Four months after she was elevated to chairman of Disney Entertainment Television, Debra OConnell experienced her first Emmy nominations morning in the new gig — and it was a good one for the exec. The Walt Disney Company scored a total of 125 nominations at the 78th Emmy Awards — including 46 for ABC (the most of any broadcast network).
“It’s an embarrassment of riches,” OConnell told Variety. Besides ABC, the 125-nom tally includes Disney Kids & Family, FX, Disney Television Studios (20th Television Animation and 20th Television), Hulu Originals, National Geographic and Onyx Collective, as well as The Walt Disney Studios’ Lucasfilm, Marvel Television, 20th Century Studios, and Searchlight Pictures.
At ABC, perhaps the biggest surprise was the return of “Dancing With the Stars” to the reality competition series category, scoring its first nomination there in a decade.
“I mean, what a phenomenon it continues to be, and just an incredible creative showing of great work, and decades of evolving and continuing to be just so top of mind,” OConnell said. “When you think about a bit, I would say it’s an overdue nod. Just a great example of its cultural impact.”
Also, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” scored its 15th consecutive nomination in the outstanding variety series field (which combined talk and scripted variety this year), and its first writing for a variety series nomination in 13 years.
“Being nominated for writing, I’m so proud of Jimmy and the entire team,” she said. “It’s just a testament to wonderful creative all around.”
ABC’s noms were led by “Abbott Elementary,” which scored its fifth consecutive outstanding comedy series nomination, as well as acting noms for Quinta Brunson, Janelle James and Tyler James Williams. And in the game show lane, ABC picked up four of five nominations.
Hulu received 22 noms, including for “Paradise,” which scored seven nominations (including drama series) and “Only Murders in the Building,” once again up for outstanding comedy. National Geographic’s 12 noms included “Tucci in Italy” (outstanding hosted nonfiction series or special), as well as outstanding Documentary or nonfiction special and outstanding narrator for “Ocean with David Attenborough.”
The 59 Emmy noms for Disney Television Studios (encompassing 20th Television & 20th Television Animation) included “Bob’s Burgers” and “The Simpsons” for outstanding animated program; comedy noms for “Abbott Elementary” (shared with Warner Bros. TV), “Only Murders in the Building” and Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This”; limited or anthology series nominations for FX/Hulu’s “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” and Netflix’s “The Beast in Me”; and outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) for “The Muppet Show.”
Meanwhile, this repped the first year that FX’s linear and streaming outlets — which have separate oversight — shared all of its contenders day-and-date. That meant that OConnell’s linear side of the FX equation shared the 23 nominations with John Landgraf’s FX programming oversight, which also can be found on Huly. That included “The Bear,” “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette,” “Welcome to Wrexham” and “Alien: Earth.”
Previously, not all FX-branded programming ran on the FX linear channel. Now, all FX-branded series launch on FX linear and on Hulu at the same time. “It’s a really nice opportunity to meet audiences where they are,” she said.