'Shogun' leads all Emmy nominees with 25 and 'The Bear' sets comedy series record with 23

‘The Bear’ went on a tear at Wednesday morning’s Emmy nominations with a comedy-series record 23 and ‘Shogun’ led all nominees with 25 in a dominant year across categories for ‘FX’.

Nominations for the ‘The Bear’, up for its second season in which its rag-tag band of sandwich makers tries to create an elite restaurant, included best comedy series and best actor in a comedy series for Jeremy Allen White - both awards it won at January’s strike-delayed ceremony - along with best actress for Ayo Edebiri, who won best supporting actress last time around.

It was also boosted by a bounty of guest acting nominations, including Jamie Lee Curtis and Olivia Colman, two of many Oscar winners who landed nominations.

‘Shogun’ took full advantage of the absence of last year's top three nominees - ‘Succession’, ‘The White Lotus’ and ‘The Last of Us’ - to dominate in drama and give ‘FX’, with 93 overall nominations, the kind of strong year often reserved for ‘HBO’, which even in this ‘off’ year received 91.

Its nominations included the ‘Best Drama Series’, the ‘Best Actress in a Drama Series’ for Anna Sawai and the ‘Best Actor’ for Hiroyuki Sanada.

The show shook up the drama race when its makers said in May that despite reaching the end of the story of James Clavell’s novel about political machinations in early 17th century Japan, they would explore making more than one season, shifting the critical darling from the limited series category to the more prestigious drama one.

‘True Detective: Night Country’ was a bright spot for ‘HBO’, which lost ‘Succession’ to retirement and is between seasons on ‘The White Lotus’ and ‘The Last of Us’.

The show, a semi-spinoff of the ‘True Detective’ franchise, led all limited or anthology series nominees with 19, including a ‘Best Actress’ nomination for Jodie Foster for playing a police chief investigating mysterious deaths in the darkness of a north Alaskan winter.

Kali Reis, who plays Foster’s investigating partner and rival on the show and is nominated for the ‘Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series’, joins Lily Gladstone, in the same category for ‘Under the Bridge’, as the first Indigenous women to get Emmy acting nominations. D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai of ‘Reservation Dogs’ becomes the first Indigenous actor to be recognised for lead with his ‘Best Actor in a Comedy’ nomination.

The only previous Indigenous acting nominee, according to ‘Variety’, was August Schellenberg, who received an Emmy nomination in 2007 for his performance as Sitting Bull in the ‘HBO’ TV movie ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’.

‘True Detective’ is expected to vie for the ‘Best Limited Series’ Emmy with ‘Fargo’, which had 15 nominations and gives ‘FX’ a shot at a triple crown if its favourites’ win drama and comedy series.

‘Netflix’ has its own pair of contenders in the category. ‘Baby Reindeer’ became a minor cultural phenomenon and Emmy upstart in recent months. It got 11 nominations, including best actor for star and creator Richard Gadd. ‘Ripley’, a black-and-white retelling of Patricia Highsmith’s novel ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’, got 13 nominations including acting nods for Andrew Scott and Dakota Fanning. The shows along dozens of acknowledgements in craft and comedy special categories, helped ‘Netflix’ lead all outlets with 107 nominations.

Foster was another of the Academy Award winners to get Emmy nods, along with fellow multiple Oscar winner Meryl Streep, up for the ‘Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy’ for ‘Only Murders in the Building’; reigning ‘Best Supporting Actor’ winner Robert Downey Jr, up for the ‘Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series’ for playing several characters in ‘The Sympathizer’ and Gary Oldman, up for the ‘Best Actor in a Drama Series’ for ‘Slow Horses’.

‘Only Murders’, a perennial Emmy nominee for ‘Hulu’ with few wins, outdid itself this year with 21, behind only ‘Shogun’ and ‘The Bear’. Leads Steve Martin and Martin Short were nominated for ‘Best Actor’ and in her first Emmy nomination as a performer, Selena Gomez got a nod for ‘Best Actress’.

Old Emmy favourites also returned. Jon Hamm, who had one Emmy from 16 previous nominations, most of them for ‘Mad Men’, got two nominations, one for the ‘Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series’ for ‘Fargo’ and another for the ‘Supporting Actor in a Drama’ for ‘The Morning Show’. His ‘Morning Show’ castmate Jennifer Aniston is considered by many the favourite to win the ‘Best Drama Actress’ Emmy to go with the comedy actress trophy she won for ‘Friends’.

And four-time Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub has a shot at his fifth for reprising his role as Adrian Monk in ‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie’.

Former ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘Bridesmaids’ co-stars Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph each landed the ‘Best Actress in a Comedy’ nominations for ‘Apple TV+’ shows about wealthy women: Wiig for ‘Palm Royale’ and Rudolph for ‘Loot’. Each also were nominated for their returns to host ‘SNL’.

Getting back to its traditional schedule, the show will be held September 15 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and air on ‘ABC’.

Many still-airing shows didn’t fall into this year’s eligibility window of June 2023 through May 2024, whether because of streaming and elite cable calendar quirks or the strikes - including ‘House of the Dragon’, ‘Bridgerton’, ‘Yellowjackets’ and ‘Severance’.

And, as happened last year, ‘The Bear’ has had an entire new season drop after the one that it’s nominated for on ‘Hulu’, the ‘FX’ streaming partner that was a major driver of viewers and voters for its shows.

‘The Crown’ with 19 nominations and ‘Hacks’ with 16 each make triumphant returns to the Emmys after their own years off. Each had especially acclaimed seasons.

Elizabeth Debicki is considered the closest thing in these Emmys to a lock to win the ‘Best Supporting Actress in a Drama’ for playing Princess Diana in the last days before her death in the sixth and final season of ‘The Crown’.

And Jean Smart will vie with Edebiri for the ‘Best Actress in a Comedy’ for the third season of ‘Hacks’, in which her comedian Deborah Vance tries to land a late-night show.

Quinta Brunson also was nominated in the category. ABC’s ‘Abbott Elementary’, which she also created, remains a driver of Emmy diversity with another slate of Black acting nominees, including Janelle James, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Tyler James Williams. And it remains the lone bright spot in the major categories for shows from traditional broadcast networks.

Ralph and fellow Emmy winner Tony Hale announced the nominations on Wednesday morning.