A Closer Look at the 2019 Emmy Nominating Ballots

Emmy voting began yesterday and for the next two weeks the nearly 20,000 television academy members will be making their final choices and filling out their ballots. This also means that the nominations ballots are now available on the Emmy website giving us a clearer look into the various categories.

Category placement and submissions have now been made final and we know which episodes were submitted for writing and directing as well as who was left off the ballot.

Random Observations

The biggest news from the ballots was the exclusion of Felicity Huffman for her performance in When They See Us. Huffman has been the subject of major controversy after pleading guilty in the college exam cheating scandal. Her husband William H. Macy, a perennial nominee, is on the ballot for Shameless and it will be interesting to see if he is nominated again or if voters will stay away from the family.

The other controversial choice on the ballots wasn’t who was listed but how their name was presented. For the first time in Big Brother history host, Julie Chen submitted herself as Julie Chen-Moonves as an act of solidarity with her husband Les Moonves who was accused of sexual harassment and abuse.

Because of a few minor tweaks to the Game of Thrones opening credits the Emmy frontrunner was able to once again submit in the Outstanding Main Title Design category. HBO is hoping to break nomination records for the final season and this will likely help in its total tally.

Beloved actress Alfre Woodard was submitted for her Netflix film Juanita in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie category. In the past, Netflix has been very clear that their films should be considered for Oscars not at the Emmys as TV movies. Is this a case of Netflix changing their minds or Woodard submitting herself?

Adding to the confusion around Netflix submissions the teen sensation To All The Boys I Loved Before was submitted for Outstanding Music Supervision but in no other category. It would have been interesting to see Netflix heavily campaign the popular romantic comedy especially since the category is begging for a hit.

George Clooney was submitted for directing the Hulu Limited Series Catch-22. (An earlier version of the Emmy nominating ballot incorrectly listed Clooney for the wrong limited series but has since been corrected).

RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni are taking over the acting categories at the Emmys! Fan favorite Valentina was submitted in Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for their performance in Rent Live! while Season Nine winner Sasha Velour was nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category for their work in The Bold Type.

As we previously reported a hanging episode rule has made room for Hulu to submit the last couple of episodes from last year’s season of The Handmaid’s Tale. The show is up for consideration in writing and directing as well as guest acting submissions for Bradley Whitford and Cherry Jones.

There was some speculation on the lead/supporting designation for the HBO Deadwood film and for the most part, everyone was submitted as expected with one exception. Molly Parker was submitted as a lead actress instead of supporting leaving Kim Dickens, Anna Gunn, and Robin Weigert in supporting.

ABC submitted the A-list cast of their recent variety special Live In Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s ‘All In The Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons’ in the limited series/tv movie acting categories. Based off of name recognition alone someone might be able to sneak in including Oscar winners like Jamie Foxx and Marisa Tomei and beloved actors like Woody Harrelson, Marla Gibbs, Wanda Sykes, Anthony Anderson, Jackee Harry, and Kerry Washington.

Writing/Directing Submissions

Year after year one of the most interesting aspects of the Emmy ballots are what episodes networks and producers choose to nominate in the directing and writing episodes. They also give a sneak peek at what shows strategically submitted episodes and which ones are in danger of being snubbed. In the past, shows have had a much easier time being nominated when they submit one or two episodes for consideration while those that submit a handful of episodes sometimes are completely shutout as the voters split their support.

Most networks submitted a single episode in the writing categories upping their chances for a nomination including Fleabag, Barry, Schitt’s Creek, Gentleman Jack, The Other Two, Killing Eve, black-ish, Pen15, Ozark, Shrill, Veep, Homecoming, Better Things, and Gentleman Jack. With strong choices by submitting two episodes each the following shows are in a food position as well: Ramy, Pose, The Good Place, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Superstore, and This Is Us.

Not too many shows submitted an exorbitant amount of writing episodes – most likely learning from past mistakes. CBS All Access submitted three episodes of The Twilight Zone hurting any chance it might have had. More surprisingly AMC submitted seven episodes of Better Call Saul which might make it hard for voters to rally behind a favorite.

All of the major limited series only submitted a sole episode for consideration for writing with the exception of Escape at Dannemora and The Haunting of Hill House which nominated two each. In the directing category, each limited series submitted a single episode except for Catch-22, Fosse/Verdon, and True Detective which all submitted two.

The directing submissions are a little different. Unlike the writing ballots (which don’t have any names attached) the directing ballots have the director’s name readily available. Because of this popular names are able to sneak in for shows that might not necessarily be Emmy frontrunners. This year the ballot includes well-known names like Ava DuVernay (When They See Us), Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg (Black Monday), Michel Gondry (Kidding), Patty Jenkins (I Am The Night), Cary Joji Fukunaga (Maniac), Adam McKay (Succession), and John Singleton (The Chi).

Shows that wisely submitted only one or two episodes for directing consideration include Veep, Bodyguard, Fleabag, Schitt’s Creek, Killing Eve, Barry, The Other Two, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Good Place, This Is Us, Ramy, and Homecoming.

Frontrunners The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Game of Thrones both submitted three episodes each.

Some of the shows that submitted quite a few episodes for directing consideration include Better Call Saul (9), black-ish (5), Insecure (5), Pose (4), and Ozark (4).