The Emmy Blues

The Emmys are upon us once again, and for another year, I'm staring at a list of nominees that I haven't watched.  Out of the entire Outstanding Comedy Series list of eight nominees, I've only seen "The Good Place."  In the Outstanding Limited Series, I've only seen "Watchmen."  Outstanding Drama Series, as usual, is the only category where I've seen a good amount of the titles - "The Crown," "Killing Eve," "The Mandalorian," and "Stranger Things," but honestly I'm pretty sure that at least two of those don't deserve to be there.  Oh, and I gave up on "The Handmaid's Tale" after last season, having had enough of their narrative stalling tactics.    

I've kept up enough with the general industry chatter to at least have heard of most of the others, though I admit that I had to look up "Unorthodox."  Netflix really does not do enough marketing.  But this is such a change for me from last year, when I'd seen episodes of five of the seven Outstanding Comedy nominees, and three of the five Outstanding Limited Series nominees.  What's worse, I keep looking over the unseen nominees this year, and finding myself having very little interest in seeking any of them out.  I don't know if it's the pandemic and the political situation dampening the usual awards buzz, or if the pool of eligible stuff is just shallower this year, but I can't work up the enthusiasm to check out any of the unfamiliar new programs, or follow any of the races.  I'm not even all that mad about the big snubs, like "Mr. Robot" somehow not getting anything for its excellent final season. 

I feel like I've been fighting a losing battle the last few years, trying to keep on top of the Emmys. Part of it is due to having to juggle access to so many new platforms and services in order to see these shows.  Part of it is being a genre fan at heart whose tastes just don't match up with the Emmy voters.  And part of it is the general fatigue of finding more and more new things to watch every time I turn around.  When did the Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini comedy "Dead to Me" blow up?   How many seasons of "Ozark" have there been?  I'm not even sure how to get Pop TV, which airs "Schitt's Creek."  I know I should be happy about having all of these unseen shows to go and explore, but after a summer in lockdown spent catching up on a bunch of other shows, getting yet another list of titles like this is just exasperating.  

I think I'm just going to have to face the fact that I'm never going to be on the same page with the Emmys.  Frankly, I never have been.  Twenty years ago, the only nominees I actually watched were the network sitcoms.  However, there was a familiarity to "ER" and "Law & Order" and "The Practice" getting nominated year after year, and seeing mostly the same crowd of faces.  However, as production schedules have gotten so much more unpredictable, and you often have shows skipping a year or two between seasons (what happened to "Atlanta"?), every new batch of nominees is a surprise.  And that should be a good thing, right?  Especially with the newly resurgent Outstanding Limited Series category that almost got killed off a few years ago, all this new content should be celebrated.  Discovering "Fleabag" and "Fosse/Verdon" and "Barry" last year was great, right?

Well, for a serial completist who likes staying on top of pop culture, it all just looks like too much work this time out.  Maybe I've stopped feeling a fear of irrelevance and FOMO.  Maybe I'm getting too damn old for this.  In any case, I'm seriously considering skipping the Emmys this year completely.  With lockdown still going on, there won't be much of a ceremony to gawk over anyway.  Sorry, Jimmy Kimmel.  

Still, I've got to give the Television Academy props for committing to having their awards as usual, instead of retreating the way the Oscars have.  But, that's another post for another day.

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