• Nominations Succession, in the lead with 27 in an edition dominated by HBO
  • Emmy Awards 2022 Desperation, Déjà Vu & Drama (Made Up)

The Emmy Awards, the most prestigious in American television, arrive this year later than ever. The awards ceremony, which is traditionally held in September, was delayed this year due to the strikes of actors and screenwriters, which have now concluded, which also halted the Hollywood shooting schedule for months. It will be this Monday when we will know which have been for the more than 20,000 members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences of the USA the best television productions released between June 2022 and May 2023.

Among the candidates, there is everything: post-apocalyptic journeys, fictionalized true stories, galactic adventures, the machinations of rich families, comedic murders and busy restaurants. An endless number of proposals that bring together the best of the best and make up a good list of titles for our leisure time.

Succession vs. The Last of Us

In the premier category of the Emmys, Outstanding Drama Series, HBO looks like a winning horse, as it has four of its series among the eight nominees, including the two favorites. It will be difficult to snatch the accolade from Succession and its fourth and final season. The Murdochs' satire on the wealthy Roy family already won the award last year and also in 2020 - two of the three times it has been up for it; it couldn't in its first year against Game of Thrones – and both the series and its performers start as favorites.

Their strongest rival? The Last of Us, an adaptation of the prestigious video game of the same name that managed to give a twist to the zombie genre and elevate it to the realm of quality series. There will be a fight between Pedro Pascal and Brian Cox or Kieran Culkin, although Bob Odenkirk dreams of finally taking the prize for Better Call Saul after having lost up to five times. It's his last chance.

In the same way, the small but talented Bella Ramsay will face Sarah Snook, although Melanie Lynskey may take the cat to the water for Yellowjackets, a mystery fiction broadcast by Movistar Plus+ and which has been talked about very little in Spain for the level it has shown. House of the Dragon, The White Lotus, The Crown or Andor, the most powerful of the Star Wars series, will also fight to be the best drama, although with fewer options.

Comedy, the category that shines the most

Wednesday, which was crowned the most-watched series in Netflix history (with 252 million viewers, according to the platform), is up for the Best Comedy award, although it seems unlikely that it will win it. Abbott School, the latest great phenomenon of Yankee generalist television (its two seasons are available on Disney+) that follows the vicissitudes of a group of teachers in a public school in Philadelphia, is the favorite of a category especially competitive this year.

There's also The Bear, a frenetic portrait of a restaurant kitchen that has dazzled American critics -although, to tell the truth, it's more drama than comedy-, the sympathetic Only Murders in the Building and Prime Video's surprising Jury Duty, which mixes mockumentary with reality show. It is an experiment in which all the participants in a trial except one, the protagonist, know that everything is a lie, a farce that gives rise to hilarious situations.

And as iconic as Jenna Ortega's incarnation of Wednesday is, with viral dancing included, she won't have it easy against Quinta Brunson (Abbott School) or Natasha Lyonne (Poker Face).

A Sluggish Harvest for Miniseries

Miniseries, on the other hand, suffer from a significant drop in level compared to previous years. It's not that we don't find quality fiction among the nominees, but we come from editions in which this section concentrated the best of the year. In 2021, the excellent Mare of Easttown, I Could Destroy You, and Scarlet Witch and Vision bit the dust against The Queen's Gambit. Not the case this time.

Even so, the struggle is served between two Netflix products: Dahmer, the exhaustive portrait of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer that will most likely bring two of its actors, Evan Peters and Niecy Nash-Betts, to the stage, and Bronca, a comedy with an indie tone from the A24 studio -which swept the last Academy Awards with Everything Everywhere All at Once- in which Steven Yeun and Ali Wong establish a neighborhood war of different caliber with deranged characters. Daisy Jones & the Six, Fleishman is in trouble and Obi-Wan Kenobi are also out there, with hardly any options.

  • Emmy Awards
  • Series