Can We Get Rid of the Emmy Sweeps This Year, Please?

Like stadiums full of sports fans carrying brooms to a game where their team has a chance to complete a sweep against an archrival, the Emmys have been home to a string of dominant showings in recent years. But while sweeps can be thrilling to fans of the shows that have run the table on Emmy night, can we just admit that they’re not much fun for most of us?

And with final voting now underway, can we remind voting members of the Television Academy that it might be a good thing to divvy up those golden statuettes?

First, a little background: In 2020, “Schitt’s Creek” became the first comedy series ever to go 7-for-7 at the Primetime Emmy Awards, winning all of the ceremony’s comedy categories: Outstanding Comedy Series, awards for directing and writing, plus the two for lead acting and two for supporting acting.

The next year, “The Crown” became the first drama series to do the same thing, and only the third show of any kind to score a Primetime Emmys sweep. (The first was 2004’s “Angels in America,” director Mike Nichols’ TV adaptation of Tony Kushner’s epic stage play set during the AIDS epidemic.)

There weren’t any 7-for-7 sweeps at the last Emmys show, which took place in January, but records for win consolidation fell anyway. “The Bear” won in six of the seven comedy categories (it didn’t have a nominee for lead actress), “Succession” won in six of the seven drama divisions (missing out in supporting actress) and “Beef” won five of the seven limited series races (minus both supporting categories).

Their combined 17 wins was the most by the top three shows in one year in Emmy history,  with the next most coming with 15 wins in 2020 (seven for “Schitt’s Creek,” four for “Succession” and four for “Watchmen”), 1981 (six for “Hill Street Blues,” five for “Taxi” and four for “Playing for Time”) and 1978 (six for “All in the Family” and “Holocaust,” three for “The Carol Burnett Show”).  This counts wins on the Primetime Emmys show only, not including additional wins at the Creative Arts Emmys.

Just as the trend in Emmy nomination voting has been to heap more acting nominations on fewer shows, the trend in final voting has been to shower a few shows with trophies. A decade ago, the three big winners on Emmy night had a combined seven wins: three for the TV movie “Behind the Candelabra” and two each for the comedy and drama winners, “Modern Family” and “Breaking Bad.” But since then, the top three have hit double digits every year except one, when “Fleabag,” “Game of Thrones” and “Chernobyl” combined for nine.

This year, only two shows are capable of sweeping, because only two are nominated in all seven of their categories at the Primetime ceremony. “The Bear” has nominees in all seven categories in the comedy field, while “The Crown” has all seven in drama.

But other programs can get close. In comedy, “Abbott Elementary” and “Hacks” are both only missing lead actor, while “Only Murders in the Building” fills all the acting slots but is missing directing and writing. In drama, “Shogun” has everything except supporting actress, while “The Morning Show,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and “Slow Horses” have five of the seven.

In the limited series categories, meanwhile, nothing can sweep. But all five Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series nominees are close: “Baby Reindeer” is missing only lead actress, “Fargo” just supporting actress and “True Detective: Night Country” only lead actor. The other two nominated shows, “Lessons in Chemistry” and “Ripley,” are missing two of the seven categories.

And in a way, that’s disconcerting. This is not to malign the programs that have gone into Emmy voting as favorites: “The Bear” in comedy, “Shogun” in drama and probably “Baby Reindeer” in limited series. But it should be OK to recognize that those shows are significant accomplishments while also feeling bad for their fellow nominees if the big three win in 15 of the 21 categories in which they’re eligible, as the current conventional wisdom suggests they will.

Sure, times change. But is it wrong to look back fondly just one decade, to the 2013 show when awards went to five different limited series or movies, five different drama shows and five different comedy series? We really don’t need brooms on the Emmy red carpet this year, except to clean up afterwards.

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