Wednesday, September 23, 2026

'My Mom Jayne' wins the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special


As I promised yesterday, I'm resuming my coverage of the winners of this year's Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Todays installment re-examines the predictions for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, beginning with the ones in 'Ocean with David Attenborough' tied with 'Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!' for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! and Ocean with David Attenborough co-lead with six nominations each, followed by John Candy: I Like Me with five nominations and Marty, Life Is Short tied with My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay at three. Normally, I'd consider Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! and Ocean with David Attenborough to be co-favorites, but the experts, editors, and users at Gold Derby disagree. They think John Candy: I Like Me and My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay to be the favorites, with 50.0% of experts, 28.6% of editors, and 61.0% of users picking the former, while 50.0% of experts, 57.1% of editors, and 26.3% of users choosing the latter. Normally, I'd favor the editors over the experts except one of the experts picking John Candy: I Like Me is Joyce Eng, whose opinion I trust. The remaining editor(s), 14.3%, are currently voting for Ocean with David Attenborough along with 3.5% of users. The rest of the users are split between Marty, Life Is Short with 6.2% and Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! with 3.0%. I've often written that, all things being equal, the Emmy electorate will vote for a good story about themselves. The corollary is that they will vote for a nominee about a dead celebrity over a living one. The prognosticators at Gold Derby seem to agree. Again, electorates matter.
By the time of the Saturday ceremony, most of the professionals lined up behind My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay with 58.8% of the experts and 50.0% of editors, along with 34.6% of users. The majority of users, 55.9%, joined by 41.2% of experts and 37.5% of editors, stuck with John Candy: I Like Me. The remaining 12.5% of editors held their position with Ocean with David Attenborough. The professionals called it. Watch Documentary Or Nonfiction Special: 78th Emmy Awards.

The team from My Mom Jayne: A Film By Mariska Hargitay accepts the Emmy for Documentary Or Nonfiction Special at the 78th Emmy Awards.
Congratulations!

Outstanding Narrator
  • Sir David Attenborough – A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough (Netflix)
  • Sir David Attenborough – Ocean with David Attenborough (Nat Geo)
  • Jodie Foster – Breakdown: 1975 (Netflix)
  • Werner Herzog – Ghost Elephants (Nat Geo)
  • Octavia Spencer – Lost Women of Alaska: "The Missing" (Investigation Discovery)
The experts, editors, and users disagree about the odds in this category, too, with 87.5% of experts and 83.0% of users but only 28.6% of editors electing for Sir David in Ocean with David Attenborough, 42.9% of editors along with 12.5% of experts and 9.4% of users choosing Octavia Spencer, and the remaining 28.6% of editors along with 2.9% of users on board with Warner Herzog. The remaining users split between Jodie Foster at 2.6% and Sir David's other nomination at 2.1%. Let's see who switches first, the experts or the editors.
The editors lost their nerve by the time of the ceremony, as 66.7% of them joined 88.9% of the experts and 82.3% of users in selecting Sir David, while only 11.1% of both experts and editors along with 11.3% stuck with Octavia Spencer. More editors, 22.2%, wanted Werner Herzog to win! The editors should have held fast, as Spencer won. Watch Narrator: 78th Emmy Awards.

Octavia Spencer accepts the Emmy for Narrator at the 78th Emmy Awards.
Congratulations to Spencer, who now has an Emmy to go along with her Oscar.

I also listed the other nominations for Ocean with David Attenborough.
The remaining four categories in which Ocean with David Attenborough earned nominations are Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program (covered in 'The Tale of Silyan' vs 'The Librarians' for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking at the Emmy Awards), Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary/Nonfiction or Reality Program (Original Dramatic Score) (sort of covered in 'Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age' earned two Emmy nominations for its VFX and music), Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program, and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program (covered in 'Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Give the Man a Prize' plus the Emmy nominees for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special).
Follow over the jump for the categories either Ocean with David Attenborough or My Mom Jayne: A Film By Mariska Hargitay won.

Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program
  • My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay – Tony Hardman (HBO)
  • Ocean with David Attenborough – Doug Anderson and Toby Strong (Nat Geo)
  • The Tale of Silyan – Jean Dakar (Nat Geo)
  • Tucci in Italy: "Le Marche" – Matt Ball (Nat Geo)
  • The Yogurt Shop Murders: "The End of Wondering" – Justin Zweifach and Christopher LaMarca (HBO)
I'll re-examine this category at least twice, but my preliminary pick is Ocean with David Attenborough.
My intuition was right. Watch Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program: 78th Emmy Awards.

Doug Anderson and Toby Strong accepts the Emmy for Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program at the 78th Emmy Awards.
Congratulations!

Ocean with David Attenborough also won Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program: 78th Emmy Awards.

George Fry, Roy Noy, Jonathon Cawte and Chris Domaille accepts the Emmy for Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program at the 78th Emmy Awards.
I didn't make a prediction for this category, but I did for sound mixing, "Billy Joel: And So It Goes because I think music nominees have an advantage." I was right about sound mixing, but would have been wrong making the same choice for sound editing. It's just as well I didn't. Congratulations!

I conclude with a category I covered in 'Mr. Scorsese' vs. 'The American Revolution' for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series plus Data Centers on Earth Overshoot Day.

Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program
  • Marty, Life Is Short – Lawrence Kasdan (Netflix)
  • Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! – Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio (HBO)
  • Mr. Scorsese: "All This Filming Isn't Healthy" – Rebecca Miller (Apple TV)
  • My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay – Mariska Hargitay (HBO Max)
  • Sean Combs: The Reckoning: "Pain vs Love" – Alexandria Stapleton (Netflix)
Mr. Scorsese and Sean Combs: The Reckoning both earned nominations at the Directors Guild of America Awards and Mr. Scorsese won, so I think it's the favorite.
Nope. Watch Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program: 78th Emmy Awards.

Mariska Hargitay accepts the Emmy for Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program at the 78th Emmy Awards.
I may have been wrong in July, but I was right in November.
This was one of the nominees I thought could win Best Biographical Documentary and I'd probably have picked it to win this category because I listened to Mariska Hargitay interviewed on Fresh Air as part of a publicity tour. I think that matters. Congratulations and good luck at next year's Emmys, most likely the Creative Arts; this looks like their kind of film.
It sure was. Congratulations!

That's a wrap for today's installment. I plan on returning to Emmy winners Friday. I have a bigger breaking entertainment story for tomorrow, the settlement in the anti-trust suit against the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Stay tuned.

Previous posts about the 2026 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)