Just three days after the Television Academy announced the 2019 Primetime Emmy nominations, two have been rescinded. Although the categories were admittedly lower-staked, the Better Call Saul short Employee Training: Madrigal Electromotive Security has been deemed ineligible for either the Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category or performance (from the short’s star, Jonathan Banks).
The decision came down to time, as the short ran shy of the minimum runtime of two minutes over the course of at least six episodes.
In place of Employee Training: Madrigal Electromotive Security in the Short Form Comedy category, the Television Academy has nominated Sundance’s short-form comedy entitled State of the Union. The short tells the story of a struggling married couple, Louise (Rosamund Pike) and Tom (Chris O’Dowd) who meet in a pub before their marital therapy session. In 10 minute increments, State of the Union explores how the two were drawn together and what has started to pull them apart. Meanwhile, Ryan O’Connell, who stars in Netflix’s series Special, has been nominated for best performance. O’Connell, who also created the show, stars as Ryan Hayes, a gay young man who has cerebral palsy.
Employee Training: Madrigal Electromotive Security is a series of short training videos that had been created by Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) for madrigal electromotive employees. Mike Ehrmantraut’s character, a former corrupt police officer turned private investigator, appeared on both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
The Television Academy addressed the situation in a press release on Friday. “This decision is in no way diminishment of the quality of Better Call Saul Employee Training: Madrigal Electromotive Security or Mr. Banks’ performance in it,” it read. “Jonathan Banks’ nomination in the Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category is unaffected.”
Unfortunately, mistakes like this are not rare for the Emmy Awards. Just three years ago, Peter MacNicol from Veep lost his Primetime Emmy nomination for guest actor in a comedy. The reasoning? Apparently, MacNicol appeared in too many episodes to be eligible as a “guest” actor on the comedy series.