R.I.P. Sinéad O'Connor, who died one day before 'Nothing Compares' earned two News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations

I told my readers that the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) would announce the News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations today, the 27th, as an aside to The music of 'Prehistoric Planet 2' earned the series its first Emmy nomination. Sure enough, NATAS did. I found one nominated documentary particularly timely, "Nothing Compares," a biography of Sinéad O'Connor, who died yesterday. "Good Morning America" reported that sad news in Sinead O'Connor dies at 56.

The Irish singer-songwriter and activist passed away suddenly, a statement announced on Wednesday. No cause of death has been revealed.

I found this news surprising, as O'Connor was nearly a decade younger than I am, but she had a rough upbringing and a tempestuous life, so maybe I should have been so surprised. Still, I normally would have waited until the end of the year to observe her death along with all the other celebrities who passed (or will pass) this year, except that "Nothing Compares" earned two News & Documentary Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing: Documentary and Outstanding Direction: Documentary. I couldn't resist the coincidence, especially since I was planning on covering these Emmy Awards in addition to the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Watch Nothing Compares (2022) Official Trailer | Documentary | SHOWTIME.

Directed by Kathryn Ferguson (Taking the Waters, Space to Be), NOTHING COMPARES charts Sinéad O'Connor's phenomenal rise to worldwide fame and examines how she used her voice at the height of her stardom, before her iconoclastic personality led to her exile from the pop mainstream.

I first read about this documentary when I looked at the other nominees at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. There, "Nothing Compares" earned nominations for Best Archival Documentary and Best Music Documentary. It lost to "Oscar nominee Fire of Love" for the former and multiple Emmy Award winner "The Beatles: Get Back" for the latter. I think the Critics Choice Association picked the right winners for those categories.

I think the same will happen to "Nothing Compares" at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, as it's competing against the two most nominated documentaries at those awards, "Good Night Oppy," which also has a Creative Arts Emmy nomination, and "Retrograde." Both of them have six nominations. Here are the nominees competing against "Nothing Compares."

Outstanding Writing: Documentary
FRONTLINE Lies, Politics and Democracy PBS
Good Night Oppy Amazon Prime
Hostages HBO Max
Nothing Compares Showtime
POV Not Going Quietly PBS
...
Outstanding Direction: Documentary
In Her Hands Netflix
The Janes HBO Max
Master of Light HBO Max
Nothing Compares Showtime
Retrograde National Geographic
Wildcat Amazon Prime

My preliminary picks are "Good Night Oppy" for Outstanding Writing: Documentary and "Retrograde" for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, but I'll get back to both documentaries and their categories in future installments of this series. Speaking of which, stay tuned to I post about nominated wildlife documentaries for World Conservation Day tomorrow.