JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The nominations for the 77th Emmy Awards were announced today, and the series with the most nominations is Apple TV+'s mind-bending, sci-fi-tinged office drama, "Severance." The show features Adam Scott as an office worker facing off against a cultish corporation, Lumon Industries.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SEVERANCE")
ADAM SCOTT: (As Mark Scout) My wife's being held prisoner at Lumon, and I just got brain surgery in my basement. How have you been?
SUMMERS: Now, there are lots more highlights, including loads of nominations for series like "The Studio," "The Penguin" and "The White Lotus." Here to help us sort through all of it is NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric Deggans. Hey.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hi.
SUMMERS: All right Eric, so let's start off with the nominations for best TV drama, "Severance" - of which I will just say I am a fan - was the drama with the most nominations, at 27 total. But you tell me. Why do you think it came out on top?
DEGGANS: Well, I agree with you. "Severance" is one of the most innovative series on TV, and it's focused on these characters whose memories are severed between work and home. The only question I had when it came to the Emmys was whether enough voters might have seen the series 'cause Apple TV+, they sometimes struggle to get wider attention. But the show nabbed lots of nominations, including the one I was pulling for, maybe you were pulling for - Tramell Tillman, nominated for best supporting actor in the drama for playing the world's most put-upon middle manager, Seth Milchick. Here's a clip of him on the show, apologizing to the character played by Scott for doing something terrible to him. Let's listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SEVERANCE")
TRAMELL TILLMAN: (As Seth Milchick) I locked you in a room like an animal, Mark. As an unsevered man, I'll carry that knowledge the rest of my life.
DEGGANS: And alongside "Severance," best drama nominees included Disney+'s Star Wars' series, "Andor," Max's "The Pit," HBO's "The White Lotus." But there were two big snubs, Netflix's "Squid Game," and the final season of Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale." They both got shut out in this category.
SUMMERS: Let's turn to comedy series now. It looks like another Apple TV+ show, "The Studio," got the most nomination (ph). It kind of looks like Apple's streaming service did pretty well this year.
DEGGANS: They surely did. They got key nominations for shows like "Slow Horses" and "Presumed Innocent." But in comedy, "The Studio" earned 23 nominations, tying the record for comedy nominations. It was set just last year by FX's "The Bear." And, you know, I was really struck by how far "The Bear's" nominations total went down this year. And they got 13 nominations, which sounds like a lot until you consider that they got 10 more the year before. We also saw nominations for comedies that experts expected to be popular with Emmy voters, like ABC's "Abbott Elementary," Max's "Hacks" and Netflix's "Nobody Wants This."
SUMMERS: I mean, love a good surprise. I know you do, too. We're already talking about them, Eric. Were there any other nominations which really surprised you?
DEGGANS: Well, Uzo Aduba got nominated as best actress in a comedy for the White House-set show "The Residence," which I love, but it was a series that Netflix canceled. It was great to see people like Harrison Ford, Kristen Bell and Jake Gyllenhaal get their first Emmy nominations. As a comic book nerd, I love seeing HBO's "The Penguin," which was the origin story of the Batman villain, get the most nominations for a limited series. They got 24. And I was really excited to see Owen Cooper, this young kid with no professional acting experience, nominated as best supporting actor in a limited series for Netflix's drama about a teen accused of killing a classmate, "Adolescence."
SUMMERS: All right, last thing, we've got to talk about the snubs. Who didn't get nominated that you think should have?
DEGGANS: Oh, boy, Diego Luna, Natasha Lyonne, and a snub that hit me hardest, the YouTube series "Hot Ones" was not nominated for best talk show. Instead, they went with the typical people, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, "The Daily Show." The Emmy academy is still a little traditional when it comes to talk shows.
SUMMERS: That's NPR TV critic Eric Deggans talking about the Emmy nominations that were announced today. The 77th Emmy Awards ceremony will be telecast September 14 on CBS. Eric, thank you so much.
DEGGANS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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