<\/p>\n
\u201cSeverance\u201d is an outie. \u201cThe White Lotus\u201d has the no-vacancy sign up. \u201cAndor\u201d? RIP. \u201cThe Last of Us\u201d is in absentia, getting ready to tee up an Abby-focused third season<\/a>. Nathan Fielder is missing, probably up there somewhere, flying the friendly skies<\/a>. And last year\u2019s comedy series winner, \u201cThe Studio,\u201d<\/a> is away too, preparing to unleash a Madonnaissance<\/a> for its second season.<\/p>\n Which leaves the 78th Emmy Awards feeling a little … underwhelming.<\/p>\n The field for this year\u2019s Emmys probably won\u2019t produce any series nomination as egregious as \u201cEmily in Paris\u201d earning a comedy series nod largely as a result of pandemic-addled voters craving escapist comfort<\/a>, dreaming that they too might be able to visit the City of Light and cause a power blackout by plugging their American vibrator into a French electrical outlet<\/a>.<\/p>\n But … and how can I put this without offending the creators of some perfectly fine television that has, at times, delighted me and, at the very least, kept me company while I folded my laundry, brushed my dog and searched online for deals on airline flights?<\/p>\n Things are looking a little stale this year. Granted, the Emmys have made repetitiveness its bread and butter for decades now. Julia Louis-Dreyfus won six consecutive trophies for playing Selina Meyer in \u201cVeep.\u201d This year, Jean Smart will (spoiler alert) win her fifth straight Emmy for \u201cHacks.\u201d Smart would probably equal Louis-Dreyfus\u2019 run if \u201cHacks\u201d wasn\u2019t ending with its fifth season.<\/p>\n And to be clear, there\u2019s nothing wrong with many of the shows likely to run back their nominations. \u201cAbbott Elementary,\u201d \u201cOnly Murders in the Building\u201d and \u201cSlow Horses\u201d remain enjoyable enough. \u201cShrinking\u201d<\/a> still delivers warm, gooey vibes, much like newcomer \u201cRooster,\u201d the Steve Carell comedy that shares the bland sad-com DNA of co-creator Bill Lawrence. \u201cThe Diplomat\u201d? Fine, though I still can\u2019t shake the feeling that I\u2019d rather be rewatching Keri Russell in \u201cThe Americans\u201d than grinding through this soapy drama, particularly since the series now seems more interested in the wrong Wyler \u2014 Rufus Sewell\u2019s Hal and not Russell\u2019s Kate. (Reminder: It\u2019s called \u201cThe Diplomat,\u201d people.)<\/p>\n That nostalgic longing, a sort of \u201cWhere have you gone Tony Soprano \/ Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you (woo woo woo)\u201d creeps up on you watching TV these days, particularly if you\u2019re old enough to remember when shows had ambitions that aimed for something beyond mere diversion. There are exceptions \u2014 \u201cPluribus,\u201d Vince Gilligan\u2019s unnerving cautionary (?) tale about the hive mind, being the standout, its debut episode rating as one of the best pilots in television history, setting an impossibly high bar for what was to follow.<\/p>\n If \u201cPluribus\u201d can be read as a warning about AI\u2019s encroaching presence in our lives, the new season of \u201cThe Comeback,\u201d the Lisa Kudrow comedy returning after a dozen (!) years for a final go-round, views it in more serious terms. \u201cJust as reality TV was the \u2018almost extinction event\u2019 for scripted television at the time, it\u2019s the same feeling now about AI,\u201d Kudrow said at a news conference promoting the show. No wonder \u201cThe Comeback\u201d felt like one series this year immune to producers using AI to give script notes.<\/p>\n In that respect, the long gap between seasons of \u201cThe Comeback\u201d seemed time well spent. For other shows, including some mentioned at the outset, you can be forgiven for wondering why you have to wait so long for new episodes and then, when they arrive, whether you still care enough to take the time to watch.<\/p>\n \u201cAudiences invest their valuable time in a show and its characters, and when you have to wait two years or more for it to come back, you forget what happens, forget who they are, forget they were married to this person. \u2018Oh, they\u2019re cousins?\u2019 \u2018So that\u2019s his son, isn\u2019t it?\u2019\u201d \u201cSlow Horses\u201d star Gary Oldman told me recently, talking about his show\u2019s commitment to \u201ckeeping the factory open\u201d and returning each year.<\/p>\n Certainly, the Emmys feel the absence of these shows. That original \u201cextinction event\u201d Kudrow mentioned, reality TV? That\u2019s what\u2019s generating the cultural conversation right now. You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find a more irresistible character on television than Cirie Fields on the 50th edition of \u201cSurvivor,\u201d<\/a> or one more discussed than \u201cThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wives\u201d star Taylor Frankie Paul<\/a>.<\/p>\n There was one series that could have given the ceremony a lift, a show that sparked so much passion from its audience that the Golden Globes leaned into it earlier this year<\/a> to convince people to ignore its irrelevancy and boost its ratings.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, HBO Max\u2019s hockey romance drama \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d is not eligible for the Emmys, so we won\u2019t be seeing Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams among the acting nominees or engage in what assuredly would have been a fierce debate about whether they \u2014 and the frothy series \u2014 were worthy of such an honor. (The Peabody Awards believed it had plenty of merit.<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d isn\u2019t eligible because it\u2019s a production of the Canadian TV network Crave<\/a>, and Emmy rules state that \u201cforeign television is ineligible unless it is the result of a co-production (both financially and creatively) between U.S. and foreign partners, which precedes the start of production.\u201d<\/p>\n And while you can\u2019t begrudge any Canadian not wanting to be associated with America right about now, I\u2019m sure the good, undoubtedly polite folks behind \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d would have attended, if invited, as long as they didn\u2019t have to give up creative control of the series. (Which they aren\u2019t going to do \u2014 Season 2 will not be eligible for the Emmys, either<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Yes, rules are rules, and there\u2019s a whole separate ceremony, the International Emmy Awards<\/a>, for shows like \u201cHeated Rivalry.\u201d We wouldn\u2019t want the Emmys to turn into the Oscars and let in a bunch of international interlopers and become a global event<\/a>, would we?<\/p>\n Honest answer: Probably not. We have enough television to wade through as it is. But at the moment, it\u2019s hard not to wish that some of it were better.<\/p>\n Get exclusive awards season news, in-depth interviews and columnist Glenn Whipp\u2019s must-read analysis straight to your inbox.<\/a><\/p>\n This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n