From Steve Martin to samurais: these are the award-nominated TV shows to binge this week (2024)

Between 20-plus Primetime categories and dozens of shows, the Emmy nominations can be a lot to get your head around.

So we've done the sifting for you, to come up with four shows that deserve your attention before the Emmy winners are crowned in September.

From historical dramas to goofy vampire comedies here are the shows that deserve a weekend binge watch.

  • Shōgun improves on its 1980s predecessor in more ways than one.
  • .
  • What We Do In The Shadows continues to be ridiculous and delightful.
  • Only Murders In The Building pairs comedy legends with new talent to excellent result.

Shōgun — Disney+

House of the Dragon might be back, but as someone who misses the political intrigue, sordid family histories and high emotional stakes of early Thrones, over aerial dragon combat and white wigs, Shōgun does a much better job filling that Iron Throne-shaped hole in my viewing schedule. Seventeenth-century Japan may not have dragons, but it feels as fantastical and magical as Westeros for someone watching in 2024.

Leading the Emmy nominations this year with a whopping 25 nods, the 10-episode series is based on the 1975 novel, of the same name, by James Clavell. It follows English ship pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) who is shipwrecked in Japan in 1600 and finds himself caught between feudal lords fighting to fill the void left by the recent death of their regent.

But while having an Englishman in Feudal Japan provides the hook, Shōgun wisely avoids the tired white saviour trope. Looking at the story more from a Japanese point of view, it paints Blackthorne as a constantly frustrated and confused outsider. Despite shouting loudly a lot, he is, for most of the series, ignored, ridiculed or used as a pawn by the major players of the Japanese court.

The predominantly Japanese cast also brings an apparent authenticity to the show, as evidenced by its positive reception in Japan (in contrast to the 1980 version which was heavily criticised by Japanese audiences and critics).

In an outstanding ensemble cast, Hiroyuki Sanada (a Japanese film legend who crossed over to the Western mainstream in films like 47 Ronin and Sunshine), as the shrewd and powerful Lord Toranaga, and Anna Sawai, as Blackthorne's Catholic convert Japanese interpreter Lady Mariko, are highlights (and Emmy voters agree). Both give layered, nuanced performances in characters defined by what they don't say, as much as what they do.

I loved every aspect of the show, from how it's shot, its costumes, the writing, but, much like Game of Thrones, this is a gnarly show. There are excruciating (but purposeful) depictions of violence. Lots of it. And it might not be for everyone.

So if you're flying in completely blind, maybe google "seppuku" first and ask yourself if you have the stomach (pun partially intended) for it. But if you do decide to give this show a chance, you will be rewarded with one of the most exquisite watches of the year.

For fans of: Game of Thrones, historical dramas.

– Christian Harimanow

Mr. & Mrs. Smith — Prime Video

When people first heard a new TV version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith was in the works, starring rapper/comedian Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) and Maya Erskine, some were left scratching their heads.

This is because Glover (writer/star of Atlanta) and Erskine (writer/star of Pen15, a show I would turn into a murderous spy for) are better known for their comedy chops. But also because of that time in the mid-00s when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, at the height of their fame/sexiness played Mr. & Mrs. Smith, birthing the portmanteau/tabloid obsession Brangelina. How could these (white) married spies be played by Glerskine (we made this portmanteau up)?

But the doubters (racist or otherwise) were wrong. While Glover and Erskine can't help but infuse the show with a comedic sensibility, they are also really hot.

And anyone who's seen both Atlanta and Pen15 would know that they can also bring the drama. Mr. & Mrs. Smith is stylish, steamy and filled with gripping action and some genuinely shocking plot developments.

Plus Glover, who co-created the series with Francesca Sloane (Fargo; Atlanta), managed to rope some of his acting buddies in for memorable guest roles that had Emmy voters salivating, with Glover and Erskine picking up noms alongside Michaela Coel, Paul Dano, John Turturro, Sarah Paulson and Parker Posey.

The series begins with Glover and Erskine's characters taking up their new jobs/undercover roles as John and Jane Smith, a couple of software engineers who live in a luxurious New York brownstone. But that's just a front for their espionage work and they are quickly dispatched on their first mission to intercept and deliver a seemingly innocuous package.

