People like to talk about records being broken at award shows. Last month at the Emmys, Better Call Saul broke a record of its own - the show to get the most Emmy nominations without a single win. The AMC show has been nominated an astounding 46 times since its premiere in 2015 and has yet to take home a statue.
(Technically speaking, the marketing team did win two Emmys in the Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama category for promotional material in 2017 and 2020, but those are awarded to the channel, in this case, AMC, and not to the show.)
Better Call Saul is set in the Breaking Bad universe centering on supporting character Saul Goodman as played by Bob Odenkirk. The show functions both as a prequel and a sequel to Breaking Bad; following the eponymous character’s trajectory from wayward Jimmy McGill to unscrupulous Saul Goodman to lonely and defeated Gene Takovic. Along the way, the show also filled in back stories for fan-favourite characters like cop-turned-enforcer Mike Ehrmantraut and drug kingpin Gustavo Fring, among others.
Better Call Saul easily lives up to the legacy of Breaking Bad (routinely touted to be one of the best TV shows of all time) on multiple fronts, with a significant segment of critics and fans deeming it to be better than its predecessor. However, when it comes to the Emmys, Breaking Bad was regularly awarded, resulting in 16 wins from 58 nominations. Show lead Bryan Cranston as chemistry teacher Walter White turned drug kingpin Heisenberg took home four awards from six nominations, one for each year the show was eligible. Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman, and Anna Gunn as Skylar White won 5 Emmys in the Supporting categories. Apart from its run in the acting categories, Breaking Bad also had wins in Best Drama, Best Writing, and a stunning four wins in the Best Editing category. It’s safe to say Breaking Bad was a dominating force at the Emmys.
Better Call Saul has largely the same behind-the-scenes creative force as Breaking Bad, and the team’s skill and craft has only improved in the intervening years. The show has developed its own signature style that fans have come to love. The writers have a sense of playfulness when they concoct elaborate cons for Jimmy/Saul/Gene to play on unsuspecting victims, inviting viewers to try and guess what is going to happen. The cinematography is stunning, equally adept at capturing the vast and dusty vistas of the New Mexico desert, as well as finding imaginative places to film a POV shot - the bottom of a dough mixer, the inside of a mailbox, and others. Critics routinely cite Better Call Saul as an example of a show operating at the highest level.
Die-hard fans of the show are understandably upset with the lack of Emmy wins, especially for long-time comedian Bob Odenkirk’s career-defining dramatic turn as the titular Saul Goodman. Last July, the actor suffered a heart attack while on the set of the show and was hospitalized, leading to an outpouring of love and well wishes from the industry and his fans. The last few years have seen fan-led campaigns for Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler resulting in her first nomination in the Supporting Actress category this year. Dejected fans can take heart in the fact that the closing six episodes of the show will still be eligible for next year’s Emmys, giving the TV Academy one final opportunity to honour the show. It would not be the first time the Emmys have waited till the last possible moment to recognize a show or a performance. Jon Hamm famously lost seven years in a row before finally winning the Best Actor trophy for his portrayal as Don Draper on Mad Men.
It’s hard to say why some shows succeed at the Emmys and others don’t. The TV Academy is not a monolith - its 20,000-strong membership consists of actors, writers, producers, TV executives, craftspeople and technicians, many of whom have their own shows in contention each year. Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing - Mad Men was on air at the same time as Breaking Bad, and most of those years Hamm lost to Cranston. Better Call Saul has overlapped with the last few years of Emmy juggernaut Game of Thrones, and the first few years of shows like Succession. While all the nominees for each award are deserving, there can only be one winner. If one were to look at each of the show’s 46 nominations individually, it’s likely that the results make sense. It’s just a little harder to swallow when viewed in the aggregate.
Better Call Saul has now ended its run, with an amazing finale that satisfied fans and critics alike. While an Emmy in any category would be much deserved recognition for the work that went into creating the show, that trophy would not make the fans love the show any more than they already do. Nor is an Emmy (or two) going to convince someone who hasn’t already watched the show to start watching it now. When the show began, many considered it a fool’s errand to try and extend the Breaking Bad universe. Creators Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan had an uphill task and they delivered a show that arguably surpasses the original. That is the real win of Better Call Saul.
If you’re still mad about the results, just remember…
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