. It might be the shot in the arm his career needs.

Final thought: The Best Television Movie category continues to look more and more ridiculous each year. Nominated this year:

Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers, Ray Donovan: The Movie, Reno 911!: The Hunt For QAnon, The Survivor, Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas

I note that the following 2022 Academy Award nominated films debuted day and date on streaming services:

Coda, Don't Look Up, Dune, King Richard, The Power of The Dog

I understand why this is the way it is, but if any category needs to be junked for being entirely out of touch with current trends, it really is this one.

Amazon is the king of streaming

In the world of streaming video, Amazon is top dog. No, it hasn't got the most-watched streaming services with Prime Video or FreeVee. But what it does have is AWS, the scaleable web hosting platform that is worth $3 trillion. And its customers: all of the big streaming services. Netflix, Disney, etc are all hosted on the robust and reliable AWS.

Something to think about next time you're staging a boycott of Amazon services.

How Amazon Controls Streaming — and That Doesn’t Mean Prime Video
Amazon Web Services does nothing exciting, yet it controls — well, almost everything. It also may be worth as much as $3 trillion.
IndieWireTony Maglio
  • The history of the video game high score. Read: Den of Geek
  • You will soon be able to link your Wordle scores to a NYT account. Read: The Verge
  • Spotify has acquired Heardle, the Wordle for your ears. Read: Variety
  • With 5 million subscribers, is YouTube TV the future of linear cable TV? Read: The Verge
  • Disney+ is partnering with HYBE to bring KPop content to the world. And yes, this includes BTS content. Read: The Streamable
  • HBO Max is in talks with Amazon about returning to Amazon Channels. Read: The Streamable
  • Has Sweet Tooth been renewed for a 3rd season? Read: SpoilerTV
  • The still-frustrating death of Dr Romano on ER. Read: Den of Geek
  • The BBC has made £1bn of savings over the past five years. Read: Screen Daily
  • Apple TV+ has renewed Loot for a second season. Read: thefutoncritic

Purple Hearts debuts on Netflix 29 July.

An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.

Fanatico debuts July 29 on Netflix.

When a trap artist's biggest fan tries to take over his idol's persona, he finds out that being a superstar isn't as easy as it looks.

Always Be Watching will be back tomorrow with another edition. It's like the mail: it never stops.