2022 EMA Awards nominees

I closed The 2021 EMA Awards for World Environment Day 2022 with "I promise not to be so tardy recognizing the 2022 nominees and winners." Since the award ceremony is tonight, I need to write about the nominees today before that part of my promise turns into a pumpkin. Here are the nominees being recognized as the best in environmental storytelling in movies, television, and streaming media.


I'm glad to see two science fiction movies nominated in this category, "Don't Look Up" and "Jurassic World: Dominion." I also think these are better choices than last year's nominees. "Don't Look Up" got snubbed at the Saturn Awards while "Jurassic World: Dominion" earned two nominations, but I think "Don't Look Up" will win tonight.


On the other hand, I had not heard of any of the Documentary Film nominees before. "Eating Our Way to Extinction" has the kind of star power that might sway the EMA voters. "Fin" has a more focused subject. I like the subjects of "Youth Unstoppable," but IMDB has a 2018 date for it, so what's it doing being nominated this year? Speaking of IMDB, I can't find an entry there for "Burning." I think it's a good field, but other than all the celebrities involved with "Eating Our Way to Extinction" and the two festival awards for "Youth Unstoppable," I have no good way to handicap their prospects. Any of them could win tonight.

Follow over the jump for the television nominees.


The science-fiction nominee is "The Man Who Fell to Earth," which was my second choice for Science Fiction TV Series: Network/Cable at the 2022 Saturn Awards, so I'm rooting for it to win tonight. However, "Yellowstone" is a popular show with an outdoors theme that might attract voters. On the other hand, I'd never heard of "Joe Pickett" before.


Hey, look, "Abbott Elementary"! I'll certainly root for it over "American Dad" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" although the latter might surprise me with the environmental content of "The Watermelon."


I have a better handle on the TV nonfiction nominees than I do for the documentary movies, even if I haven't seen them yet. National Geographic's "America the Beautiful," Netflix's "Three Mile Island," BBC Nature's "The Green Planet," and Hulu's "The Next Thing You Eat" all look like worthy shows for this category. Sight unseen, I'd pick "The Green Planet" based on BBC's production values, but the EMA cares about the message more than the delivery, so "The Next Thing You Eat" could win instead. I'll let myself be surprised by tonight's winner.


I'm glad to see that the people behind the Twitter campaign for "Chucky" at the Saturn Awards are also mounting one for "The End is Nye." It's enough for me to give it the advantage over "Home Sweet Home: There’s No TV?" and "Biggest Little Farm: The Return," although I think the latter has a good shot at winning.


On the one hand, no "Sesame Street." On the other, "Teen Titans Go!" That's my personal favorite, complete with two villains named after plastics. However, I think the nominated episodes of "Kid Correspondent" and "Mickey Mouse Funhouse" might have stronger environmental messaging, so one of them might just win.

VARIETY TELEVISION
Ziwe: Hot!
SHOWTIME
The Problem with Jon Stewart: Climate Change
Apple TV+
Saturday Night Live: Episode #1812
NBCUniversal, Broadway Video

I don't know what was so environmental about the SNL Thanksgiving episode that Simu Liu hosted, although I enjoyed it. On the other hand, the episode titles for the nominated episodes of "Ziwe" and "The Problem with Jon Stewart" both explain why they earned their nominations. Among all of them, I'm rooting for Jon Stewart.

That's it for tonight's awards, which I managed to cover in a timely manner, as I promised. Speaking of promises, I'll return with the winners after recapping the highlights of tonight's episode of "Saturday Night Live" for tomorrow's Sunday entertainment update. Stay tuned!