The Emmy B-Team: Drama Series

Welcome to the 8^th edition of the Emmy B-Team. The idea is simple. People like to complain about the Emmy nominations. They point out snubs, never consider what was actually on the ballots*, and say the Emmy voters did a bad job picking nominees. The skeptic that I am, I wanted to find out if the Emmy picks were really that bad. So, every year, I look through the Emmy nomination ballots. I create an alternate group of non-nominated performers/episodes/shows (my “B-Team”) and compare those to the actual nominees to see which is stronger. I’ll spare you the suspense: The actual Nominees always win handily even though I go into it each time thinking this is the year the B-Team has the edge. It turns out, a couple bad snubs don’t outweigh 3-5 good picks. Instead, the B-team 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 Ted Lasso 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.

 

I want to make it clear what my decision means for these match ups. What I’m asking is, would I replace the Nominees list with the B-Team. That is the only thing I am testing.

 

It's the last day of B-Teams. I'm not sure how this will play out. However, the drama field has thinned out since Limited Series picked back up.

 

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

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

 

Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series

Nominees

• *Bridgerton
• *The Crown
• *The Handmaid's Tale
• *Lovecraft Country
• *The Mandalorian

 

B-Team

• *The Boys
• In Treatment
• *For All Mankind
• *Pose
• P-Valley

 

The Nominees are packed with shows that had big worlds to fill out. The Mandalorian had new characters every week. Lovecraft Country too to a lesser extent. The Crown has to deal with a new era of characters. Bridgerton was built up almost entirely of fresh faces. The Handmaid’s Tale really explored the world for the whole season.

For All Mankind and Pose were more about aging characters up. The Boys did expand the universe well. In Treatment introduces a new cast each season by design (although, how is Casting being defined here?). P-Valley had to cast a world that not many shows do, so props to them.

Regardless of how you define casting, the Nominees have my top couple picks.

 

Winner: Nominees (Dominantly)

 

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series

Nominees

• *Bridgerton “Diamond Of The First Water”
• *The Crown “Fairytale”
• *The Crown “War”
• *The Handmaid's Tale “The Wilderness”
• *The Mandalorian “Chapter 9: The Marshal”
• *Pose “Series Finale”

 

B-Team

• *Bridgerton “Shock and Delight”
• *For All Mankind “The Grey”
• *The Handmaid’s Tale “Testimony”
• *Lovecraft Country “Sundown”
• *The Mandalorian “Chapter 13: The Jedi”
• *Pose “The Trunk”

 

The Drama field is shallow, as you’ll notice. I preferred “Diamond of the First Water” (the pilot) over “Shock and Delight” (episode 2) of Bridgerton. However, on The Handmaid’s Tale I found “Testimony” more interesting than “The Wilderness” (the season finale) and on Pose I found “The Trunk” more interesting than “Series Finale”. I rate Chapters 9 and 13 of The Mandalorian about the same. Roughly, that leaves it to whether I thought the pair of The Crown episodes or the Lovecraft Country premiere and For All Mankind finale were stronger. The Crown is a gorgeous show, but I’m going with the strong place setting of Lovecraft and international showdown of Mankind.

 

Winner: B-Team (Barely)

 

Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series

Nominees

• *The Boys “What I Know” (Prime Video)
• *The Crown “War” (Netflix)
• *The Handmaid's Tale “Home” (Hulu)
• *Lovecraft Country “Sundown” (HBO)
• *The Mandalorian “Chapter 13: The Jedi” (Disney+)
• *The Mandalorian “Chapter 16: The Rescue” (Disney+)
• *Pose “Series Finale” (FX Networks)

 

B-Team

• *Bridgerton “Diamond of the First Water”
• *For All Mankind “The Grey”
• *The Handmaid’s Tale “The Wilderness”
• *The Mandalorian “Chapter 15: The Believer”
• *Lovecraft country “Meet Me in Daegu”
• *Little Voice “Love Hurts”
• *Perry Mason “Chapter Three”

 

There were many episodes of In Treatment eligible. That’s a writing-heavy show, so my B-Team could be even stronger had I watched it. Looking at these nominees, I’m realizing this hasn’t been a banner year for drama TV writing. I’m not crazy about any of these. I definitely prefer the setup of the Lovecraft Country pilot (“Sundown”) over the more stand-alone “Meet Me in Daegu”. Chapters 13 and 16 of The Mandalorian were stronger than Chapter 15 too. “Home” is a more interesting episode of The Handmaid’s Tale than “The Wilderness”. Of the non-duplicates, I mostly have Perry Mason and Little Voice in the B-Team to fill it up. The For All Mankind finale is a great culmination of everything happening that season and the Bridgerton premiere sets the stage really well. I’m not a huge fan of the Pose, The Boys, and The Crown finales. I suppose I see the logic of nominating so many finales. Ideally, they bring everything together in the season and pay off the writing for the whole season. I wish they would submit more mid-season episodes though. It feels like we only end up awarding one kind of TV writing.

