From left: Carrie Preston in Elsbeth; Ben Kingsley and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Wonder Man; Matthew Rhys in Widow’s Bay.
Illustrated by Pixel Pushers; Michael Parmelee/CBS; Suzanne Tenner/MARVEl; Courtesy of Apple TV+
As ‘Elsbeth,’ ‘Wonder Man,’ ‘Spider-Noir’ and ‘Widow’s Bay’ crowd an increasingly fuzzy field, the battle over what qualifies as a comedy is only getting messier.
June 19, 2026
Ever since the streaming boom began, the Emmys have struggled with how to define a comedy. One of Netflix’s flagship hits, Orange Is the New Black, exploded in the nominations in its first season as a comedy back in 2014 despite hourlong episodic lengths and a relatively dark tone. The Television Academy then ruled the next year that hourlong shows needed to be classified as dramas, forcing OITNB to jump ship. It became the only show in history to be nominated for both best drama and best comedy, with Uzo Aduba winning comedy and drama acting awards for her breakout turn as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren, which happened to be both wrenching and hilarious.
