Emmys give farewell hug to ‘Ozark,’ cold shoulder to ‘black-ish’ and ‘This Is Us’
Those Emmy voters are an unsentimental bunch, aren’t they? With so many beloved series bidding a farewell this year, so few earned proper kudos for their final seasons when the nominations were unveiled for the 74th annual Emmy Awards. All except one: Netflix’s “Ozark,” which has been growing in support since its first season and closes out its run with another year of double-digit nominations.
The fourth and final season of “Ozark” netted a lucky 13 bids this year, including one for Drama Series. It claimed four acting nominations for Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, two-time winner Julia Garner, and Tom Pelphrey for Guest Actor, who avenges his shocking snub for his turn on the third season; our official odds predicted all but Pelphrey, who we had in seventh place. The show scored important nominations for casting, directing (for Bateman), and writing, plus others in tech and design categories. “Ozark” exits the Emmy races with a lifetime 45 nominations and three prior wins. It had its most bids in a single year back in 2020, when it picked up 18 citations.
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Conversely, both “This Is Us” and “Killing Eve” underperformed for their swan songs. For “This Is Us,” our users expected nominations for past nominee Mandy Moore and prior winners Sterling K. Brown and Ron Cephas Jones, but all three missed out for the critically-acclaimed final episodes. The broadcast network series picked up just one nomination for Original Music and Lyrics. Over its six season run, the beloved show earned 39 bids and has thus far won four prizes.
While “This Is Us” looked strong ahead of the nominations because of its acclaimed send-off, “Killing Eve” stumbled across the finish line in terms of reception but nevertheless scored farewell kudos for its two leading actresses Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh. Oh therefore earns bids for each of the show’s four season; Comer missed out for the first season, but made up for it with a win in 2019. Despite these high-profile nominations, their total is down substantially from the eight it received for its prior season. The show walks away with 21 lifetime nominations and that single victory for Comer so far.
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No departing comedy wound up with a goodbye hug, either. “black-ish” missed Comedy Series, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Anthony Anderson. Our users predicted Anderson, in part because he had never previously missed for this show. The comedy leaves the airwaves with 27 total nominations including two this year for contemporary costumes and contemporary hairstyling and one lifetime win. Other comedies that underperformed including “Insecure,” which landed three nominations but only one above the line for actress Issa Rae, and “Grace & Frankie,” which received no nominations this year, even for legends Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda; the former has 14 lifetime noms, the latter 13.
