The Better Call Saul Effect
Happy Emmy voting week, Television Academy readers! Submitted your ballots already? Still frantically bingeing all of the nominees? The task of simply, accurately voting for the best TV of the year has become rather Herculean, so you won’t see me judging your methods for getting the job done. Though, friendly reminder: The clock is ticking.
I’m David Canfield, and with voting for the big winners of the year running through Monday, we’re headed into the most pivotal weekend of this very long campaign season. It’s looking like last year’s very predictable slate of results, from The Crown’s sweep to Ted Lasso’s grand debut, has given way to a more intriguing mix this time around. In limited series, is it Dopesick or The White Lotus? Can a hot newbie like Severance or Squid Game dethrone Succession? And is Abbott Elementary the kind of Hollywood Cinderella story that can really take it all the way? We’ll save predictions for another time (erm, newsletter), but now is the time to ask these big questions.
As I wrote this week, the biggest wild card I see possibly impacting the results is Better Call Saul. The AMC drama’s superb final season concluded on Monday—conveniently, or rather very intentionally and strategically, just as voting was getting going—and was accompanied by a kind of campaigning blitz, with nominated stars Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn giving tons of interviews individually and jointly. (One highlight was their appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!,during which guest host Al Franken played a clip of Seehorn’s incredible final-season work, and asked her, gobsmacked, “How do you do that?”) This final season was popular, acclaimed, and profoundly sentimental, wrapping the Breaking Bad saga that began 14 years ago. And the show has never won a single Emmy! You have to think some voters want to give either its actors or writers—or both!—some kind of farewell embrace.
In this final week, we also caught up with two of this TV season’s biggest discoveries, in Murray Bartlett and Hoyeon.My colleague Rebecca Ford spoke with the latter Squid Game scene-stealer, who’s coming off of an upset SAG Award win to compete in a tough category that counts Seehorn, Succession’s Sarah Snook, Ozark’s Julia Garner, and Yellowjackets’ Christina Ricci—whom I also interviewed this week for Little Gold Men—as the biggest threats. It’s one of many categories that genuinely feels up in the air and ripe for a surprise, a nice change of pace for an awards show that played it very safe last September.
We’ve also featured some legends of the medium, like John Wells and Connie Britton, going over their decades of Emmy-recognized work, as part of our Highlight Reel series. And for those Seth Meyers fans out there, Tara Ariano spoke with the late-night host about finally cracking that variety-talk-show category, which is due for some fresh blood in the winner’s circle too. All of which is to say, if you’re torn on who to pick in a few of these categories—which, come on, you should be—we’re happy to point you in some unexpected, but worthy, directions. We’re almost at the finish line; think a little outside the box.
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