As the season progresses and they are inevitably romantically entangled, the missions get harder and their differing approaches to the ruthless spy work drive a wedge between them, all under the shady gaze/pressure of their anonymous bosses.

Good news for fans, there's a new season in the works (though it's sadly not starring Glerskine).

Watch if you like: Killing Eve, The Americans.

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— Hannah Reich

What We Do In The Shadows — Binge

As it picks up its third Emmy nomination for Best Comedy, there's no better time to jump aboard esoteric vampire comedy What We Do In The Shadows (WWDITS). Based on Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's 2014 film of the same name, WWDITS transfers the vampy action from Wellington, New Zealand to Staten Island, New York.

Here live four ancient vampires sharing a gothic, run-down old house in an otherwise unremarkable cul-de-sac. At 760-years-old, the oldest and self-appointed leader of the group is Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak), there's horny husband and wife Laszlo (Matt Berry) and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) and ultra-normie 'energy vampire' Colin (Mark Proksch) who gains his powers not through blood but by boring the heck out of the living.

Rounding out our eclectic team is poor Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), Nandor's long-suffering human companion who basically is the house's live-in servant under the flimsy promise that his master might one day make him immortal by turning him into a vampire too. Staring down the barrel of its sixth and final season (tear!), WWDITS is the perfect binge watch as it hides its surreal, smutty and sometimes gory humour under the guise of a fish-out-of-water housemates comedy.

Outrageous situations like the gang trying to take over Staten Island are thwarted by something as mundane as a council meeting. One entire episode revolves around Lazslo trying to get his favourite hat back (it's made of witch skin and appears to still be bleeding), leading to the best line reading in the history of television.

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While WWDITS thrives on visual oddities and joke-a-second writing, the real gold of the show is how the core four actors embody their powerful, yet clueless, characters. Which is why it's so heartening to see Matt Berry's name pop up for a comedy actor Emmy nomination for the first time, that man has been giving 200 per cent as the lascivious Laszlo for too long not to be acknowledged.

For fans of: Flight of The Conchords, Wellington Paranormal, Our Flag Means Death.

Only Murders in the Building — Disney+

Steve Martin and Martin Short have a creative partnership that's lasted decades, since they starred together in the mid-80s comedy classic The Three Amigos (the third amigo was Chevy Chase), then two Father of the Bride movies in the 90s. And that's just their work on screen: They've also toured as a stand-up duo (catch their star-studded 2018 comedy special on Netflix).

Martin and Short, now in their 70s, reunited in 2021 for the first season of Only Murders in the Building, with a third amigo in 30-something actor and pop star Selena Gomez. Two more seasons followed, all of them gaining a slew of Emmy nominations, but this year is the first time Gomez has earned a nod for her role alongside her two co-stars. All in all it's a total of 21 Emmy nominations for season three, including best comedy series, but alas, like last year, they'll probably lose all of them to The Bear.

From Steve Martin to samurais: these are the award-nominated TV shows to binge this week (1)

Inevitable snubs aside, watching the warm rapport Martin and Short have built over the course of decades on- and off-screen is a delight — with Gomez acting as their millennial foil/voice of reason.

Martin is Charles-Haden Savage, a standoffish retired actor best known for starring in a crime procedural in the 90s, while Short is Oliver Putnam, a floundering and eccentric theatre director whose favourite food is dip. Gomez is Mabel, a withdrawn young artist living in her aunt's flat. They're brought together when they realise they share a love of true crime podcasts, and soon find a reason to start one of their own. One of their neighbours, a childhood friend of Mabel's, has died: The police thinks it's suicide, but the trio believe something more sinister.

As you can expect from a series that's run for three seasons so far, this isn't the only murder in their lush upper west side apartment building, and they've got plenty of company along the way from a sweep of high-profile guest stars, including Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep. It's a cheeky send-up of our disconcerting, ongoing fascination with true crime (Tina Fey has a supporting role as the host of a Serial-style podcast), but it's never too heavy. Instead it keeps the focus on the increasingly tender relationship between our three leads.

For fans of: Bored to Death, Knives Out.

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From Steve Martin to samurais: these are the award-nominated TV shows to binge this week (2024)

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