The nominations for the 2018 Emmy Awards are in and people are already picking over them with a fine-toothed comb. There were some shows that were so well done that it was expected they would dominate this nomination celebration.
The HBO series “Game of Thrones” which wrapped up its seventh season last year, led all comers with 22 nominations while “Saturday Night Live” and “Westworld” received 21 apiece, followed by “Westworld”, another high-quality HBO show.
Netflix was the leading network as far as the nods are concerned with 112 in total while HBO followed with 108. According to the New York Times, it was the first time in 18 years that HBO did not lead all networks in total nominations. That has to have the HBO brain trust shaking in their boats at the dominance of Netflix.
Shows with black cultural themes have been shown quite a bit of love in the past three years and this year is no different.
Black-ish and Atlanta are both up for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. As far as Outstanding Drama Series nods go, while Stranger Things, This Is Us and Westworld aren’t “black” shows in the traditional sense, each has at least one black lead. In the case of Westworld and This Is Us, several.
Singer John Legend gets a nomination for Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role in Jesus Christ: Superstar while Regina King’s commanding performance in Seven Seconds got her a nomination for Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.
Anthony Anderson (Black-ish) and Donald Glover (Atlanta) both received a nod for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series while Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta) and Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live) got nominations for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
As expected, and deservedly so, actresses Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish) and Issa Rae (Insecure) both were nominated in the category for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Zazie Beetz (Atlanta) and Leslie Jones (Saturday Night Live) were each given nods for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) and Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) were recognized for their outstanding contributions to their respective shows.
Thandie Newton continued the nomination domination of Westworld with her nod in the Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. RuPaul’s Drag Race was nominated in the Outstanding Reality Competition Series.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah was nominated for Oustanding Variety Talk Show. Last year, we witnessed the highest number of Emmy Award black Emmy Award nominations in the 68-year history of the event.
This year the number is slightly lower but appears to be indicative of Hollywood conceding the need to recognize quality black thespians as well as unique and sincere television interpretations of black culture.
