Image: Better Call Saul, AMC
Before the buzz leading up to the awards shows sets in, we wanted to look back on the nominees announced this week to see how they have resonated with audiences so far and what we can expect in the lead up to the big night for TV.
To get a sense of not only how much these shows have dominated audience attention but also how the general public has rated them, we looked at demand for each of the nominees’ latest season against each show’s IMDb rating. While this doesn’t necessarily predict how the Academy will vote, it shows how these series have resonated with audiences more broadly.
One show leads in both the amount of demand for its last season as well as its IMDb score - Better Call Saul. In the first 30 days following the premiere of part 2 of its final season last July, the show had 60 times the average series demand as audiences showed up so see how the Breaking Bad spinoff would end. Moreover, it had a rating of 9 on IMDb, a higher score than any of the other series shown here.
This might only serve to underscore how cheated by the Emmys process fans of Better Call Saul likely feel at this point. The show has racked up 46 nominations in previous years but has yet to win a single Emmy. For those hoping that this is the year for Better Call Saul (the show’s last chance!), know that it faces stiff competition in the Best Drama category.
Like Better Call Saul, Succession is going into this awards season fresh off its series finale. While it hasn’t attracted the same audience demand or as high of a rating on IMDb, it remains an industry favorite and already has 13 Emmys to its name. Another factor that may be working in favor of Succession is that the show’s audience demographics skew older than other nominees. If the pattern we measured with this year’s Oscars applies to the Emmys, shows that appeal to older audiences may have a leg up when it comes to voting.
Another HBO show in the running that has won critical acclaim, but maybe not the hearts of wider audiences is The White Lotus. Together with Succession, it dominated the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category. However, The White Lotus was the only nominee for Best Drama that didn’t have more than 30 times the average series demand in its first 30 days. It also had the second lowest IMDb rating in this category, just ahead of Yellowjackets.
Unlike with Best Drama, there is not a clear leader in the Best Comedy category. Two of the nominees had significantly higher demand than the rest though - Ted Lasso and Wednesday. Ted Lasso has been consistently popular, but Wednesday proved to be a breakout hit last year, taking audiences by surprise and ultimately having the most in-demand season premiere of any of the Best Comedy nominees. Audiences still rate Ted Lasso higher on IMDb where it holds an 8.8 and the show has a track record of cleaning up at The Emmys. Whoever wins this category, the face-off between a perpetually cheerful Ted Lasso and a macabre-loving Wednesday Addams makes for a humorous juxtaposition.
