Two Huge Reasons Why Emmys Have Become a Joke
TV legend gets snubbed while late-night hack feted with nominations
Watch any episode of “Landman,” and you’ll come away with one thought.
Billy Bob Thornton is as good as it gets.
The veteran actor’s turn in the Paramount Plus show is everything binge-worthy TV should be – smart, compelling, unpredictable and engaging.
You can quibble about the rest of the program, and some do. Loudly. Thornton’s performance is sublime.
Not to Emmy voters, apparently.
The actor got ignored, again, for his work on the show’s second season. That’s part of a bigger issue, one tied to the most successful TV producer working today.
Taylor Sheridan.
The mind behind “Landman,” “Tulsa King,” “Yellowstone” and more massive hits got snubbed yet again by this week’s Emmy nominations.
It’s a recurring theme for Sheridan, and he’s been blunt about his reaction to his critics.
The feeling is mutual, apparently, but it’s bigger than a personality dustup. It’s a sign that the Emmys, like the Oscars and other major awards in the modern era, care more about politics and culture than excellence.
Sheridan’s shows aren’t trashy or thin, the kind of populist entertainment meant for the masses alone. He’s tapped into something profound within the viewing public, a sense of stories that aren’t being told anywhere else.
It’s the secret to his massive success. And it put a culture war target on his back, apparently. He’s even appeared on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Twice.
The horror, the horror (to certain communities).
It’s why a growing number of people pay less attention to the Emmys, Oscars and the like today. The fix, too often, is in. Even the far-Left Esquire called foul on yet another round of Sheridan Emmy snubs.
Need more proof?
The Emmy Nominations Love This Propagandist
“The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert just won 9 Emmy nominations, the most in the show’s decade-long run. The program’s previous nomination high? Five nominations.
What changed? Did the show get dramatically better over the last year? Did Colbert shake up the formula, adding inventive new bits to his show?
Or, did the far-Left host get canceled for losing CBS $40 million a year and become a faux free speech martyr in the Trump era?
CBS says $40 million Late Night loss to turn into $15 million profit after kicking Stephen Colberthttps://t.co/vgNpFXrva9
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 31, 2026
It’s really hard to say. Just kidding.
Emmy voters are sending a message tied to their political leanings. Full stop. To deny that is to suggest the sky isn’t blue.
Sheridan isn’t openly conservative. His work courts that demographic, telling tales that speak to their hopes, dreams and concerns.
And, sometimes, skewers the Left in ways no other program will.
The Emmy winners will be announced on Sept. 14.
Sheridan explained both his creative strategy and rationale for not getting any Emmy love in that same Variety interview referenced above.
“I’m pretty common and I’m going to tell stories that common people are going to understand. That’s most of America … You’re not going to win no Emmys with me, but I’m not trying to win Emmys. That’s not my goal. My goal is to sit somebody on their couch and move them, make them think, make them laugh, scare the shit out of them, excite them. That’s what I want to do, because that’s what I want from a show.”
Mission accomplished, but that’s an indictment of Emmy voters more than Sheridan.
It sounds like Taylor Sheridan has the right mindset, ignore the critics and entertain the folks! Things will work out fine that way.
Who needs these unwatched “awards” shows anymore? If no one fixes them, no one is going to watch them. Simplest logic ever.
Billy Bob is pretty damn awesome in anything I’ve ever seen him in. Even when it’s a smaller role. He’s pretty sanguine about how Hollywood works. I saw him on Joe Rogan’s show and he was talking about how he did get nominated for a Golden Globe for Landman. He wasn’t going to go, but his wife was all excited so he did go. When they got there, she kept talking about how it was exciting that he might win and he ended up telling her “Honey, it’s not gonna happen. We’re seated way in the back. They don’t seat people that are going to win way in the back.” The guy’s been around in Hollywood long enough to know how the game is played and he doesn’t seem to care. He just seems to enjoy working at his craft and isn’t worried about the BS accolades.
.
As to the Sheridan shows…I’ve yet to see one I didn’t enjoy. Some more so than others, but I can’t say as I ever thought any of them were bad. The guy writes great stories and very compelling characters. Far better than 98% of the crap that the rest of the industry cranks out.
I was ready to start a Billy Bob fan club after watching him in the first season of Fargo.
An Emmy is the equivalent of all those medals adorning some 85-year-old “military officer” from neck to ankle at a Kim Jong-un rally. As long as you tow the party line, you get the tin trinkets.
The various awards for the entertainment industry have been a joke for decades and has been nothing more than a “woke” unfair process filled with awards for the politically correct/agenda driven instead of the actual work/acting performed.
I’ve always been amazed that Sheridan’s shows ger produced and televised; generally speaking, his shows are decidedly conservative and this in a leftist environment. It’s curious–not really–that Hollywood loves the loot he generates but doesn’t have the stones to nominate him for even a single Emmy.
I dispute the “have become”… More like “Have been….
Reason one Hollywood producers.directors
Reason number two: Hollywood idiot actors with egos bigger than their worthless little butts can back up!
Ah, yes – telling stories about real people, touching on their concerns, their lives and their opinions… what a concept! Genius, I tell ya! Pure genius!
When I think of awards shows today, I think of that immortal quote from Gary Oldman describing the Golden Globes ‘ “It’s 90 nobodies have a wank.”