The Emmys aren’t until Sept. 14. But with the Gotham TV Awards announcing winners like Netflix’s “Adolescence,” Max’s “The Pitt,” and Apple TV+’s “The Studio” on Monday evening, the TV awards season has officially begun.
The Gotham TV Awards honor “breakthrough” series and performers, i.e. new shows and the actors who make them pop. Focusing on new shows gives Gotham juries an opportunity to not only highlight emerging talent, but signal to the wider industry which under-the-radar TV shows and actors deserve a closer look. The performing categories are also gender-neutral, resulting in a wide-ranging group of nominees.
In the years I served on Gotham nominating committees, we took care to include worthy shows and actors that weren’t getting the attention they deserved just yet. For example, the Gothams were the first to nominate Boston’s own Ayo Edebiri for her stellar work on “The Bear.” From there, she swept every major TV acting award — the Emmy, the Golden Globe, and the SAG — and became a true Hollywood staple. (I’m not taking full credit for the industry noticing Edebiri, but … OK, maybe just a little. Let me have this!)
This year’s Gothams awarded critical and commercial faves. While “The Pitt” won Breakthrough Drama, the category’s top performers were Ben Whishaw for Netflix’s spy drama “Black Doves” and Kathy Bates for CBS’s “Matlock.” In comedy, “The Studio” won for series, but the performance prizes went to actors Poorna Jagannathan of Hulu’s crime caper “Deli Boys” and Julio Torres of HBO’s surreal “Fantasmas.” While I doubt “The Studio” will have trouble catching Hollywood’s attention in the next few months, Jagannathan and Torres are perfect examples of deserving winners who might not have been considered without this highly visible boost.
Most intriguing is what happened in the limited series categories. As could’ve been expected, “Adolescence” dominated, winning Breakthrough Limited Series, Outstanding Lead Performance for co-creator Stephen Graham, and Outstanding Supporting Performance for Owen Cooper. But the jury for the supporting category nonetheless made the choice to have Cooper share his award with Milton native Jenny Slate, whose turn in “Dying for Sex” as a messy, fiercely protective friend is indeed stunning.
It’d take a lot for any show to topple “Adolescence” given its enormous impact and the fact that clean sweeps have recently become an Emmys norm (e.g. domination by shows like “The Bear,” “Ted Lasso,” and “Shōgun”). But the Gothams making room for Slate is a welcome reminder that there are always other shows that richly deserve recognition. Hopefully, the Emmys voters remember as much come nomination time.
Caroline Framke is a media analyst who previously served as Variety’s chief TV critic. Her other work can be found at The Atlantic, Vulture, Vox, and more. A Smith College graduate, Framke is currently based in New York City.
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