Sunday, April 19, 2026

'Sally' leads Science and Technology Documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards


Instead of exploring fiction for today's Sunday entertainment feature, I'm celebrating the best of nonfiction in television by beginning my examination of this year's 47th News & Documentary Emmy® Awards Nominees with the nominees for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary, as I did last year.
Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary

Critical Condition: Health in Black America
NOVA | GBH [A NOVA Production | Firelight Films]
The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice
Metamorph Films, LLC
Operation Space Station
NOVA | GBH [A NOVA Production | Blink Films | France Télévisions]
Sally
Muck Media [Story Syndicate | National Geographic Documentary Films]
Titan: The Oceangate Submersible Disaster
Netflix [Netflix | Diamond Docs | Story Syndicate]
Sally leads this field with three nominations as the preview image shows, Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary, Outstanding Direction: Documentary, and Outstanding Art Direction / Set Decoration / Scenic Design: Documentary. The rest of the nominees for this category have only this one nomination. On this basis, I'm considering Sally to be the favorite for this award. Time to watch the trailers to see if they confirm my impression, staring with SALLY | Official Trailer | National Geographic Documentary Films.

Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure, she carried a secret. Revealing the romance and sacrifices of their 27 years together, Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, tells the full story of this complicated and iconic astronaut for the first time. From National Geographic Documentary Films, SALLY is directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Cristina Costantini.
That was inspiring. I'm looking forward to announcing any Emmy Awards it wins in June, Pride Month.

I'm going through the rest in alphabetical order by title, beginning with NOVA: Critical Condition-Health in Black America from WLRN Public Television and Radio.

Researchers examine the causes of racial health disparities, and why Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to have chronic diseases than whites.
Why? Poverty and racism. Just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's not worth examining. The details matter.

Next, The Memory of Darkness Light and Ice – Official Trailer - February 2025 by Metamorph Films.

If the ice sheet covering Greenland melts, global sea levels would rise 21 feet, profoundly impacting our planet. How, why, and when could this happen? Scientists have recently found lost sediment from a forgotten secret sub-ice Cold War base in the Arctic that holds clues about a time when the Greenland Ice Sheet had receded. THE MEMORY OF DARKNESS, LIGHT, AND ICE is a 60-minute documentary film about the discovery of this precious sediment core, which holds the key to crucial science around the melting Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and the future of sea level rise across the globe.
Watching this trailer reminds me that I showed Chasing Ice to my students last week and this is week is Earth Week, making this a good movie to recommend to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development. It also makes me think that it's the strongest competitor to Sally. Last year, I thought that the "Hunt for the Oldest DNA" episode of NOVA on PBS had the strongest science of all the nominees, but didn't have the best chance of winning. Surprise, it won! That could happen here.

The second nominated episode of NOVA is "Operation Space Station: High-Risk Build." Watch its official promotional video from NOVA PBS Official, How Astronauts Avoided Disaster Building the International Space Station | NOVA | PBS. The field for this category wouldn't be complete without a NOVA episode, and this year's slate has two. Good showing for NOVA!

A dangerous spacewalk, a toxic leak, and a breathtaking view of Earth.

Astronauts faced a life-threatening challenge during construction of the International Space Station.
Sitting in sunlight to evaporate the ammonia serves as a good example of one of Commoner's Laws, "Nature knows best." Environmental content in space!

Like National Geographic and NOVA on PBS, this field wouldn't be complete without a Netflix documentary. This year's entry is TITAN: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster | Official Trailer | Netflix.

The deeper you look, the darker it gets.

Titan: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster examines CEO Stockton Rush’s quest to become the next billionaire innovator and the doomed underwater endeavor that called into question the price of ambition in the depths of the ocean.

The Titan submersible’s ill-fated journey to the ruins of the Titanic dominated headlines in June 2023, yet the shocking decisions that led to the disaster have never been revealed like this before.
This could just as easily have been nominated for business documentary as for science and technology. It's also Sally's chief competition for its journalistic value and public interest; the trailers for both have more than two million views, with Sally slightly ahead. In contrast, the trailers for the rest of the nominees have several thousand views at most. I still think Sally is the favorite, but now I have a better grasp of its chances.

Follow over the jump for Sally's other two nominations and some of the most read entries about the Emmy Awards last year.


Sally should just be happy to be nominated in this category. 2000 Meters to Andriivka has six nominations, including Best Documentary. Life After has four, also including Best Documentary, as does The Stringer. Katrina: Come Hell and High Water and Vietnam: The War That Changed America both tied Sally with three. Apocalypse in the Tropics and Music Box: It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley have just this one. Out of this field, 2000 Meters to Andriivka is my provisional favorite.


Sally might have a better chance here, but I'll wait unti I watch all the trailers before I make a prediction. In the meantime, here are a handful of the most read entries about the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.


Normal social media promotion and web search were responsible for 'Arcane' and 'Love, Death & Robots' both earn four Emmy Awards from September 16, 2025 earning 661 default and 1189 raw page views, placing it 18th by the former, fifth among entries posted during September 2025 and sixth overall by the latter. By March 20, 2026, it accumulated 1249 raw page views, ranking fifth among entries posted during the blogging year and ninth overall.


Normal social media promotion and web search contributed to 'The Penguin' has already won 8 Emmys, but could lose to 'Adolescence' from September 7, 2025 earning 673 default and 977 raw page views, placing it 17th by the former, tenth among entries posted during September 2025, and eleventh overall during the month. It ended the blogging year with 1111 raw page views, ranking ninth among entries posted during the blogging year and 14th overall.


Normal social media promotion and web search contributed to 'Jeopardy!' and Jimmy Kimmel win Game Show categories at the Emmy Awards from September 13, 2025 earning 693 default and 1051 raw page views, placing it twelfth by the former during September 2025, eighth among entries posted during the month, and ninth overall. It ended the blogging year with 1104 raw page views, ranking tenth among entries posted between March 21, 2025 and March 20, 2026 and 15th overall.


Normal social media promotion and web search contributed to 'The Studio' wins 9 Emmy Awards and could win up to 6 more from September 8, 2025 earning 561 default and 895 raw page views during September 2025, placing it 20th by the former, 14th among entries posted during the month, and 15th overall. It ended the blogging year with 1027 raw page views, ranking eleventh among entries posted during the 15th year of the blog and 16th overall.


Normal social media promotion and web search contributed to 'Adolescence' sweeps its categories at the Emmy Awards with one win for 'The Penguin' from September 15, 2025 earning 862 raw page views, placing 17th among entries posted during September 2025 and 18th overall. It ended the 15th year of this blog with 945 raw page views, ranking 16th among entires posted during the blogging year and 22nd overall.

That's a wrap for today's awards show coverage and retrospective. I plan on resuming my series on the News & Doc Emmy Awards with the nominees for Outstanding Nature Documentary on Wayback Wednesday, which falls on Earth Day — perfect! In the meantime, stay tuned for 420 Day.

Previous posts in this series revious retrospectives about entertainment
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