You can’t put tarriffs on talent: Canadians are among the multi-nominated heading into the 77th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (airing Sept. 14 on CTV and ABC).
Vancouver-native Seth Rogan earned three nominations for writing, directing and starring and his AppleTV+ series The Studio drew 23 noms in total, a record for a rookie series. Fellow Canadian and series co-creator Evan Goldberg also was nominated for writing and directing. Among the cast, Catherine O’Hara was recognized for her (too short) guest stint as a studio boss. O’Hara, originally from Etobicoke, Ont., picked up another nomination, again as a guest star, on the HBO zombie drama The Last of Us.
O’Hara’s fellow SCTV star Martin Short earned another nomination for his role as Oliver Putnam in the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, seen in Canada on Disney+. Short got to show off more drama chops in Season 4 as his character tied the knot with Meryl Streep in a wedding scene that seemed to mirror the couple’s actual off-screen bliss.
Not nominated this past season on OMITB were Short’s castmates Steve Martin and Selina Gomez, which will give Short more ammo at Martin’s expense as the insult each other through their talk show promotions leading into Season 5 this September.
Lorne Michaels was rewarded for a 50th season of Saturday Night Live with six nominations for several specials celebrating the sketch comedy milestone. The Toronto native already holds the record for the most individual nominations (106) in Primetime Emmy history.
Nathan Fielder picked up nominations for writing and directing The Rehearsal although he missed the cut for acting. Robby Hoffman (born in Jersey but raised in Montreal) stole every scene she was in this season on Hacks and, like O’Hara, earned an Emmy nom for her impactful work. Veteran actor/director Helen Shaver picked up a directing nom for an episode of The Penguin.
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There are so many shows on network, specialty, cable and streaming platforms now there are bound to be snubs and oversights. I’m thrilled, however, that Slow Horses trotted through the pack, led by another Canadian, Graham Yost, as showrunner and rumpled star Gary Oldman. Nice to see also that Jeff Hiller has been singled out as Joel from the HBO dramedy Somebody Somewhere. Adolescence, an incredible, four-episode Limited Series, received 13 nominations. The Netflix drama saw individual salutes going to lead actors Stephen Graham and young Owen Cooper. If there was a show of the year category, this, in my opinion, would win.
Severence, another AppleTV+ series, lead all dramas with 27 nominations. Apple has their best year ever with 81 noms, with The Studio (23), and Shrinking adding to that haul. Harrison Ford picked up his first-ever Emmy nom, as did castmate Jason Segel.
Doing even better was HBO Max, which picked in the most Emmy nominations in their history with 142. They were divided between Hacks (15), The Peguin (24) and The White Lotus (23), The Pitt (13) and The Last of Us (16).
Who got crowded out? I was surprised Billy Bob Thornton and Paramount+’s Landman were not among the nominated. All six of writer-director-executive producer Taylor Sheridan’s shows, including Landman and Yellowstone, were snubbed. I also thought Ted Danson would grab yet another Emmy nomination (he already has 14) but he and his new Netflix comedy Man on the Inside were both left on the outside.
I’m also surprised that series lead Uzo Aduba, as the world’s greatest detective, was the only one nominated for The Residence. Then again, I’m surprised that this very entertaining whodunit was also canceled after one season.
The excellent two-part Paul Reubens’ documentary’ profile Pee-wee as Himself is among those nominated in the Outstanding Documentary category as is Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, and Martha, the penetrating look at Martha Stewart.
