I made this as a quick guide for friends and family who want to catch up on the nominees before the Emmy’s …or are just looking for a show to watch in the few hours the have to spare all week.
The shaded regions represent quartiles: The darker the quartile the better (i.e. higher the ratings and less the required viewing time). A user could choose a streaming service at the top of the chart based on what they’re subscribed to and see which nominees are even available to them.
Given the pick of the litter, however, I would suggest Shrinking on Apple TV+.
It has one of the highest Popcornmeter ratings, with 89% of fans giving it a 3.5/5.0 or higher. And you can tackle it in a weekend — or two weeks, given you only have an hour of me-time every school night. (The only outstanding series nominee with a higher Popcornmeter rating is Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, which would take you four weeks of school nights and some change.)
Based on personal experience, I’ll double down on Shrinking. I usually prefer a show starring newcomers, because it’s hard to shake a character like Marshall Eriksen. But Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, and Harrison Ford deliver dry humor with the kind of chemistry that makes you believe they’ve always been these personally flawed therapists working at the same practice. And the supporting cast is so good, they manage to keep up with and at times outshine their highly decorated leads.
The show was conceptualized by Roy Kent I mean Brett Goldstein, who’s also a writer on the show. And honestly, if the writing stays this solid I don’t care how redundant the storylines get.
In terms of the visual, I would love an opportunity to recreate this chart in Illustrator and turn the shapes into more obvious icons, like letters or emojis to avoid having to reference the description. I would also be interested in adding other years’ outstanding series nominees to see how the spreads compare.
Maybe I will. After I binge Paradise.