Friday, July 23, 2021
Fri-Yay: 2021 Emmy Nominations Heavy on New Comedies, Light on Traditional Sitcoms; That Damn Michael Che Gets a Second Season

by Vincent
The 2021 Emmy nominations were announced last week, and there are six series up for the Outstanding Comedy Series nominations. Those series are: black-ish, Cobra Kai, Emily in Paris, Hacks, The Flight Attendant, The Kominsky Method, Pen15 and Ted Lasso. If you haven't heard of most of these shows, you may not be alone - almost all of these series are either new or haven't been nominated previously. It's a fresh group of new nominees now that previous Emmy favorites like Modern Family, The Good Place, and Schitt's Creek have ended, and other favorites like Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel did not produce episodes during the eligibility period this year. Not only is it heavy on new series, but it's light on what one might call traditional sitcoms. Really, only black-ish can be called a traditional comedy, while the other shows are more in the "dramedy" category.
Because of this, it's really hard to guess which shows will win the Outstanding Comedy Series award. Traditionally, the Emmys like to award traditional comedies over "dramadies", although that's been changing with shows like Fleabag and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel taking home the top prize in recent years. Furthermore, not a single series nominated has previously won the award (although black-ish has been nominated many times). It sort of feels like a year where the Emmys struggled to pick series to get behind - reflecting what an overall down year it's been for sitcoms. It'll be interesting to see which direction the Emmys go in, because at this point I truly have no idea.
HBO Max has renewed the Max Original comedy series That Damn Michael Che for a second season. The series debuted in May of this year and stars Michael Che (Saturday Night Live). Season one is available to stream now. Season one of this groundbreaking new original comedy series uses sketches and vignettes to illustrate what it feels like to experience various everyday situations including racial profiling, unemployment, falling in love and more, from Michael's perspective.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Saturday, May 24
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 19)
Friday, May 23
- Milly Alcock (Sirens) - Watch Milly on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Michael Urie (Shrinking/Krapopolis/Partners), Jessica Williams (Shrinking/Love Life/Just for Kicks) and Luke Tennie (Shrinking) - Michael, Jessica and Luke are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That.../Divorce/Sex and the City/Square Pegs) - Sarah talks all things And Just Like That... on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Method Man (Method & Red) - Method Man talks about his new film Bad Shabbos on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) - Hannah talks about Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Joe Jonas (Jonas) - NBC's Today catches up with Joe sometime between 7-9am.
- Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kerry talks about Shadow Force on a repeat of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) - NBC's Today catches up with David in the 9am hour.
- Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel joins Sherri to talk about starring in the new film Juliet & Romeo on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Terri J. Vaughn (She the People/Mann & Wife/Meet the Browns/All of Us/The Steve Harvey Show) - Terri talks about starring in the new Netflix series She the People on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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