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2 months ago
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Netflix content chief Bela Bajaria will be making a lot of pleasant phone calls today after the streamer landed 107 Emmy nominations across 35 different shows.
It’s not the streamer’s biggest nomination haul – that was 140 in 2020 – but it put it firmly in the lead with FX coming in a surprise second with 93 nominations, higher than HBO and Max.
There were sizeable hauls for British shows Baby Reindeer and The Crown, and Ripley, which it picked up after it had been produced, but Bajaria is most pleased about the diversity of its nominations.
Shows such as All The Light We Cannot See, Blue Samurai, The Gentlemen, The Greatest Night In Pop, Griselda, Love on the Spectrum U.S., 3 Body Problem and The Upshaws were all recognized, highlighting its “breadth” of programming, according to Bajaria.
“It’s amazing to see the nominations across 35 different titles, from animation to unscripted to docs, and obviously a strong showing from our UK slate so I’m really looking at the breadth of programming,” she told Deadline. “We really work with best-in-class creators across every different kind of genre of programming. And we know that our members, we have 270 million households, those members around the world have lots of different tastes and moods, and they love a lot of different genres. That is the strategy and that is what we want to do, we want to program everybody’s favorite show and lots of different genres.”
This highlights its diversity of genres, but Netflix was also nominated for a couple of diverse nominations that have never been achieved before.
Griselda star Sofia Vergara, in her first dramatic role, became the first Latina nominated in the “Lead Actress in a Limited Series” category and Nava Mau, one of the stars of breakout British series Baby Reindeer, became the first trans woman in Emmy history to be recognized in the supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie category.
There were also first nominations for Mau’s co-stars Richard Gadd, who created the show, Jessica Gunning, who plays the stalker, and Tom Goodman-Hill, Ripley’s Dakota Fanning, The Crown’s Lesley Manville and Dominic West.
Bajaria lauded Vergara and Mau. “When you can really try to help make history or have somebody new who hasn’t been nominated and breaks into a category to have their first nomination, this is really an acknowledgement and celebration of the creative process,” she added.
She also highlighted Guy Ritchie, who earned his first Emmy nominations for The Gentlemen, which picked up three including Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.
The Crown picked up 18 nominations for West and Manville, as well as Imelda Staunton, Elizabeth Debicki, Lesley Manville and Jonathan Pryce. Claire Foy, meanwhile, is nominated as Outstanding Guest Actress for her return as the ghost of a younger Queen Elizabeth II. Foy played the Queen in the show’s first two seasons.
The Crown has been nominated for Outstanding Drama Series ever year it’s been eligible but this year wasn’t necessarily a slam dunk for a nod, but Bajaria called its haul “incredibly rewarding”.
Similarly, Baby Reindeer’s nominations come as the show is mired in controversy and a lawsuit given its real-life similarities, but TV Academy voters didn’t mind that.
There were a few blows; John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s In LA was expected to break into the late-night talk category but didn’t and only received one nomination for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming.
Bajaria said she was “disappointed” but called him “incredibly talented” and “there’s more to do with John”.
She also highlighted the fact that The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady was nominated in Outstanding Variety Special (Live).
Elsewhere, there were nods for Avatar: The Last Airbender, Beckham, Big Mouth, Black Mirror, The Brothers Sun, Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer, Escaping Twin Flames, Girls5Eva, Jacqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees, Life on our Planet, Love Is Blind, Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and The Pool, My Next Guest with David Letterman and John Mulaney, Our Planet II, Queer Eye, Scoop, Squid Game: The Challenge, Stamped From The Beginning, Trevor Noah: Where Was I, Unfrosted and The Witcher.
But what does Bajaria make of the fact that it’s now a three-horse race for nominations, given FX’s record haul.
“Competition is good for creators and members. How it all stacked up is great, there’s amazing creators and filmmakers everywhere and it’s great to see all of them recognized,” she said.
“Today is a day of celebration and acknowledging them. It’s because of [our talent] that we can do all of this fresh, original TV and film that people love and so it really is enjoying that celebration with them and making lots of calls,” she added.
