Five acting nominations for The Crown' and only one for Reservation Dogs?

Emmy nods include welcome surprises, but also honours past-their-prime shows

- DEBRA YEO

Paulina Alexis, Devery Jacobs, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor and Elva Guerra in "Reservation Dogs." Woon-A-Tai received the comedy's only acting Emmy nomination.

Cheers and, if not jeers, sighs and eye rolls: that's my reaction to the 2024 Emmy Award nominations.

I watched the announcement Wednesday morning with other members of the Television Critics Association (TCA) from the Sherry Lansing Theatre on the Paramount Studios lot.

We cheered, loudly, for the "Shogun" nominations; same for "Reservation Dogs." But nominations for "The Morning Show" and "The Crown" were greeted with groans, even boos. We were more divided on series like "The Gilded Age" and "Slow Horses," both outstanding drama nominees: recognition that choosing the best TV is a highly subjective exercise.

But what seems to universally frustrate people who write about TV for a living is how tenaciously the Television Academy sticks to past-their-prime shows and snubs better, newer ones, recognizing them belatedly and incompletely, if at all.

So, for instance, you have "The Crown" competing for best drama -again for its lacklustre sixth and final season, plus reaping five acting nominations, while the wonderful "Reservation Dogs" finally scored a best comedy nod for its third and also final season, but just one acting nomination.

That's both a sigh and an eye roll right there.

It's a conundrum that seems unlikely to improve, especially as linear TV continues to decline and streaming services continue to multiply. We don't all watch the same shows at the same time anymore, so it's no big surprise the TV Academy homes in on the safe and familiar.