Steve Pond: Things I Learned Perusing All 886 Pages of the Emmy Ballots

From actors playing themselves to Ryan Gosling singing "I'm Just Ken," here are things to watch for in this year's Emmy nomination voting [Things I Learned Perusing All 886 Pages of the Emmy Ballots]( The nominating ballots for the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards went up online last Thursday, the first day of voting. They were separated into 35 separate fields covering 106 of the Emmys’ 118 categories, with the other 12 categories not included on the ballots because they’re decided by juries or panels. The ballots covered a total of 886 pages, with a high of 239 pages for the 17 performer categories and a low of two pages for the 26 contenders in Outstanding Emerging Media Program. We’ve looked through the ballots, and here’s some of what we learned. Fewer contenders Fourteen categories, most notably Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, had more entries than they did the previous year. Three categories had the same number. And 89 categories, a staggering 84% of the included categories, had fewer entries than 2023. A LOT of “SNL” submissions Every one of the 20 “Saturday Night Live” hosts in Season 49 were submitted in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category, making up almost 12% of the 172 actor and actress contenders. For the record, the “SNL” host lineup consists of Nate Borgatze, Josh Brolin, Bad Bunny, Timothee Chalamet, Pete Davidson, Adam Driver, Ayo Edebiri, Jacob Elordi, Shane Gillis, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dakota Johnson, Dua Lipa, Kate McKinnon, Jason Momoa, Maya Rudolph, Emma Stone, Sydney Sweeney, Kristen Wiig and Ramy Youssef. And why not? Over the last five years, 17 “SNL” hosts have received Emmy nominations. You could argue that the all-in strategy means that “SNL” is single-handedly responsible for two categories having seven nominees this year. To trigger that many nominees, a category must have at least 161 submissions. Without the 12 male “SNL” hosts, the guest actor category would have had 160 entries, which would have stuck it at six nominees; with the hosts, it was bumped up to seven. And Emmy rules say that there must be gender parity in comparable categories – so Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, which only had 79 entries and would have been allowed only five nominees if it were judged on its own, got bumped up to seven as well to make the guest actor and actress fields equal.   The same strategy applied to “SNL” cast members, too. The performers who’ve been nominated before, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang, were submitted in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy category this year as well, and so were Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Colin Jost, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker – and, in the supporting actress category, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Punkie Johnson, Molly Kearney, Ego Nwodin, Sarah Sherman and Chloe Troast. That’s every one of the season’s 12 repertory players and all five of the featured players. Plus eight songs written for “SNL” episodes were entered in the Outstanding Music and Lyrics category. Ken! The variety choreography category also includes the Oscars, whose submission singles out two choreographed numbers: The dance that went with the In Memoriam film, which most people don’t remember, and the “I’m Just Ken” number by Ryan Gosling, Slash and others, which was pretty much everybody’s favorite part of the show. [Read the rest of the Awards Beat column here.]( [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- [WrapPRO logo] Discover why entertainment executives and professionals rely on the WrapPRO platform daily for exclusive coverage, analysis, deeper reporting, and access to VIP events & screenings throughout the year. [Subscribe Today]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( TheWrap | 2034 Armacost Ave Los Angeles, CA 90025 [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe]( [LiveIntent Logo]( [AdChoices Logo](