The 12 Biggest Snubs of the 2019 Emmy Nominations

Normally I love nomination days, especially the morning the Emmy nominations are announced because it kicks off the long awards season ahead. But there’s always a downside. And there’s especially a downside when it comes to television.

In the crazy saturated television landscape — over 500 scripted shows aired in the 2018/2019 eligibility period — the love is both widespread and spread thin. Certain shows inevitably rise to the top when it comes time for nominations, and everything else seems to slip through the cracks.

I wasn’t disappointed by today’s nominations, but there were definitely some snubs.

You’re The Worst— There’s been so much talk of rewarding excellent shows for their last seasons (Game of Thrones; Veep), but still no love shown by the Television Academy for Stephen Falk’s dramedy You’re The Worst. The series’ fifth and final season was everything fans of the show could have hoped for and more, and the finale managed to provide a happy ending that stayed true to the pessimistic nature of the show.

Catastrophe— Speaking of rewarding final seasons, why haven’t we shown any love for Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s Catastrophe? The fourth season was particularly strong, especially given the challenging task of addressing Carrie Fisher’s death. I wish there were more episodes of Catastrophe coming soon, just as I wish the TV Academy had seen fit to acknowledge this incredible show.

Ramy— In such a crowded landscape, I’m not surprised that this many incredible comedies were left off the list, but I do lament the fact that Ramy didn’t get a single nomination. In the first season of a groundbreaking — one might say historic — show, Ramy Youssef gave us intelligent writing about a subject matter no one else in TV is touching on and incredible performances from the entire cast. Maybe they’ll get lucky with round two.

Dead to Me— Christina Applegate was nominated for her turn as Jen, a grieving widow who finds an unlikely friend after her husband’s accidental death, but the show was left off the Best Comedy Series list. It’s a shame because the 10-episode first season was a tidal wave of comedic, dark fun.

Shrill— Another snub for Hulu. While I did think the first season of “Shrill” was dreadfully short (at just six half-hour episodes), it was a strong freshman season of a show that feels just as important in showing diversity as Ramy. Aidy Bryant plays Annie in the series, which is based on Lindy West’s memoir of the same name, and she is a charming, affable underdog of a protagonist. It may have gotten buried in the many, many comedy shows, but I’ll be rooting for “Shrill” in the coming years.

Homecoming— The first season of this adaptation skillfully set itself apart from its source material, while also maintaining the core of what made the podcast so good. Every shot is carefully planned and executed, and the interesting use of aspect ratios helps the storytelling in a visual way. With Julia Roberts at the helm, Stephan James, Bobby Cannavale, and Sissy Spacek, the cast couldn’t have been better, and the acting was great. There will be another chance for Homecoming with season two, but such a strong freshman showing should have been enough.

The Haunting of Hill House — This one hurts me a little bit, if only because Hill House affected me so much. I’m not usually one for horror, but in the first season of Netflix’s anthology the scares came second to the compelling, moving family drama. It was made incredibly well (shout-out to the sixth episode, in particular), and the writing stayed strong through all 10 episodes. I’ve been meaning to watch The Haunting of Hill House again since my first binge last fall, so maybe this snub gives me the perfect excuse (if only so I can praise it all over again).

Maniac — While I didn’t think Emma Stone or Jonah Hill did anything groundbreaking with their performances in Maniac, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy the crazy ride of this limited series. I had hoped to see Cary Joji Fukunaga’s roller coaster mini series in the Best Limited Series category, the Writing category, or the Directing category. It was a weird, interesting, vibrant spell of episodes that kept you in its trance until the final scene.

Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) — I do think Jane the Virgin should have been nominated every year of its five-season run, but I’m willing to overlook that and instead focus on Gina Rodriguez’s incredible performance as the titular character. Gina is one of those special actors capable of handling drama and comedy, emotion, slapstick, magical realism, and monologues (I mean, come on! That seven-minute monologue!). Gina’s been the heart of the show for its entire run, and this season is no different.

Aya Cash (You’re the Worst) — Okay, okay, okay: Aya Cash really should have been nominated for You’re the Worst’s second, third, or even fourth seasons. But her final go as the complicated, amazing Gretchen Cutler was no less impressive. Aya has always handled her character with such deftness, never belittling Gretchen’s high-maintenance personality in any way. Gretchen approaches marriage in the final season, and Aya skillfully handles every emotion she feels leading up to the wedding.

Susan Kelechi Watson (This Is Us) — I’m so pleased with the other nominations for Dan Fogelman’s show, but absolutely cannot believe that Susan Kelechi Watson was left off the Supporting Actress list. During season three of This Is Us, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth face their toughest challenge yet, and Susan is the backbone of the storyline when audiences begin to doubt Randall. She’s had complete control over Beth’s personality from episode one, and really comes into her own during this season (watch “Our Little Island Girl” to see what I mean).

D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) — The Good Place finally broke into the Best Comedy Series category, and hats off to Ted Danson for his second nomination, but the Supporting Actress category was missing an important person: D’Arcy Carden. As the all-knowing, not-human-but-human-looking, sometimes emotional Janet, Carden often outshines her fellow cast members. The incredible ninth episode of the season is all Janet, all the time (aptly titled: “Janet(s)”), in which Carden plays Janet, and also every other character disguised, temporarily, as Janet. The episode was nominated for Writing, but Carden deserved a nom for this episode alone, not to mention her work in the rest of the season.

Other Snubs:

Catch-22 — One more Hulu snub for the list. This Clooney-produced series was so well done. Definitely enough for a Limited Series nom, if not any acting nominations for its leading men.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — Another final season show that probably should’ve been recognized for this musical number alone.
Hiam Abbass(Ramy) — That standalone episode about Maysa, Ramy’s mother, was enough for a nomination in my book.
Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) — Paula has been the emotional core of Crazy Ex-Girlfriendsince the beginning, and I loved watching her come into her own this season, with a great performance by Donna Lynne Champlin.
Justina Machado (One Day At A Time) — Watch the final episode of season three and you’ll know why Justina’s on my list.
Bobby Cannavale (Homecoming) — With the difficult task of portraying David Schwimmer’s character from the podcast, Cannavale somehow managed to make the TV version of Colin equally, and even more, annoying.

None of the photos in this post are my own.