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Being one of the four most significant American award ceremonies for the entertainment industry, the Emmys are a big deal for everyone. That’s why, when particular shows that were received particularly well by viewers don’t receive the proper credit for their success, fans tend to take it personally.
The first Emmys were awarded to L.A. based shows in 1949, before the award ceremony became a national ordeal, which likely made it easier to acknowledge all the shows worthy of praise. Today, of course, that’s a different story as the span of American entertainment sources that are acknowledged by the Emmys have multiplied. This fact alone makes it inevitable that there will be disagreements about the decisions. With the arrival of streaming networks, television series have risen in popularity and streaming networks are constantly scrambling to create the next fan-favorite, award-winning, pop culture-influencing series. As a result, more and more great series are being released, making it difficult to acknowledge all worthy candidates.
Nonetheless, there are just some series with such undeniable success that it almost seems wrong to overlook them for certain nominations. The 2022 Emmy nominations in particular have had television viewers everywhere speaking out. In a year full of such impressive television moments as season four of Stranger Things, it was clear that it was going to be a difficult year as is, but the outcome of some nominations were nothing short of surprising.
Plenty of fantastic and popular shows were nominated this year, like Squid Game, Succession, and Euphoria. At the same time, there were enough popular shows that deserved more credit than they got, leaving some fans feeling perplexed and even angry. In particular, the sci-fi genre as a whole didn’t get as much recognition as it perhaps should have this year.
There were a few science fiction series that made the list of nominations, but not as many as would be expected after this year’s performances. In fact, only two sci-fi shows, Severance and Stranger Things, received a decent number of nominations. Even then, though the shows received some nominations, they didn’t receive several that fans were certain they would.
Beyond that, sci-fi stories that received negligible nominations included such fan favorites as Station Eleven; Loki; What If...?; The Boys Presents: Diablo; Love, Death + Robots; Star Wars Visions; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; SnowPiercer; The Book of Boba Fett; Star Trek: Picard; Cowboy Bebop; and Foundation. While this might seem like a lot of shows, many of them only received 1-2 nominations. These minimal numbers were surprising for most of these shows, but particularly fan-favorites like Station Eleven and The Book of Boba Fett. These snubs combined make it clear how little credit the genre of sci-fi as a whole received this year, given the success and popularity of many science fiction works from the year.
Focusing on the shows with the most nominations, there were several factors that made even their numbers feel unsatisfactory. Stranger Things received 13 Emmy nominations, and while that’s not a bad amount, none of the nominations were for the performances of the actors in season 4. This upset fans because several of the performances in the intense two-part season were very emotional — to the point that the actor even improvised some lines and actions in the heat of the moment. People were not only disappointed, but also angered by the fact that the talented actors of the series didn’t receive the proper recognition from the Emmys after literally causing Netflix to crash due to viewer turnout.
In regard to Severance, which got 14 nominations, it is one of those shows that falls into the category of genre-blending, giving it an advantage in what concepts and moods it could cover. That said, what makes it impressive is that it is only in its first season. This undoubtedly speaks to its potential, but is also what had many people surprised that it got as much recognition as it did. On that note, some are wondering if it deserved more credit than other series this year, considering that even its creators were surprised that it was nominated as many times as it was.
Even worse than not getting the desired or expected nominations, is getting no nominations. There are several great sci-fi shows with great performances and features from 2022 that got no Emmy recognition at all. Some such series include Halo, and The Man Who Fell to Earth.
This certainly isn’t the first time the Emmys have snubbed shows from the sci-fi genre, as last year many fans were upset by the lack of nominations given to The Expanse. Though there are a multitude of shows being made now between cable networks and streaming services, and it makes sense that getting nominated is becoming harder, it still seems that sci-fi as a whole is getting overlooked.
Within the last five years, given the scary and puzzling scientific realities we’ve experienced, like COVID and global warming, people are looking to storylines that focus on the future of science more than ever. As a result, the science fiction genre has become more popular and more hit series are being made in the genre. With this being the case, it’s really a shame that more sci-fi series were not included in the Emmy’s selections.
Nonetheless, the number of Emmys in relation to the number of shows releasing content each year is a huge difference and there’s simply no way with this structure for all worthy shows to receive credit. At the rate that the award ceremony is headed, it may have no option but to increase its number of nomination categories or split the ceremony into parts to properly give credit where credit is due. Until that time comes, people will continue to tune into the Emmys and will continue to hype up or fight for their favorite shows when they don’t receive proper credit.