Matt Cherniss, Apple TV’s Head of Programming at Apple, is in a good mood today — and for good reason. His streaming service has once again shattered its own record for Emmy nominations, and it did so with a notably lean slate of shows compared to its bigger rivals.
On Wednesday, the Television Academy announced 87 Emmy nominations for Apple TV, topping last year’s previous record of 81. Remarkably, this haul came in a year without “The Studio” or “Ted Lasso.” The secret? Two breakout newcomers: “Widow’s Bay” with 19 nominations and Vince Gilligan’s “Pluribus” with 18. The best news of all? They won’t split votes in the same categories — “Pluribus” is competing as a drama series, while “Widow’s Bay” was submitted as a (very) dark comedy.
MacDailyNews Take: That’s how “The Pitt,” yet another hospital show that we’ve all seen a thousand times, racked up so many Emmy wins last year: The superior “Severance” and “Pluribus” series canceled each other out.
Tony Maglio for The Hollywood Reporter:
And that’s exactly where my phone call with Cherniss began; read The Hollywood Reporter‘s Q&A with the Apple TV head of programming below.
[THR]: Make the case to me that Widow’s Bay is a comedy.
[Cherniss]: One of the best things about television right now is, I think, the variety of shows and the uniqueness of the creativity that’s out there, and that things don’t necessarily fit into a category maybe as simply as they did in the past. “Widow’s Bay” does a lot of things when you’re watching the show, right? It scares you, it makes you think, and it makes you laugh — and it makes me laugh a lot. And so you know where it sits as a category? I guess that the voters ultimately will decide, you know, what they feel is the best comedy, but I certainly think that it’s well-suited to be in that category.
It’s the only quote-unquote “Comedy” I won’t watch with the lights off.
Yeah, yeah. I think that’s right. I also think that there’s a heightened element to the show — and the genre — that leans it a little more into that category. The intention of the actors and the characters are a little bit larger than life at times that I think suits the comedy category for that show, in particular.
There are definitely humorous situations and performances, I will give you that.
I mean, look, if you’re doing a show that examines the human condition, anyway, and there’s no laughs in it, that’s going to be tough. And certainly, you know, we all are sort of acclimated to certain formats, right, driving these things? But, ultimately, I do think that “Widow’s Bay” is in the right place.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay” synopsis has always stated, “‘Widow’s Bay’ blends genuine horror with character-driven comedy.”
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
