Jul 28, 2020

2020 Primetime Emmy Nominations: 'The Simpsons' Leads Conservative Animation Nominations

Nominations have been announced for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. This year's campaign was disrupted by a pandemic, but it does not appear to have affected the Academy's preferences.

Voters ignored the unusually robust lineup of new programs this year, filling the outstanding animated program category with the usual suspects. Of the five nominees, four were also nominated last year; the fifth, "Rick and Morty," won the previous year; Netflix's two nominees, "Big Mouth" and "Bojack Horseman," have never won before; and "The Bounty Hunter" was nominated last year.

The short film category also has few surprises. Two films, "Robot Chicken" and "Steven Universe Future," are nominated. At least one of these two has been nominated every year since 2010 (except for "Steven Universe," in which Future plays an epilogue role); the third, "Forky Asks a Question," is one of the short film series representing new entrant Disney+, Pixar-produced spinoff of "Toy Story 4."

Netflix was dominant with 10 nominations in the animation and VFX categories; HBO came in second in animation and VFX with six nominations (none for animated programming); FOX had four nominations, including three for " The Simpsons". The fact that "The Simpsons" is the most nominated animated show of the year speaks to the conservatism of the voting public.

Disney+ and Apple TV+ are first-time entrants. Expect next year's list to be even busier with streaming competition.

Then it's up to the TV Academy's 23,000+ voters to see the nominees and vote online. The Creative Arts Emmys will be announced on September 19, with all other awards announced the following day. The awards ceremony will be hosted in some capacity by Jimmy Kimmel and broadcast on ABC.

The full list of nominees in the animation and VFX categories is below. For a complete list of nominees in all categories, see the Emmy Awards website.