As is often the case at these sorts of award shows, the 75th Emmy Awards featured a healthy number of winners and therefore an even bigger number of losers.
Despite that, one loser appears to stand head and shoulders above the other losers — and it couldn’t be a more fitting show.
The wildly popular and beloved crime-drama “Better Call Saul,” which focuses on the trials and tribulations of down-on-his-luck lawyer Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, has been one of the most consistently great shows since it debuted in 2015.
That’s both a mild surprise and not a surprise at all for the simple fact “Better Call Saul” is a spinoff of the monstrously popular “Breaking Bad.”
It’s not a surprise that “Better Call Saul” is good given the quality of “Breaking Bad” and other Vince Gilligan-produced projects, but most spinoffs that don’t star Kelsey Grammer tend not to do very well.
And in fact, when the show first began, it appeared headed for the way of yet another wayward spinoff given that the show was initially met with apathy and indifference from “Breaking Bad” fans who didn’t particularly care for McGill/Goodman, the crooked lawyer sidekick.
The iciness eventually melted away when word of mouth began to trickle out about “Better Call Saul,” and the show’s popularity exponentially grew.
Fast forward to today (“Saul” ended in 2022), and there are large contingents of “Breaking Bad” fans who will now begrudgingly admit that “Better Call Saul” might even be a better show than the one it spun off from.
But where swathes of stubborn fans could eventually be convinced to give “Better Call Saul” a chance, the Emmy award voters simply could not and did not.
Would you be happy if your show set the record for most Emmy nominations without a win?
And because of that, “Better Call Saul” will finish its illustrious run with zero Emmy wins, a whopping 53 nominations — and one dubious record.
As pointed about by Variety, “Better Call Saul” is the most snubbed show in television history after the show failed to secure any Emmy wins in its final chance to do so.
“Better Call Saul” will finish its television run with a brutal zero-for-53 in terms of Emmy nominations, despite nominations across a variety of categories, including for best lead actor for Bob Odenkirk (McGill/Goodman), best supporting actress for Rhea Seehorn (she portrayed McGill’s love interest) and best drama.
That’s a record, and one that may be tough to top any time soon.
“Better Call Saul” joins the ranks of fellow critically acclaimed (but win-less) shows like fellow crime drama “The Wire,” and the beloved and highly quirky comedy series “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
For what it’s worth, at least one “Better Call Saul” writer doesn’t seem too worried with being “just” critically acclaimed.
WE DID IT!!!! https://t.co/rrgUjs5Flb
— Thomas Schnauz (@TomSchnauz) January 16, 2024
“Better Call Saul” ran for six seasons and 63 episodes, and served as a critical prequel to “Breaking Bad.”