So where does that leave me? A little flustered and uncertain. It’s pretty even, but most of my first picks in head-to-heads for shows are in the Nominees group.

 

Winner: Nominees (Barely)

 

 

 

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series

Nominees

• *Charles Dance (The Crown “Gold Stick”)
• *Don Cheadle (The Falcon And The Winter Soldier “New World Order”)
• *Courtney B. Vance (Lovecraft Country “Whitey’s On The Moon”)
• *Carl Weathers (The Mandalorian “Chapter 12: The Siege”)
• *Timothy Olyphant (The Mandalorian “Chapter 9: The Marshal”)

 

B-Team

• *Bill Burr (The Mandalorian “Chapter 15: The Believer”)
• *Luke Kirby (Little Voice “Tell Her”)
• *Ethan Cutkosky (Law & Order: SVU “Post-Graduate Psychopath”)
• *Norm Lewis (Pose “Take Me To Church”)
• *Michael Angarano (This Is Us “One Small Step…”)

 

The Don Cheadle nomination is silly, but the rest of the Nominees are great picks. I basically filled my B-Team with the only roles I could fine. That said, I do like Ethan Cutkosky turning up on SVU to reprise a role he played in an episode years ago. Norm Lewis is pretty great in his Pose episode too.

 

Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)

 

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series

Nominees

• *Claire Foy (The Crown “48:1”)
• *McKenna Grace (The Handmaid's Tale “Pigs”)
• *Alexis Bledel (The Handmaid's Tale “Testimony”)
• Sophie Okonedo (Ratched “The Dance”)
• *Phylicia Rashad (This Is Us “I've Got This”)

 

B-Team

• *Rosario Dawson (The Mandalorian “Chapter 13: The Jedi”)
• *Katee Sackhoff (The Mandalorian “Chapter 16: The Rescue”)
• *Amy Sedaris (The Mandalorian “Chapter 9: The Marshal”)
• *Ming-Na Wen (The Mandalorian “Chapter 14: The Tragedy”)
• *Jackee Harry (Pose “Take Me To Church”)

 

OK. This is tough. McKenna Grace was really good on The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s amazing how it always feels like Bledel is in way more than half of every season too. I also can’t be mad at a Phylicia Rashad appearance on This Is Us getting some love. That said, Rosario Dawson owned that Mandalorian episode. Sackhoff, Sedaris, and Wen are really fun too. I think I have to go with the Nominees though, because B-Team is so dominated by The Mandalorian.

 

Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)

 

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series

Nominees

• *Tobias Menzies (The Crown)
• *O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid's Tale)
• *Max Minghella (The Handmaid's Tale)
• *Bradley Whitford (The Handmaid's Tale)
• *Michael K. Williams (Lovecraft Country)
• *Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian)
• *John Lithgow (Perry Mason)
• *Chris Sullivan (This Is Us)

 

B-Team

• *Daniel Bruhl (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier)
• *Chris Chalk (Perry Mason)
• *Justin Hartley (This Is Us)
• *Nate Coddry (For All Mankind)
• *Michael Dorman (For All Mankind)
• *Casey W. Johnson (For All Mankind)
• John Benjamin Hickey (In Treatment)
• Joel Kinnaman (In Treatment)

 

Had I seen P-Valley, I’m sure I could throw one or two of Dan J. Johnson, Tyler Lepley, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Morocco Omari, or Parker Sawyers in there too. I’m sticking with this B-Team, which is underwhelming. I’m sure Hickey and Kinnaman are great on their In Treatment episodes since they are half of each episode. The trio of For All Mankind actors are pretty good. That show is such an ensemble though. If they insist on continuing with the This Is Us nominations, what does Justin Hartley have to do to finally get nominated? Chalk is good on the fringes of Perry Mason. Bruhl was a much-needed breath of fresh air on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. So, not the strongest group.

Then again, who do I really love in that Nominees list? Weak field all around, which is crazy when you look at Supporting Actress. Anyway, the Nominees have most of the actors I’d pick, even if I don’t love any of them.

