SO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

Our awards editor welcomes you to the SAG Awards’ vast small-screen landscape

By Jack Smart

Dear SAG Awards Nominating Committee member,

The time has come to reflect on the past year of television. What do nominators need to know about the 2021 awards landscape’s rules, players, and major shifts? Which individuals and ensembles should be honored in 2022? Is there room for some surprises on nomination day?

Before we dive in: Congratulations on being one of this year’s 2,500 SAG Awards Nominating Committee members. It’s your job to use the nominating window to sift through 2021’s TV programming and raise up its best ensembles and individual actors. What TV is eligible? Specific rules apply, but

PAULINA ALEXIS, DEVERY JACOBS, D’PHARAOH WOON-A-TAI, AND LANE FACTOR ON “RESERVATION DOGS”

any scripted season that aired at least four episodes in the U.S. between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2021, is fair game. It’s a challenge, yes, but it’s also an honor you won’t have the chance at again for eight years, so embrace it!

If you feel like there’s a lot of content out there, you are right! Although pandemic-induced delays mean this season’s eligibility window is shorter than usual, there are still many series to choose from in this golden age of TV. Projects like “Succession,” “The Morning Show,” and even “Dexter” made triumphant returns, while fall premieres “Only Murders in the Building,” “Maid,” and “Hawkeye” are likely to capture some nominators’ attention. It’s a particularly bountiful time for the limited or anthology series format; while “Mare of Easttown” and “The Underground Railroad” vied for Emmys earlier in the awards season, projects like “The White Lotus,” “Impeachment: American Crime Story,” and “Nine Perfect Strangers” added themselves to the SAG-eligible list.

SAG-AFTRA isn’t the only voting body in town that recognizes standout TV. The Film Independent Spirit Awards just added small-screen project honors last year. The Gotham Film & Media Institute’s awards are seen as the season’s opening look at worthy TV contenders and an indicator of where winds might blow. This year, new productions like “Squid Game,” “Reservation Dogs,” and “It’s a Sin” found themselves among the nominees. Don’t get your hopes up for the usual bellwether that is the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globe Awards, though; the televised presentation has been nixed. Instead, we’ll get the Critics’ Choice Awards on Jan. 9, 2022.

Going into this season, consider casting the widest possible net. Remember how voters at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards neglected to spread the love? Even with today’s abundance of TV talent, “The Crown” completed a near-sweep of drama categories, while “Hacks” and “Ted Lasso” claimed the majority of comedy prizes.

Past SAG Award winners such as “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “This Is Us,” and “The Kominsky Method” regularly appear on ballots for a reason, of course; but in putting together your lists of 2021 contenders, we hope you recognize worthy casts who tend to fly under the radar. “Mythic Quest” is a brilliant expansion of the workplace ensemble comedy, for example. And don’t forget genre-forward entries like “Evil,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” and new series “Foundation” and “The Wheel of Time.” And “Squid Game,” Netflix’s epic entry from South Korea, reminds us that, more than ever, foreign-language series deserve consideration, too.

Given this TV buffet, I encourage you to sample channels and platforms you wouldn’t normally watch. Question your comfort zone and inherent biases. Ask friends, family, and strangers on the internet for their favorite lesser-known watches. Remember, too much good TV is a champagne problem—so drink up!

Sincerely,

Jack