How some Emmy categories lost and others gained nomination slots

Yahoo

2 days ago

Emmy nomination voting started Thursday, but voters won't get to fill out as many names in some categories as in previous years. When nominations are announced July 15, there will be the fewest nominees in the lead acting categories since 2008. That was the last year all acting categories had five slots before the Television Academy expanded to six. In 2020, the TV Academy mixed things up again with a sliding scale. Excluding Best Drama Series and Best Comedy Series, which are fixed at eight slots each, the number of slots per category will be determined by the number of submissions.
Since then, some of the lead categories across drama, comedy, and limited/TV movie have gotten six slots. Last year, drama and comedy leads had six, while limited leads had five. This year, however, barring a tie, all of the lead categories will have five slots for the first time ever under this system.
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The lead races are the only categories that saw the number of submissions dip from last year. The limited/TV movie supporting categories will drop to six from seven. Best Limited/TV Movie Writing will shrink to five. Best Talk Series will go from four to three slots, due to just 13 submissions this year. And while the number of slots is unaffected — still five — Best Limited Series only had 33 entries this year compared to 49 in 2024.
On the other hand, some categories gained slots: The comedy supporting races will go from six to seven. The drama guest ones will increase from five to six. And drama directing will bump up to seven. The other major categories will have the same number of slots as last year.
So how did some categories lose a slot and others gain?
SEE 2025 Emmy nominations voting: Here's the number of slots in the major categories
Overall, there are 600 submissions across all the program categories this year, 14 fewer than last year. In just drama, comedy, and limited series, there are 228 entries, one fewer than last year. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out this had led to the decrease in slots. The submission decline isn't surprising as we're now in the second post-strikes Emmy cycle, and lots of productions are still recovering from the industry shutdown or were just shut down altogether. In 2023, there were 309 submissions across drama, comedy, and limited series.
In terms of leads, there will always be fewer leads of shows in general compared to supporting cast members. The comedy lead categories last year were supposed to have five slots, but they ended up with six due to a tie. Some shows might have one true lead but a big supporting cast. And with fewer shows, there are fewer leads. This season, some of the biggest shows also have large ensembles or supporting casts, like The White Lotus, which has always submitted its actors in supporting, or The Pitt, which only counts Noah Wyle as a lead. The Last of Us is also fielding supporting players for the first time alongside its leads Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal (and don't forget, lots of fans don't think he should submit in lead due to his diminished presence in Season 2).
The drama lead categories came very close to scoring six slots. You need at least 81 submissions, and drama actor had 77, while drama actress had 75 (only one category needs to hit the threshold because of a parity rule). It might make one wonder why don't studios submit as many performers as possible or why don't more performers (or their reps) pay the fee and self-submit to try to clear the thresholds and get as many slots as possible. But if a show is canceled, it's a tough call to make, for networks at least, whether to invest in submissions, let alone a campaign. Some do, some don't. Starz, for example, did not submit the canceled The Serpent Queen, and none of the actors self-submitted either.
Comedy Central
The roughest drop is arguably Best Talk Series only getting three slots, but it's also reflective of the waning number of late-night shows over the years and the end of such shows as Conan and The Late Late Show with James Corden. Per TV Academy rules, for categories with eight to 19 submissions, the number of slots is determined by dividing the number of submissions by four and rounding to the nearest whole number. Thirteen submissions means three slots. Had there been 14 submissions like last year, there would be four slots. It's another blow to the late-night community, which in 2022 successfully lobbied for the category to retain a fifth slot.
Last year, The Daily Show won Best Talk Series over Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. So one of these shows will now be boxed out.
This year's talk series submissions are The Daily Show, Everybody's Live with John Mulaney, Hart to Heart, Have I Got News For You, Hot Ones, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Midnight Snack with Julie Chan, Real Time with Bill Maher, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Very Important People, and Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.
In 2023, the TV Academy rejiggered the variety categories and moved seven-time champ Last Week Tonight with John Oliver from variety talk series to the revamped Best Scripted Variety Series category, where it beat Saturday Night Live and A Black Lady Sketch Show. Last year, Last Week Tonight and SNL were the only nominees in scripted variety series, which is likely to be the case again this year. There are only six submissions, sending the category to peer group review. Those with 70 percent approval will get a nomination.
The comedy supporting categories gained a slot, but it nearly didn't happen. Best Comedy Supporting Actor had 163 submissions, barely surpassing the 161-entry threshold for seven slots. Had it not done so, there would've been six slots again in the comedy supporting categories as supporting actress only had 141 submissions.
Best Drama Directing is also getting seven slots, which is not that surprising. First, there was also a rule tweak this year that paved the way for more directing submissions. A director or directing team can now enter multiple submissions per category if they're for different shows. Previously, they could only submit one entry per category. Now, they will be able to submit an episode from each show they directed per category.
Second, a bunch of shows over-submitted here. If you're nomination-competitive, it's best to be conservative with submissions — one or two episodes, maybe three if you're a top-tier show — as to not vote-split. Numerous dramas submitted four or more episodes in directing, including The Boys (five), House of the Dragon (five), Yellowjackets (five), Your Friends & Neighbors (four), Will Trent (six), and Doctor Odyssey with a whopping 11. These shows will probably not get a directing bid, but they did their greater part in ensuring more slots for everyone. Maybe other categories will take note next year?
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