 

Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)

 

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series

Nominees

• *Gillian Anderson (The Crown)
• *Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown)
• *Emerald Fennell (The Crown)
• *Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid's Tale)
• *Ann Dowd (The Handmaid's Tale)
• *Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid's Tale)
• *Samira Wiley (The Handmaid's Tale)
• *Aunjanue Ellis (Lovecraft Country)

 

B-Team

• *Dominique Jackson (Pose)
• *Tatiana Maslany (Perry Mason)
• *Wunmi Mosaku (Lovecraft Country)
• *Susan Kelichi Watson (This Is Us)
• *Dominique McElligott (The Boys)
• *Sarah Jones (For All Mankind)
• *Krys Marshall (For All Mankind)
• *Ruth Wilson (His Dark Materials)

 

I promise you, more than just The Crown and The Handmaid’s Tale aired in the last year. As always, this field is particularly deep. For Pose, I picked Dominque Jackson’s inimitable performance instead of Indya Moore or Sandra Bernhard. I selected Tatiana Maslany’s showy Perry Mason performance, although I could just as easily have gone with Lili Taylor. I picked Winmi Mosaku for Lovecraft Country on the back of one crazy-as-hell spotlight episode, but Jamie Chung and Abbey Lee were good too. Susan Kelichi Watson is long overdue a nomination for This Is Us, although I could’ve picked the always reliable Chrissy Metz instead. Dominique McElligott is good on The Boys. Karen Fukuhara gives an impressive feral performance on the show too. If we’re looking to The Crown, Erin Doherty is quietly very good on the show. There are several P-Valley actresses I left off, because I’m not familiar enough with the show. And, get this, I selected just my favorite 2 For All Mankind performances for my B-Team. I could’ve filled the entire team with just that show: Jodi Balfour, Coral Pena, Wrenn Schmidt, Shantel VanSanten, Sonya Walger, Cynthy Wu. For a show that feels like it would be male-dominated, the female cast is nuts.

I love the depth and variety of this field, so it pains me two see 2 shows get 7 of the 8 nominations. That said, I do have to go with the Nominees on this. Gillian Anderson is undeniable. I could swap out the rest of the Nominees with B-Teamers, but Anderson is the only required inclusion.

 

Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)

 

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

Nominees

• *Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton)
• *Josh O'Connor (The Crown)
• *Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country)
• *Matthew Rhys (Perry Mason)
• *Billy Porter (Pose)
• *Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us)

 

B-Team

• Nicco Annan (P-Valley)
• Daveed Diggs (Snowpiercer)
• *Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale)
• *Joel Kinnaman (For All Mankind)
• Ian McShane (American Gods)
• *Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian)

 

Great lead roles are harder to come by these days. So many ensembles call everyone or most everyone supporting characters. This isn’t a crazy-strong group of Nominees, but the only B-Teamers I’d fight to add are Joel Kinnaman in For All Mankind and Pedro Pascal in The Mandalorian. And even they are a little questionable. Kinnaman is the sturdy center of the show. His part of the story is never what I’m eager to get back to. And, I do think Pascal’s work in The Mandalorian is underrated, but he is under a mask for most of the show.

 

Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)

 

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series

Nominees

• *Olivia Colman (The Crown)
• *Emma Corrin (The Crown)
• *Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale)
• Uzo Aduba (In Treatment)
• *Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country)
• *Mj Rodriguez (Pose)

 

B-Team

• *Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton)
• *Brittany O’Grady (Little Voice)
• *Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU)
• *Aya Cash (The Boys)
• *Erin Moriarty (The Boys)
• #Christina Hendricks (Good Girls)

 

I think this is the most inarguable list of Nominees. Colman shares the lead will with Corrin. It’s really impressive how many leads and featured supporting roles that show can fit in. Elizabeth Moss and Uzo Aduba are their shows. As long as those shows are on, it’s hard to ever leave them out. Mj Rodriguez was overdue a nomination for Pose and Jurnee Smollett often kept Lovecraft Country watchable when it got too weird.

Look, I like my B-Team. O’Grady is lovely on Little Voice. Hargitay navigated a very different SVU season that included COVID, BLM, and police reform. I’m a little surprised to see Cash submit as a lead on The Boys. She is what kept the season fresh though. None of the B-Team can replace anyone in the Nominees list.

 

Winner: Nominees (Dominantly)

 

Outstanding Drama Series

• *The Boys
• *Bridgerton
• *The Crown
• *The Handmaid's Tale
• *Lovecraft Country
• *The Mandalorian
• *Pose
• *This Is Us

 

B-Team

• *The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
• *For All Mankind
• *Gangs of London
• *His Dark Materials
• In Treatment
• *Little Voice
• P-Valley
• *Perry Mason

 

This put into perspective how shallow the drama field is this season. The only B-Teamers I’d fight for are For All Mankind – which has everything you want in a prestige drama – and Little Voice – which was wonderfully earnest. Most of the rest of the B-Team is filled with shows I watched and found OK or heard were good.

The Nominees have the required shows. The Crown and The Mandalorian are the two big achievements of the last year. Bridgerton is a finely produced populist hit. The Handmaid’s Tale and This Is Us are stalwarts that shouldn’t drop out in a year this weak. I wasn’t crazy about Pose’s final season, but again, in a year this weak, it would’ve been inexcusable to leave it out. The Boys and Lovecraft Country are fine too.

 

Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)

 

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9-1 Nominees

Wow. This year was really weak, huh? While I don’t love a lot of the Nominees this year, this proves to me that it has more to do with a lack of good options than voters ignoring good alternatives.