Yahoo News Emmy Voters Face a Comically Existential Debate in the Best Comedy Series Race
In the comedy Emmys race, voters have to choose. Yes, on a literal level, they’ll have to choose between Abbott Elementary and The Bear and Barry and Ted Lasso as well as others. But there’s also a more existential choice on the table: a choice between optimism and cynicism.
On one hand, shows like Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso and ABC’s Abbott Elementary are about the essential goodness of people. In the former, nearly all the stuffy Brits have come around to the inspirational messaging of the coach from Kansas; in the latter, Philadelphia teachers are caring for kids and one another while trying to fend off an encroaching charter school that would make public education less equitable.
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But then, on the other hand, you have HBO/Max’s Barry, which proved in its final season to be more convinced than ever that humans are rotten to the core. Even the ostensibly sweet gangsters in Bill Hader’s pitch-black narrative go down morally reprehensible paths and, by the end, the messaging is more chilling than ever.
Then there are options that swim somewhere in the middle but lean to the side of skepticism with regard to humanity. FX/Hulu’s The Bear finds its hero returning home to Chicago following the death of his brother, with the idea of running the family Italian beef shop like a Michelin-starred kitchen — and all the cruelty that entails. Even Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel this year, with its flash-forward structure, tackled the fact that the eponymous comedian’s daughter resents her mother, who never really seemed to give a hoot about her kids.
Shrinking, which comes from Lasso‘s Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence, has some of that show’s “everyone is just trying their best” ethos, as co-creator and star Jason Segel’s character attempts to pull himself out of depression following the death of his wife.
So what will prevail? The good vibes of Lasso or Abbott? The menace of Barry? Or the grief-stained anguish of The Bear?
If the past couple of Emmys set any precedent, the sweet series have the upper hand. Lasso won the past two years for its first two seasons. Before that, Schitt’s Creek — another comedy that coasted on ideas of the benefits of community — triumphed.
It’s not that recent Emmys voters have always wanted their comedies to be without an edge. In 2019, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s acid-tongued and horny Fleabag took home the trophy, and the foul-mouthed political satire Veep had a three-year hold on the prize between 2015 and 2017. But the positive energy of Lasso, once it arrived on the scene, was seemingly irresistible. Charting the misadventures of an American football coach (played by co-creator Jason Sudeikis) hired to lead a team of soccer players in London, Lasso preaches kindness at every turn. By the end of its run, nearly every possible adversary — from owner Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) to onetime turncoat Nate (Nick Mohammed) — has become a friend yet again.
This year, however, Lasso could be defeated. Its third — and possibly last — season didn’t generate the same sort of fervor as its first two did. Meanwhile, Abbott Elementary, a series nominee in 2022 and now in its second season, has only grown in acclaim and might knock Lasso off.
Abbott is less explicit about its “be good to each other” messaging than Lasso is, but the altruism is baked into its premise, which finds creator Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues, a teacher in a budget-strapped public elementary school. Janine is maybe the most naive of her fellow instructors when it comes to the limits of their job, but they are all dedicated to the work they do, even when it’s difficult. (Well, all except the principal, Ava, portrayed hilariously by Janelle James. And even she comes around sometimes.) Abbott manages to be heartwarming without being cloying and has also resulted in genuine philanthropy.
And yet, this year it does feel like darkness is encroaching. Not only are some of Abbott‘s and Lasso‘s competitors more serious than funny, they also reflect a worldview that stands counter to these series that believe just a few people can enact big change.
Barry is the most brutal of the lot. From its start in 2018, Hader and Alec Berg’s show has been a violent saga about an assassin who stumbles into an acting class to take out a target and ends up falling in love with the craft. Throughout its run, there was a lingering question about whether Barry’s soul could be saved: Could show business lift him out of his willingness to take human life? The answer was ultimately “no,” and, to top off that perspective, Hader and Berg bid farewell to their character by letting him — in a sense — get away with everything. They constructed a disturbing ending in which the entertainment industry shapes a misleading narrative around Barry that’s so messed up, you have to laugh.
While maybe not as thoroughly nihilistic as Barry, The Bear is less focused on jokes than it is on wrestling with the grief of its protagonist, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White). He does eventually open up to collaborating with his talented sous chef, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), but he can’t fully unlearn the abusive culture of the restaurants he came up in or shake off the pain of his brother’s suicide.
The question of whether The Bear should actually be considered a comedy has been lingering over the race, but there’s cynicism even in the yuk-filled Maisel, which won for its first season in 2018. Amid all the Amy Sherman-Palladino punchlines, there’s also an exploration of the ways in which Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) floundered in her personal life on the way to success, as well as an honest approach to the downward spiral of Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby), initially portrayed as a comedian guardian angel for the heroine. Maisel is still a breezy choice compared to Barry or The Bear, but it’s not quite as sunny as Lasso or Abbott.
It’s easy to see why, in the COVID era, joy prevailed in the comedy category, the very name of which implies laughter. Audiences, and voters, were seeking something to bring them out of the global doldrums. So maybe, now that the world has opened up, people are ready to grapple with a program as unrepentantly grim as Barry. Or maybe they just want to reward the great teachers of Abbott Elementary.
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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