The 72nd annual Emmy award nominees were announced today, starting with a painfully slow and awkward announcement ceremony hosted by Leslie Jones with virtual presenters Laverne Cox, Tatiana Maslany, and Josh Gad.
The reality TV nominees were less painful. Sure, once again, given dozens of options, the Television Academy stuck with many of the same shows and people. But there were several new shows nominated—Love is Blind, Cheer, We’re Here, Tiger King, to name a few—plus a shake-up in the reality host category.
RuPaul’s Drag Race was nominated for 10 awards, tied as the 11th most-nominated show (with The Handmaid’s Tale and Mrs. America). The franchise had three more nominations for its related shows, Untucked (2) and Out Of The Closet (1).
The reality shows that had five nominations or more were Queer Eye (7), Cheer (6), The Voice (6), Tiger King (6), and McMillion$ (5).
In the reality host category, only two of last year’s nominees are the same: RuPaul and Making It co-hosts Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman. The others are all new—and all teams: the hosts of Queer Eye, Shark Tank, and Top Chef, plus Nicole Byer.
I don’t quite understand how Shark Tank’s stars are “hosts,” except that they ask questions, including ones producers prompt them to ask through their earpieces.
In the reality competition category, there was one major addition, The Masked Singer, while American Ninja Warrior and The Amazing Race, both nominated last year, were not nominated this year. (TAR could not have been, as it did not air a new season last year.) So yes, 60 shows were eligible, and the Television Academy members picked the same ones, again, except for a buzzy and popular new network competition.
Here are the nominees in seven major unscripted TV categories, but for all nominees, including technical awards—for example, Survivor: Winners at War was nominated in cinematography and editing categories—see the full list of nominees [PDF].
Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series
- American Masters, PBS
- Hillary, Hulu
- The Last Dance, ESPN
- McMillion$, HBO
- Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem And Madness, Netflix
Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series Or Special
- Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, Netflix
- Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath, A&E
- Ugly Delicious, Netflix
- Vice, Showtime
- The World According To Jeff Goldblum, Disney+
Outstanding Casting For A Reality Program
- Born This Way, A&E
- Love Is Blind, Netflix
- Queer Eye, Netflix
- RuPaul’s Drag Race, VH1
- The Voice, NBC
Outstanding Structured Reality Program
- A Very Brady Renovation, HGTV
- Antiques Roadshow, PBS
- Love Is Blind, Netflix
- Queer Eye, Netflix
- Shark Tank, ABC
Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program
- Amy Schumer Learns To Cook, Food Network
- Cheer, Netflix
- Kevin Hart: Don’t Fuck This Up, Netflix
- RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, VH1
- We’re Here, HBO
Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Competition Program
- Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Making It
- Nicole Byer, Nailed It!
- Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness, Queer Eye
- RuPaul, RuPaul’s Drag Race
- Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary Shark Tank
- Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, Top Chef
Outstanding Competition Program
- The Masked Singer, Fox
- Nailed It!, Netflix
- RuPaul’s Drag Race, VH1
- Top Chef, Bravo
- The Voice, NBC
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