{"id":6214,"date":"2026-08-19T17:35:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T17:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6214"},"modified":"2026-08-19T17:35:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T17:35:45","slug":"widows-bay-and-other-contenders-continue-to-complicate-emmys-comedy-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6214","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Widow\u2019s Bay\u2019 and Other Contenders Continue to Complicate Emmy\u2019s Comedy Conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! -->\n<div><p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"AWARDS CIRCUIT COLUMN LOGO\" class=\"wp-image-2533\" height=\"632\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/df3cb944d1fc1b2bf376f7299cdf57f7.webp\" width=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/df3cb944d1fc1b2bf376f7299cdf57f7.webp 538w, https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/df3cb944d1fc1b2bf376f7299cdf57f7-255x300.webp 255w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 538px) 100vw, 538px\" \/><\/figure>\n<br\/>You\u2019re probably as tired of the \u201cwhat\u2019s a comedy?\u201d debate as I am, particularly when it comes to awards shows like the Emmys. FX\u2019s \u201cThe Bear\u201d reignited that conversation a few years ago, even though it\u2019s hardly the only show to be nominated or even win an Emmy despite it often feeling more like a drama.<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6212\">\u2018It Finally Feels Like We\u2019re Back in 2019\u2019: Movie Theater Owners Rejoice Over $4 Billion Summer. Can the Fall Keep the Momentum?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThis year, the attention turned to Apple TV\u2019s \u201cWidow\u2019s Bay,\u201d one of the hottest new shows of the season. The acclaim for \u201cWidow\u2019s Bay\u201d seems nearly universal, and the show\u2019s 19 Emmy nominations prove that the buzz surrounding the show wasn\u2019t a fluke. But again, we have to ask: Is it a comedy?\n\n\t\n\n\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cWidow\u2019s Bay\u201d comes from a comedy writer, \u201cParks and Recreation\u201d alum Katie Dippold. And it absolutely sprinkles laugh into the horror format, particularly through the town\u2019s quirky characters. As the misfits who make up Widow\u2019s Bay react matter-of-factly to some of the creepy and strange goings-on around them, at the center of it all is Matthew Rhys as Mayor Tom Loftis. He bumbles his way through a secret that threatens the well-being of his small, New England-set island community.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThere\u2019s creepy clowns, scary apparitions, undead serial killers, a wild sea hag and a terrible curse that haunts the show\u2019s characters throughout the season \u2014 and while the laughs cut the tension, you\u2019re still on the edge of your seat for all 10 episodes. And by the way, on its own service, Apple TV classifies \u201cWidow\u2019s Bay\u201d a \u201cmystery,\u201d while \u201cTed Lasso\u201d and \u201cShrinking\u201d are labeled \u201ccomedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBut in fairness to \u201cWidow\u2019s Bay,\u201d are any of this year\u2019s comedy nominees actually comedies? Most of this year\u2019s contenders (which also include \u201cAbbott Elementary,\u201d \u201cThe Bear,\u201d \u201cHacks,\u201d \u201cMargo\u2019s Got Money Troubles,\u201d \u201cNobody Wants This,\u201d \u201cOnly Murders in the Building\u201d and \u201cShrinking\u201d) feature some heart-tugging moments that have made me tear up. I\u2019ve said it before \u2014 the best dramas on TV are our Emmy-nominated comedies.\n\n\t\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhen did comedy get so dramatic? You\u2019ll have to go back to 1988, the year that Emmy voters nominated two single-camera shows in the outstanding comedy series category for the first time: \u201cThe Wonder Years\u201d and \u201cFrank\u2019s Place.\u201d The fact that both shows came out at the same time represented a bit of a \u201cdramedy\u201d revolution in primetime; previously, the genre was pretty much only devoted to multi-camera shows filmed in front of a live studio audience, like the other nominees that year: \u201cCheers,\u201d \u201cThe Golden Girls\u201d and \u201cNight Court.\u201d<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6211\">\u2018Good American Family\u2019 Renewed for Season 2 at Hulu, to Focus on Lorena Bobbitt Case<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tBut \u201cThe Wonder Years\u201d was still a half-hour show, and contained enough humorous beats that no one seriously challenged its comedy bona fides. The bigger change came in 1999, when the hourlong Fox legal dramedy \u201cAlly McBeal\u201d won the comedy Emmy. Sure, it had quirky moments with that dancing baby, but it could have just as easily been put in the drama bucket. (\u201cAlly\u201d creator David E. Kelley has the same thing this year with the quite dramatic comedy nominee \u201cMargo\u2019s Got Money Troubles.\u201d) <\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhen \u201cDesperate Housewives\u201d was nominated as a comedy in 2005, it also raised eyebrows: Did a show that opened with a death, adultery and focused so much on a dark mystery belong in the comedy path?<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAround the 2010s, the dramedy lines had blurred enough that we started to see shows hop Emmy categories: Netflix\u2019s \u201cOrange Is the New Black\u201d started in comedy, then moved to drama. Showtime\u2019s \u201cShameless\u201d was in the drama race, then moved to comedy.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn 2015, the Academy shifted the rules: All half hours would be classified as comedies and all hourlong shows would have to submit as dramas. But shows could petition to switch fields, and so many did that the confusion led the org to raise the white flag and get rid of those classifications by 2022. Now, a show can enter whatever it feels like. That\u2019s why you have so many comedic drama entrants and dramatic comedy contenders.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tMaybe we should go back to how things were handled in 1957: For one year there was no \u201ccomedy\u201d or \u201cdrama race\u201d \u2014 just \u201cbest series, half-hour or less\u201d and \u201cbest series, one hour or more.\u201d But even that didn\u2019t work: In the hourlong field, comedy \u201cCaesar\u2019s Hour\u201d was pitted against \u201cEd Sullivan\u201d and the arts show \u201cOmnibus,\u201d while in half hour, the comedy \u201cPhil Silvers Show\u201d was up against thriller \u201cAlfred Hitchcock Presents\u201d and the news show \u201cPerson to Person.\u201d \n\n\t\n<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6209\">\u2018Insidious: Out of the Further\u2019 Review: Latest Entry in the Franchise Serves Up Genuinely Terrifying Setpieces Despite a Convoluted Final Act<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhat\u2019s a comedy?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Widow&#8217;s Bay&#8217; and other contenders continue to complicate Emmy&#8217;s comedy conundrum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[908,220,1945,3128],"class_list":["post-6214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","tag-awards-circuit-column","tag-emmys","tag-the-bear-2","tag-widows-bay-3"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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