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5 takeaways from the 2025 Emmy nominations

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5 takeaways from the 2025 Emmy nominations

Britt Lower and Adam Scott in Severance. Both were nominated for Emmys Tuesday.

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Emmy nominations came out on Tuesday, and the winners will be announced on September 14. There are a lot of familiar faces, a few new ones, and a few … new old ones. (You can see the list here.) Here’s what we noticed.

Shows with big, well-regarded casts ran up their totals

Seth Rogen plays a flustered movie executive in The Studio.

Seth Rogen in The Studio.

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Severance and The Studio, both from Apple TV+, were the most-nominated shows on the drama and comedy sides, respectively. Severance received 27 nominations, and The Studio received 23. Of those Severance nominations, nine were for actors. Of the Studio nominations, 10 were for actors — including quite a run through the guest actor categories, where five men and one woman were nominated. The Studio and Severance were both very well-reviewed shows, too, but when you look at totals, it helps to have a lot of famous faces people admire. (See also: The White Lotus, which continues to crowd the supporting categories in drama.)

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Jeff Hiller and Bridget Everett in Somebody Somewhere.

Jeff Hiller and Bridget Everett in Somebody Somewhere.

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The supporting actor in a comedy series category has a couple of nice surprises

It will always be annoying that the Emmys never paid much attention to the beautiful, funny Somebody Somewhere on HBO. But in the show’s final year of eligibility, at least, they found room to recognize Jeff Hiller, who played Joel, and who gave one of the most distinctive, heartfelt, big-hearted performances of the season. They also recognized an up-and-comer named Harrison Ford — his first Emmy nomination ever — for his great work in Apple TV+’s Shrinking, which was one of the most disappointing snubs last time around.

Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobb in The Penguin on HBO.

Colin Farrell in The Penguin.

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The streaming players are always shifting

For a while, the big streamers at the Emmys were Netflix and Hulu, but Apple TV+, Max and Disney+ are all well-established in the awards game at this point. Apple TV+ has to be thrilled with the big showings for The Studio and Severance, plus Shrinking and Slow Horses and even the very so-so Presumed Innocent miniseries. HBO is still very popular among voters, but its presence is changing a bit. When it comes to big nominees, there are The White Lotus and The Last Of Us on the drama side, and those aired on traditional HBO. But then there’s The Pitt in drama series, and Hacks in comedy, and those were on Max, or what was then Max — in other words, they were streaming-only. (An outlier: The Penguin, which is competing in the limited/anthology series category, was developed for Max but ultimately did air on HBO.) Disney+ also got 14 nominations for Andor, and Netflix is still in there with Adolescence, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and with Black Mirror. Hulu’s top performer this year, at least by numbers, and excluding those FX shows like The Bear, is Only Murders in the Building, though Paradise did well also.

Ted Danson as Charles in A Man on the Inside. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour episode about the new series.

Ted Danson in A Man on the Inside.

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There are always some heartbreakers

There is a difference between the concept of a “snub” and a nod that just didn’t happen, but there’s always some very good work that goes unrecognized. As a big fan of The Pitt, I was disappointed not to see Taylor Dearden, who played Dr. King, nominated, and as a fan of Netflix’s A Man on the Inside, I would certainly have nominated that. There will be great consternation over Diego Luna and the rest of the cast not being nominated for Andor, often paired with eye-rolling over all those The White Lotus acting nominations, which do seem to be nearly automatic — you get on that show, you get nominated.

Tramell Tillman in Severance.

Tramell Tillman in Severance.

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The most fun comes from the first-time nominees

It’s always fun to see people get their first nods. There are established actors who just haven’t specialized in TV, like Harrison Ford, Colin Farrell (in The Penguin), and Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny (both for Monsters). There are surprising first-timers like Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, who have both been on TV for ages and were both finally nominated for Netflix’s Nobody Wants This. Exciting actors who are blowing up, like Tramell Tillman and Zach Cherry, both of Severance. The great Michael Urie, nominated for Shrinking and worth every vote; the marvelous Cristin Milioti, who’s been the best thing about several different shows and is nominated now for The Penguin.

And, of course, in the end, there are all those nominations for The Studio, which, as a show-business satire, would give a hefty side-eye to the whole process.

Lifestyle

Sunday Puzzle: Major U.S. cities

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Sunday Puzzle: Major U.S. cities

Sunday Puzzle

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On-air challenge

I’m going to read you some sentences. Each sentence conceals the name of a major U.S. city in consecutive letters. As a hint, the answer’s state also appears in the sentence. Every answer has at least six letters. (Ex. The Kentucky bodybuilders will be flexing tonight. –> LEXINGTON)

1. Space enthusiasts in Oregon support landing on Mars.

2. Contact your insurance branch or agent in Alaska.

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3. The Ohio company has a sale from today to next Sunday.

4. The Colorado trial ended in a sudden verdict.

5. Fans voted the Virginia tennis matches a peak experience.

6. I bought a shamrock for decorating my house in Illinois.

7. All the Connecticut things they knew have now changed.

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8. Can you help a software developer in Texas?

Last week’s challenge

Last week’s challenge came from Mike Reiss, who’s a showrunner, writer, and producer for “The Simpsons.” Think of a famous living singer. The last two letters of his first name and the first two letters of his last name spell a bird. Change the first letter of the singer’s first name. Then the first three letters of that first name and the last five letters of his last name together spell another bird. What singer is this?

Challenge answer

Placido Domingo

Winner

Brock Hammill of Corvallis, Montana.

This week’s challenge

This week’s challenge comes from Robert Flood, of Allen, Texas. Name a famous female singer of the past (five letters in the first name, seven letters in the last name). Remove the last letter of her first name and you can rearrange all the remaining letters to name the capital of a country (six letters) and a food product that its nation is famous for (five letters).

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If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, December 18 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.

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Lifestyle

The Frayed Edge: Are Fashion’s Sustainability Efforts Misplaced?

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The Frayed Edge: Are Fashion’s Sustainability Efforts Misplaced?
A disappointing COP30 deal was reached in Brazil, while floods across South and Southeast Asia showed exactly why quicker action is required. Meanwhile the EU watered down sustainability legislation yet again, this time targeting deforestation. In some positive news, bans on fur and misleading ‘green’ ads made headway.
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Lifestyle

‘Wait Wait’ for December 13, 2025: With Not My Job guest Lucy Dacus

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‘Wait Wait’ for December 13, 2025: With Not My Job guest Lucy Dacus

Lucy Dacus performs at Spotlight: Lucy Dacus at GRAMMY Museum L.A. Live on October 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

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This week’s show was recorded in Chicago with host Peter Sagal, guest judge and scorekeeper Alzo Slade, Not My Job guest Lucy Dacus and panelists Adam Burke, Helen Hong, and Tom Bodett. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.

Who’s Alzo This Time

Mega Media Merger; Cars, They’re Just Like Us; The Swag Gap

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Panel Questions

An Hourly Marriage

Bluff The Listener

Our panelists tell three stories about a new TV show making headlines, only one of which is true.

Not My Job: Lucy Dacus answers our questions about boy geniuses

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Singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus, one third of the supergroup boygenius, plays our game called, “boygenius, meet Boy Geniuses” Three questions about child prodigies.

Panel Questions

Bedroom Rules; Japan Solves its Bear Problem

Limericks

Alzo Slade reads three news-related limericks: NHL Superlatives; Terrible Mouthwash; The Most Holy and Most Stylish

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Lightning Fill In The Blank

All the news we couldn’t fit anywhere else

Predictions

Our panelists predict what will be the next big merger in the news.

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