‘Jury Duty,’ James Marsden, Harrison Ford, other surprises at the 2023 Emmy nominations

Ray Richmond
·7 min read
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The Little Show That Could did on Wednesday morning as the Amazon Freevee word-of-mouth sensation “Jury Duty” completed the most improbable run for top comedy series in recent memory (if not ever) by landing a spot among the big boys and girls – becoming the Andrea Riseborough of this Emmy season. Moreover, its its “star” James Marsden generated an equally surprising achievement with a supporting comedy actor nod today.

As recently as late June, “Jury Duty” stood 17th in the Gold Derby combined odds for top comedy series at 100/1. Its final odds placed at only 13th, still at 100/1. But the show that premiered in April on a streaming service few had even heard of made waves even immediately and kept right on making them through this wildly unlikely grassroots Emmy run. It was described as the world’s first feelgood prank show – “The Office” meets “The Truman Show.” The premise: A guy answers a Craigslist ad looking for someone to participate in a filmed documentary about jury service. What they don’t mention is that the person being tabbed for the doc would essentially be unwittingly be performing in a sitcom that the person didn’t know was a sitcom and that everyone around them was an actor.

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That unsuspecting dupe was  a good-natured, game-for-anything young contractor named Ronald Gladden. Through the eight “Jury Duty” episodes, we follow Gladden’s selection onto the purported jury and his building incredulity at all of the weird situations and oddball characters surrounding him as the hoax trial moves forward. A few things here were happening. One was that Gladden was never made the butt of the joke and was in fact held up as something of a hero for his inherent and consistent decency amid the subtle chaos and absurdity in his midst.

The show began to sprint as word-of-mouth spread and exploded into a social media phenomenon. It generated an astonishing 300 million views on TikTok as teens and young adults have discovered and revered it. A big part of that was Marsden’s sublime performance portraying a jackass, self-absorbed version of himself that required him to remain in this “character” for weeks on end through the end of the mock jury trial. It all culminated Wednesday in the continuation of “Jury Duty’s” Cinderella run.

If there was another big shocker on Wednesday, it would be the lack of a nomination for Harrison Ford for his stellar supporting work in “Shrinking.” The Gold Derby odds handicapped him fifth in the category at 8/1, but he was knocked out by Marsden and Phil Dunster for “Ted Lasso” (his first-ever nom in the show’s presumptive final season).

Here are some other surprises that emerged in Wednesday’s nomination announcement:

COMEDY SERIES

The ascension of “Jury Duty” and “Wednesday” (its title should have been a tipoff, considering the day of the announcement) unseated a couple of contenders that Gold Derby voters had championed in “Poker Face” and “Shrinking.”

COMEDY ACTOR

Martin Short earned a nomination, while his “Only Murders in the Building” partner Steve Martin (a nominee a year ago) did not. Martin was bumped from the expected lineup by Jason Segel, whose “Shrinking” nonetheless failed to generate a series nom.

COMEDY SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jessica Williams snatched a nomination for “Shrinking” away from “Barry’s” Sarah Goldberg, giving Emmy performer category noms to four women of color (also including Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James for “Abbott Elementary” and Ayo Edebiri for “The Bear”) for the first time.

COMEDY GUEST ACTRESS

What was expected in our odds to be Shirley MacLaine (“Only Murders in the Building”) and Cherry Jones (“Poker Face”) turned out instead to favor two women from “Ted Lasso,” Becky Ann Baker and Sarah Niles.

COMEDY GUEST ACTOR

Gold Derby voters underestimated the power of the guest talent on “The Bear,” for which Jon Bernthal and Oliver Platt received nominations along with Sam Richardson for “Ted Lasso” while Steve Martin and Martin Short were passed over for their hosting stint on “SNL,” as was Leslie Odom Jr. for “Abbott Elementary” and Adrien Brody for “Poker Face.”

DRAMA ACTRESS

Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”) and Sharon Horgan (“Bad Sisters”) exceeded Gold Derby’s expectations that had them at 20/1 and 40/1 in the combined odds, respectively, to usurp contenders Imelda Staunton (“The Crown”) and Emma D’Arcy (“House of the Dragon”) in the lineup.

DRAMA SUPPORTING ACTOR AND ACTRESS

Christina Ricci (“Yellowjackets”) and Carol Burnett (“Better Call Saul”) failed to make the cut in favor of a couple of “The White Lotus” performers in Sabrina Impacciatore and Simona Tabasco. There was a similar story in supporting actor, where two “White Lotus” castmates (Michael Imperioli and Will Sharpe) crashed the list over Matt Smith (“House of the Dragon”) and John Lithgow (“The Old Man”).

DRAMA GUEST ACTRESS

Gold Derby voters had Fiona Shaw getting in for “Andor.” Instead, it was Storm Reid for “The Last of Us,” giving the show three in the category.

DRAMA GUEST ACTOR

“The Last of Us” was also underestimated here as a pair of its guests earned Emmy nods: Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Montreal Woodard (whom not a single voter foresaw as having a shot). They took the places of favorites Bryan Cranston for “Better Call Saul” and Andy Serkis for “Andor.”

LIMITED SERIES

Gold Derby voters were looking at “Black Bird” (with 9/2 combined odds) to be one of these five nominees. But in a significant surprise, the fifth slot fell to 100/1 shot “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

MOVIE/LIMITED ACTRESS

GD voters were off by half in this category, going with Elizabeth Olsen (“Love and Death”), Emily Blunt (“The English”) and Rachel Weisz (“Dead Ringers”) to make the lineup. All three contenders were unseated by Dominique Fishback for “Swarm,” Lizzy Caplan for “Fleishman Is in Trouble” and 100/1 shot Kathryn Hahn for “Tiny Beautiful Things.”

MOVIE/LIMITED ACTOR

Another 100/1 longshot make it to the nomination promised land with Kumail Nanjiani’s honor for “Welcome to Chippendales,” knocking out Steve Carell for “The Patient.” It was part of a massive, unexpected over-performance by “Welcome to Chippendales” that saw the limited series earn four acting noms in total.

MOVIE/LIMITED SUPPORTING ACTRESS

In no category were Gold Derby voters further off than in this one, getting only three correct: Niecy Nash-Betts for “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” Claire Danes for “Fleishman Is in Trouble” and Maria Bello for “Beef.” The other four were expected to be Olivia Colman (“Great Expectations”), Cherry Jones (“Five Days at Memorial”), Lena Headey (“White House Plumbers”) and Ashley Park (“Beef”). Instead, the nominees turned out to be Merritt Wever for “Tiny Beautiful Things,” Camilla Morone  for “Daisy Jones and the Six” and Annaleigh Ashford  and Juliette Lewis for “Welcome to Chippendales”).

MOVIE/LIMITED SUPPORTING ACTOR

Joseph Lee cracked the nominee lineup for “Beef” to knock out Domhnall Gleeson (13/2 in our combined odds for “The Patient”).

COMPETITION PROGRAM

To say that “Survivor’s” crashing of the nomination party for the first time since 2006 was completely unexpected would be a significant understatement. It’s reassuring to know we can still be shocked by these Emmy things.

You’ll find the complete list of this year’s Emmy nominees here.

PREDICT the Emmys now; change them until September 18

Be sure to make your Emmy predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their TV shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before winners are announced on September 18. And join in the fun debate over the 2023 Emmys taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our television forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.

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