Friday, April 24, 2026

'Underdogs' earns four News & Doc Emmy Award nominations


Happy Flashback Friday on Arbor Day! As I promised twice, I'm resuming my coverage of nominees at the News & Doc Emmy Awards. Today, I'm examining Underdogs, which earned more nominations than Secrets of the Penguins, yet didn't receive a nomination for Outstanding Nature Documentary. In fact, it may be the most nominated documentary not to earn an Outstanding Documentary category nomination this year. I'll confirm if that suspicion is true as a contintue my coverage, but right now I'm sharing Underdogs | Official Trailer | National Geographic.

Hold on to your binoculars, folks, as Nat Geo gets up close and personal with the outcasts of the animal kingdom in UNDERDOGS, narrated by Ryan Reynolds. From their hidden talents to their unconventional hygiene choices to their unsavory courtship rituals, UNDERDOGS celebrates the unique behaviors of the animals who don’t usually get to be the stars of the show. From Reynolds’ Emmy® Award-winning Maximum Effort and Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning Wildstar Films (a Fremantle company), NationalGeographic’s UNDERDOGS premieres June 15 at 9/8c, simulcast on ABC, and will be available to stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. Each episode of the five-part series showcases a different aspect of the underdogs’ bizarre mating strategies, surprising superpowers, deception, dubious parenting skills and gross-out behaviors. UNDERDOGS features a range of never-before-filmed scenes, including the first time a film crew has ever entered a special cave in New Zealand—a huge cavern that glows brighter than a bachelor pad under a black light thanks to the glowing butts of millions of mucus-coated grubs. All over the world, overlooked superstars like this are out there 24/7, giving it maximum effort and keeping the natural world in working order for all those showboating polar bears, sharks and gorillas.
That was as funny as it was informative, thanks to the writing and Ryan Reynolds' narration. Speaking of which, this series aired during the eligibility period for this September's Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Reynolds could earn a nomination for Outstanding Narrator then, just like Angela Bassett did for Good Night Oppy. May he be so lucky. His wife Blake Lively wasn't; her narration for Secrets of the Penguins was eligible last year, but her competition was too stiff; she wasn't going to beat any of them out for a nomination.

Enough speculation about nominations that haven't happened yet. Time to examine the nominations that have.

Outstanding Writing: Documentary
Bring Them Home / Aiskótáhkapiyaaya
Thunderheart Films [WETA-TV]
2000 Meters to Andriivka
FRONTLINE FEATURES | PBS [Associated Press]
Songs From the Hole
Netflix [Cocomotion Pictures | Question Culture | Impact Partners | Artemis Rising Foundation | Netflix]
The Stringer
Netflix [A Netflix Documentary | An XRM MEDIA | VII FOUNDATION Production | LinLay Productions]
Underdogs
Wildstar Films [Maximum Effort | National Geographic]
The trailer alone demonstrated that Underdogs deserved this nomination. Unfortunately, I doubt it will win this award. It's competing against 2000 Meters to Andriivka with six nominations including Best Documentary, Songs from the Hole with four nominations including Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, and The Stringer, also with four nominations including Outstanding Investigative Documentary. I expect grit will win over wit.

Outstanding Graphic Design: Documentary
Antidote/Kill List
FRONTLINE FEATURES | PBS [Passion Pictures | Bellingcat]
The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets
Texas Crew Productions [Peacock Original | New York Post Entertainment | G Unit Film & Television, Inc.]
The Ride Ahead
LikeRightNow Films
Titanic: The Digital Resurrection
Atlantic Productions [National Geographic]
Underdogs
Wildstar Films [Maximum Effort | National Geographic]
In Waves and War
Studio AKA [Netflix | Actual Films]
This is likely to be Underdogs' best shot to win, but it faces a tough competitor in Titanic: The Digital Resurrection. Either way, National Geographic would win.

Now two categories I covered in 'Secrets of the Penguins' leads Outstanding Nature Documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Earth Day.

Secrets of the Penguins is in very good company, including 2000 Meters to Andriivka with six nominations including Best Documentary, which is my pick to win both that award and this category. Also, this is one of two nominations for Pangolin: Kulu's Journey, which missed out on a nomination for Outstanding Nature Documentary.
Underdogs might be more deserving than Pangolin: Kulu's Journey and as deserving as Secrets of the Penguins, but I still think 2000 Meters to Andriivka is the favorite to win Outstanding Cinematograpy: Documentary.

Secrets of the Penguins deserved this nomination, but I doubt it will win. Instead, I think it's between Turning Point: The Vietnam War with five total nominations and Love + War with four nominations. Both are also nominated for Best Documentary. The sounds of combat would probably impress the journalists and documentarians, possibly even more than the sounds of nature or music. If the entertainment professionals in the Creative Arts Emmys were voting, they might give WE WANT THE FUNK! the advantage. Not here; electorates matter.
I think the same of Underdogs' chances for Outstanding Sound: Documentary. Given the competition in its categories, it has an apt title.

Despite my pessimism about its awards chances, I will recommend Underdogs to my students as a documentary they can review for extra credit. Welcome to blogging as professional development.

Follow over the jump for a retrospective continuing my examination of the most read entries about the Emmy Awards during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.


Normal social media promotion and heavy traffic during September 2025 contributed to Gold Derby's predictions for casting at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards September 2, 2025 earning 686 default and 825 raw page views to rank 15th for the month by the former, 20th among entries posted September 2024, and 21st overall for the month by the latter. It ended the 2025-2026 blogging year with 907 raw page views, placing 20th among entries posted during the blogging year and 26th overall.


Normal social media promotion and heavy traffic during September 2025 contributed to 'The Studio' wins four more Emmy Awards for a total of thirteen from September 17, 2025 earning 561 default and 895 raw page views to rank 20th for the month by the former, 14th among entries posted during September 2025, and 15th overall for the month by the latter. It ended the blogging year with 871 raw page views to place 21st among entries posted between March 21, 2025 and March 20, 2026, and 27th overall during the year.


Normal social media promotion and heavy traffic during September 2025 followed by being shared at the Citizen Connect/Coffee Party USA Facebook page during October 2025 contributed to Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives Governors Award at Creative Arts Emmys from September 29, 2025 ending the blogging year with 813 raw page views, ranking it 22nd among entries posted during the year and 28th overall.


Normal social media promotion plus web search contributed to 'Arcane,' 'Love, Death + Robots,' and 'Octopus!' already Emmy Award winners from August 25, 2025 earning 316 default and 336 raw page views during August 2025, ranking it sixth overall by the former, fifth among entries posted during the month, and seventh overall by the latter during the month. It ended the blogging year with 675 raw page views to place 30th among entries posted during the blogging year and 41st overall.


Normal social media promotion and heavy traffic during September 2025 contributed to 'Severance' already won six Emmy Awards and could win up to five more from September 10, 2025 earning 668 raw page views by March 20, 2026 to rank 31st among entries posted during the blogging year and 43rd overall.

That's a wrap for today's installment. I plan on continuing this series tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Previous posts in this series Previous posts about the 57th News & Doc Emmy Awards Previous retrospectives about entertainment
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