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        <title><![CDATA[Emmys 2020 nominations needed more surprises, less same-old]]></title>
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            <media:title type="html">Emmys 2020 nominations needed more surprises, less same-old</media:title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Instant analysis is a slippery slope, but let&#8217;s face it: This year&#8217;s Primetime Emmy nominations offered few surprises.</p><p>This year&#8217;s menu of nominees — <strong>announced Tuesday morning</strong> by a raucous, overly enthusiastic Leslie Jones and presenters Josh Gad, Laverne Cox and Tatiana Maslany — includes an overabundance of &#8220;I&#8217;ll have the usual&#8221; nods. (Note to Leslie, for next time: &#8220;Ironside&#8221; was in a wheelchair, not &#8220;Perry Mason.&#8221;)</p><p>The line between broadcast, cable and streaming was erased some time ago, so that&#8217;s a nonissue, but for all the talk in 2020 about diversity and change in the TV industry, there was little in the way of shockers in this year&#8217;s crop of nominees. The terrific &#8220;Schitt&#8217;s Creek,&#8221; as expected, earned three well-deserved nods (for stars Eugene Levy, Catherine O&#8217;Hara and the show itself). But &#8220;Killing Eve&#8221; co-stars Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer (Best Actress, Drama)? Enough already. That series ran out of steam long ago. Ditto for the cartoonish &#8220;The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel&#8221; (which received nods for star Rachel Brosnahan and the series) and the knee-jerk nod for &#8220;Curb Your Enthusiasm.&#8221;</p><p>It was gratifying to see FX&#8217;s &#8220;What We Do in the Shadows&#8221; snare a nomination for Best Comedy series; it&#8217;s cleverly written with a cohesive — and very funny — ensemble cast featuring <strong>Matt Berry</strong>, <strong>Natasia Demetriou</strong>, Kayvan Novak, <strong>Harvey Guillén</strong> and Mark Proksch. Kudos to the Television Academy members for that one. And Mark Ruffalo <strong>was terrific</strong> in &#8220;I Know This Much Is True,&#8221; so I was glad to see his work recognized (Best Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie).</p><p>But those were few and far between. Did we really need nominations (Drama Series) for long-in-the-tooth &#8220;Better Call Saul&#8221; (which waited two years to drop new episodes), &#8220;The Crown,&#8221; &#8220;The Handmaid&#8217;s Tale&#8221; and &#8220;Stranger Things&#8221;? And what about &#8220;The Morning Show&#8221; (same category), which didn&#8217;t exactly set the world on fire when it premiered last fall on Apple TV+? That series earned a nomination for star Jennifer Aniston (Best Actress, Drama). Laziness on the part of the TV Academy voters? Perhaps. Or maybe they&#8217;re distracted by everything else going on in the world right now.</p><p>However, it was nice to see Disney+&#8217;s <strong>&nbsp;big launch series,</strong> &#8220;The Mandalorian,&#8221; snare a Best Drama nomination, even if we&#8217;re still not sure if that&#8217;s <em>really</em> Pedro Pascal in the titular role. (His face was never seen.) Unlike &#8220;The Morning Show,&#8221; &#8220;The Mandalorian&#8221; was a talker upon its premiere (Baby Yoda sound familiar?) and gave the newly launched streaming service a huge boost as a franchise series. And the academy voters were spot on in giving Zendaya her first Emmy nomination for the HBO teen drama &#8220;Euphoria.&#8221; Good on ya.</p><p>There&#8217;s really not much to say about the Best Variety Series or Best Competition Series — the fields for both are slim, so those nominees aren&#8217;t surprising. Although it was nice to see &#8220;Full Frontal With Samantha Bee&#8221; snare a nod.</p><p>When all is said and done, let&#8217;s just say this year&#8217;s crop of nominees does not bode particularly well for the Sept. 20 telecast on ABC, <strong>hosted</strong> (in some form or another) by Jimmy Kimmel. Last year&#8217;s Emmy broadcast dipped to a historically low 6.9 million viewers, continuing a years-long trend.</p><p>I don&#8217;t think this year&#8217;s crop of hopefuls will staunch the ratings hemorrhage.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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