Better Call Saul Proves Awards Mean Nothing
As the new year gets underway, the gears of Hollywood begin grinding with the smell of award season in the air. Due to the actors’ and writers’ strike, the Emmy Awards were bumped from their usual fall spot to January, with last night celebrating the titles that didn’t have their time back in September. While the night was one of big wins for shows like Succession and The Bear, the glaring lack of trophies given to Better Call Saul puts a permanent record on the now-ended series as it never once managed to take an Emmy home.
That’s right. Over its six-season run, Better Call Saul was up for a whopping 53 Emmy nominations, never sticking the landing on any of them. The type of record that no show wants to get; it’s almost impressive just how little the award circuit cared about the Breaking Bad prequel.
Last night alone, Better Call Saul was up for an impressive seven Emmys which included Outstanding Drama Series, a nod to its starring man Bob Odenkirk for Lead Actor, one for Rhea Seehorn for Supporting Actress, and more. Yet, category after category, the envelope was opened and the winner announced, with the presenter never uttering the words “Better Call Saul”. Actually, by the time the ceremony came to a close, it was essentially a given that the presenter would be saying “Succession” or “The Bear,” which were the two big winners of the night.
While other junkets like the Critics’ Choice Television Awards and the Saturn Awards gave Better Call Saul its due, the show must’ve made some enemies with the powers that be behind the Emmys. The snubs are an extra slap in the face when it’s taken into account that Breaking Bad was nominated for 58 Emmys, collecting 16 by the time the story of Walter White came to an end in 2013.
Better Call Saul was announced to be going into development just as Breaking Bad was coming to an end, giving fans of the Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul-led series something to look forward to. The series acted as a prequel spin-off, chronicling the life and times of Bob Odenkirk’s morally corrupt lawyer, Jimmy McGill, who would eventually take on the persona of Saul Goodman. Along with covering Saul’s origin story, the series also introduced Jonathan Banks’s Mike Ehrmantraut, explaining how the crooked cop got in with the thieving lawyer and the show’s other bad guys.
While it veered away from dipping too much into Breaking Bad territory, black and white scenes provided flash-forwards into the future, depicting moments in the original series that tied directly back to Better Call Saul. It also covered some of the backstory of Giancarlo Esposito’s drug lord and Breaking Bad primary antagonist, Gus Fring.
Sadly, Better Call Saul isn’t alone in being one of the greatest TV shows of all time to be continuously snubbed by the Emmys. Other shows, like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Leftovers, never won big at the annual celebration despite having a dedicated fan base supporting them through countless seasons. If you need to get caught up on the final season of Better Call Saul or just start from the top and work your way through, the entire series is now streaming on Netflix.
