The Emmy B-Team: Variety Series and Specials

Welcome back to my 7th edition of the Emmy B-Team. The idea is pretty simple. People like to complain about the Emmy nominations. They point out one or two "snubs", never consider what's actually on the nominating ballots*, and say that the Emmy voters did a bad job. The skeptic that I am, I wanted to find out if the Emmy picks were really that bad. So, years ago I looked through the official Emmy nominating ballots. I created an alternate group of non-nominated performers/episodes/shows and compared those groups to the actual nominees to see which was stronger. I'll spare you the suspense: The Nominees always win handily, although it's close in the Drama and Comedy categories. Now, this serves as a fun way for me to point out the biggest snubs, audit the Emmy picks more fairly, and point out some quirks in the nominating ballots**.

 

*Remember, a show, person, or episode can only be nominated if it is submitted. Even if you want every episode of Watchmen to be nominated for writing, that won't happen, since they only submitted some of the episodes.

 

**You'd be surprised how often that actor you thought was snubbed wasn't even on the official ballot or had listed himself as a lead instead of a supporting actor.

 

I don't do every category. I don't pretend that I've seen everything or that I fully understand all the categories. I'm a one-man operation talking about hundreds of shows. I'm doing the best I can.

 

And now it's time for all those appropriately-named variety categories.

 

The Scruff

Reality Shows

Variety Series and Specials

Limited Series and TV Movie

Comedy Series

Drama Series

 

* Indicates a show that I haven't watched this season.

# Indicates a show I've seen before, not this season.

 

 

Outstanding Directing For A Variety Series

Nominees

*A Black Lady Sketch Show “Born At Night , But Not Last Night”

#The Daily Show With Trevor Noah “Dr. Fauci Answers Trevor's Questions About Coronavirus”

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver “Episode 629”

#The Late Show With Stephen Colbert “Live Show; Chris Christie; Nathaniel Rateliff”

Saturday Night Live “Host : Eddie Murphy”

*Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready “Flame Monroe”

 

B-Team

*Desus & Mero "PJ Boys"

*Drunk History "Bad Blood"

*Full Frontal with Samantha Bee "Episode 5143"

#Jimmy Kimmel Live! "George Floyd's Death, Trump's Stupidity, Sean Penn & Healthcare Hero Surprise"

*Late Night with Seth Meyers "Episode 0968A"

#The Late Show with Stephen Colbert "Live Show; Chris Christie; Nathaniel Rateliff"

 

SNL still has the best and most impressive direction of the bunch. Before COVID limited the production, Last Week Tonight had some of the best bit segments. A Black Lady Sketch Show is another sketch show I've heard good things about. Pretty much all the B-Team are shows I've heard praised more for their writing.

Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)

 

Outstanding Directing For A Variety Special

Nominees

*Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones

*62nd Grammy Awards

*Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: "All In The Family" And "Good Times"

*Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show Starring Jennifer Lopez And Shakira

*73rd Annual Tony Awards

 

B-Team

Aziz Ansari: Right Now

*Conan Without Borders: Ghana

John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch

Mike Bribiglia: The New One

*Ramy Youssef: Feelings

 

Most of the eligible Variety Specials are stand-up, which is much more about the writing than the direction, so this one pretty easily goes to the Nominees most years. However, this year they failed to nominate John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch. That is unacceptable, even though the Grammys, Tonys, and Super-Bowl Halftime Show are strong annual nominees.

Winner: B-Team (Narrowly)

 

Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series

Nominees

#The Daily Show With Trevor Noah

*Full Front al With Samantha Bee

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

*Late Night With Seth Meyers

#The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

 

B-Team

*At Home With Amy Sedaris

*Desus & Mero

#Jimmy Kimmel Live!

*Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj

Saturday Night Live

 

I can't find a weak link in this Nominee field. I've been told Desus & Mero are probably deserving of a spot, but I'm comfortable with what they did pick.

Winner: Nominees (Dominant)

 

Outstanding Writing For A Variety Special

Nominees

*Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones

*Hannah Gadsby: Douglas

John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch

*Patton Oswalt : I Love Everything

*Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby

 

B-Team

*Bill Burr: Paper Tiger

*Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh

Iliza Shlesinger: Unveiled

Mike Birbiglia: The New One

*Ramy Youssef: Feelings

 

Chappelle? Check. Sack Lunch Bunch? Check. Gadsby? Check. Oswalt? Check. Yeah, this group is pretty solid. I've heard great stuff about Gulman's The Great Depresh. Burr and Birbiglia are some of the best pure writers of stand up out there. I need to check Ramy's special out, but if his show is any indication, I'm sure it's formidable. Shlesinger is also still quite good, even though she is starting to hit the point where her audience approval going in overpowers her actual joke-writing. This one is close, but the Sack Lunch Bunch was just too damn good.

Winner: Nominees (Narrowly)

 

Outstanding Variety Talk Series

Nominees

#The Daily Show With Trevor Noah

*Full Front al With Samantha Bee

#Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

*The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

 

B-Team

*Desus & Mero

*Late Night With Seth Meyers

*The Late Late Show With James Corden

*Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj

#CONAN

 

Again, I had to work to even fill a B-Team. Desus & Mero comes highly recommended. Conan O'Brien is the grandfather of the category at this point. Seth Meyers' Late Night is always getting praised as a hidden gem. The lineage of the Nominees are too strong though. 4 of the 5 have Daily Show ties (including Last Week Tonight, which I continue to believe is the class of the category). The other nominee is Jimmy Kimmel Live! and that guy has evolved spectacularly.

Winner: Nominees (Dominant)

 

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series

Nominees

*A Black Lady Sketch Show

*Drunk History

Saturday Night Live

 

B-Team

*At Home With Amy Sedaris

*Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready

#Whose Line Is It Anyway?

 

It's a thin category, as you can tell by only having three nominees. The Nominees include SNL, so my work is done.

Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)

 

Outstanding Variety Special (Live)

Nominees

77t h Annual Golden Globe Awards

*Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: "All In The Family" And "Good Times"

The Oscars

*Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show Starring Jennifer Lopez And Shakira

*73rd Annual Tony Awards

 

B-Team

*2019 American Music Awards

*Comedy Gives Back Laugh Aid

*Everything Was Fine:The Good Place Finale Special

*62nd Grammy Awards

*The 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards

 

I watched or thought about watching all the Nominees. I really didn't consider any of the B-Team, and that's a list that I assembled. OK, maybe I should've watched that Good Place Finale Special.

Winner: Nominees (Dominant)

 

Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)

Nominees

*Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones

*Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize For American Humor

*Hannah Gadsby: Douglas

*Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours To Kill

John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch

*Tiffany Haddish: Black Mitzvah

 

B-Team

Aziz Ansari: Rich Now

*Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh

*The Kennedy Center Honors

Mike Birbiglia: The New One

*Ramy Youssef: Feelings

 

I think you're picking up on my logic by now. While the B-Team is full of stuff I like or would like had I watched them, only the Nominees have something I love (John Mulaney  & The Sack Lunch Bunch - seriously, watch it).

Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)

 

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7-1 Nominees

We really don't need 5-6 nominees in any of these field, except maybe Special Writing. The fields aren't that deep.