Emmy newcomers ‘X-Men ’97’ and ‘Blue Eye Samurai’ battle for Best Animated Program

The Emmys often gravitate towards established favorites in their nominations for Best Animated Program, as evidenced by the constant recognition of 35-year-old stalwart “The Simpsons,” which won for the 12th time in 2023. It can be a challenge for new shows to get on voters’ radar. But when they do break through with hard-fought nominations, in recent years the academy has been drawn to the shiny new objects. Perhaps that’s why this year’s front-runners, according to our early racetrack odds, are first-time nominees “X-Men ’97” (for the episode “Remember It”) and “Blue Eye Samurai” (for the episode “The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride”).

The programs that won on their first try in the last decade were “Over the Garden Wall” (2015), “Rick and Morty” (2018 and again in 2020), “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal” (2021), and “Arcane” (2022). This year there are actually three rookie nominees: “X-Men,” “Samurai” and surprise contender “Scavengers Reign” (“The Signal”). Repping the old guard are “Bob’s Burgers” (“The Amazing Rudy”) and the aforementioned “Simpsons” (“Night of the Living Wage”). Of those, “X-Men” is the current front-runner to win based on the combined predictions of Gold Derby users, as it was during the nominations round. We were less sure about “Samurai,” which we’d ranked on the bubble in fifth place. But now that it’s in, it has surged to second. So which will win, if either?

Thus far, “X-Men” maintains its lead with support from three out of four Expert journalists (with many more to come), seven out of 10 Gold Derby Editors, 21 of our Top 24 Users and 20 of our All-Star Top 24. “Samurai” trails with two Editors, one Top User and two All-Stars predicting it to upset. Meanwhile, one Expert and one Editor are predicting another “Simpsons” victory. Both “X-Men” and “Samurai” have the benefit of critical acclaim, comparable to some of the top live-action programs this season. “Samurai” has the advantage of streaming on Netflix, which has produced previous nominees in this category “Big Mouth” and “BoJack Horseman,” plus the winning series “Arcane.” “X-Men” is on Disney+, but this is only the second nomination for that streamer here, following Marvel’s “What If …” in 2022. Marvel shows have also had mixed results at the Emmys; none have won a top program award yet. But there’s a first time for everything.

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