Illustration by Zohar Lazar Per longstanding annual tradition, The Hollywood Reporter granted anonymity to a member of the TV Academy — this year a male Emmy-winning member of the organization’s producers peer group — in return for candor about why he made the choices that he did on his Emmys ballot.
We share “Brutally Honest Ballots” not because the views of any single member are representative of the views of all 27,000 members; obviously, they are not. Rather, we believe that they can offer interesting and valuable insight into the sorts of things that are on voters’ minds as they decide what and whom to support.
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Unlike many of the other outlets that have shamelessly ripped off this feature without acknowledgment, THR waits until voting has closed before sharing any ballots and views.
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards will take place on Sept. 14, and will be preceded by the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 5 and 6. Follow THR.com for complete coverage.
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BEST DRAMA SERIES
I skipped The Gilded Age — I’d rather prep for a colonoscopy than watch another period drama. I also did not watch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — I’m completely Throne’d out. Your Friends and Neighbors, a dumb show about entitled people who I don’t care about, got nominated over Industry — what the fuck? I’m a fan of Vince Gilligan, but there’s a sort of arrogance to Apple TV shows, including Pluribus, where they’re like, “We don’t really care if you watch. We don’t need to grab you in the first episode.” For a couple of episodes I was like, “Is this show ever going to fucking get going?” And then I bailed. Slow Horses has had better seasons. Task is in the wrong category [more on this later]. I really liked Paradise — I could watch Sterling K. Brown read the phone book, and Shailene Woodley was a great addition. I loved this season of The Diplomat, and as a West Wing fan it was pretty great seeing Allison [Janney] and Brad [Whitford] back together. But The Pitt is the best show on television, made by people who have been working at such a high level for so long that they’ve forgotten more about how to make great TV than most people will ever know. There isn’t a bad piece of casting, or acting, or writing, or directing. And the fact that the show comes back after six months? Some shows go away for years between seasons and when they come back they’ve lost all of their momentum — The Old Man, for instance — but these guys are already well into season three. Just please don’t kill off Noah Wyle!
My vote: The Pitt (HBO Max)
BEST COMEDY SERIES
I’ve had it with The Bear. It’s not a comedy, it’s never been a comedy, it’s a terrific drama — although I didn’t love the way it ended — and it should be in the drama category. Only Murders in the Building is a big yawn for me. Margo’s Got Money Troubles? I watched one-and-a-half episodes, didn’t get it. I don’t love the stereotypes of Nobody Wants This — it leans into a bit of caricature for both Jews and Gentiles, and that makes me uncomfortable in the world that we’re living in now. I’ve loved Abbott Elementary and Shrinking, but these weren’t their best seasons. Enough of Hacks. This was an easy decision: Widow’s Bay is far and away the best. It came out of nowhere, and it had me from the first episode — it’s funny and clever, and I loved that, like The Pitt, it was put out in the old style of one episode a week, with everyone talking about it the next day and looking forward to the next one. Hiro Murai is probably the best director in television right now.
My vote Widow’s Bay (Apple TV)
BEST LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES
Two shows should’ve been nominated in this category that weren’t: I don’t understand how Death by Lightning got overlooked, and I think Task [nominated for best drama series] belongs in this category — it was created as a limited series, it aired as a limited series, and then they decided, “Well, maybe we’ll do another season and have it overlap with Mare of Easttown,” but the reality is that this show ended. If Beef is a limited series — and it is, with a mediocre installment this season — then Task is a limited series. I had a problem with Love Story, just as I did with Winning Time: if you take living people, turn them into characters, and then disparage them, you should be sent to an island and never allowed to make television again. I hated what they did to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West with Winning Time, and what Love Story did to Daryl Hannah was inexcusable. DTF St. Louis should’ve been called WTF St. Louis — Jason Bateman is lovely, but the show is terrible. Who are you supposed to be rooting for? Sarah Snook was great in All Her Fault, but I grew bored with the way the story was told. I voted for The Beast in Me because the performances were all strong and there were some good scares and twists in it.
My vote The Beast in Me (Netflix)
BEST MOVIE
This category is not “television movie” anymore, just “movie,” which is as close as we’re going to get to them acknowledging that it’s no longer about MOWs [Movies of the Week] and, for the most part, is now just filled with movies that weren’t good enough to get a theatrical release — what a fucking joke. I never heard anything about Miss You, Love You or People We Meet on Vacation, so I didn’t watch them. I refused to watch Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan — first of all, enough of Jack Ryan, and second, I hate Amazon, I don’t buy Amazon products and Jeff Bezos should stay the fuck out of our business. I could only get through half of Heads of State. But Remarkably Bright Creatures is the kind of television movie — not movie — that used to win: a small, quiet story, told beautifully, with wonderful actors. Sally Field is amazing in it, Lewis Pullman is a star, and the melding of puppetry, live and visual effects with that octopus was pretty amazing.
My vote Remarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix)
BEST VARIETY SERIES
I think it’s a stupid rule change [to now ask voters to select “yes” or “no” beside each nominee in this category to indicate if it is worthy of a win, and then award statuettes to any/all nominees that garner 90 percent “yes” votes; if none do, then the single highest-tallying nominee will be declared the winner]. Colbert and Kimmel are both an easy “yes” for me because I think our industry needs to speak up and defend First Amendment rights — what happened to Colbert and Kimmel is inexcusable. “Yes” also to Oliver — it’s a great show and I always vote for him. “Yes” to The Daily Show because of Jon Stewart, whose night [Stewart hosts Monday nights] is appointment television. And I’m sorry, but “no” for Saturday Night Live — it wasn’t a good season, the new people weren’t great, and the old people are getting a bit stale.
My vote “Yes” for The Daily Show (Comedy Central), The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS), Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)
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