Take this year’s best comedy series category, which sees Bill Hader’s Barry (a comedy that featured little-to-no comedy) up against Ted Lasso (classic sports comedy), Hacks (a comedy about comedy) and What We Do in the Shadows (vampire comedy).

The same issue exists in the race for best actor in a comedy series, with Donald Glover’s brooding portrayal of budding hip hop manager Earn in Atlanta in the same category as Jason Sudeikis’ happy-go-lucky Ted Lasso.

Then you’ve got The White Lotus nominated for best limited or anthology series, despite the fact series two is being filmed. Also in that category is The Dropout, which might return if Amanda Seyfried gets her way.

The sheer volume of content has created a problem on several fronts. Aside from having shows or actors shoehorned into categories where they don’t belong, series that garnered near widespread critical acclaim are snubbed: paging Pachinko and We Own This City.

This has led to calls for the Emmys to be expanded, with industry publication Variety running a campaign to raise the number of nominees in key categories to 10 – a proposal the Emmys are considering.

“We absolutely talk about that, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it again this year,” said TV Academy president Maury McIntyre in an interview with the magazine.

But the idea of adding more nominees to an already bloated award ceremony feels a lot like solving a problem by creating another problem.

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All of the above points to an obvious truth: awards shows are imperfect beasts. They’re long, self-indulgent, and more often than not, pretty dull unless Will Smith is involved.

So, perhaps it’s time to accept that they had it right back in 1949: less is indeed more.

A selection of 2022 Emmy nominees

Best drama series
Better Call Saul (Stan)
Euphoria (Binge)
Ozark (Netflix)
Severance (Apple TV+)
Squid Game (Netflix)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
Succession (Binge)
Yellowjackets (Paramount)

Best actress in a drama series
Jodie Comer (Killing Eve)
Laura Linney (Ozark)
Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets)
Sandra Oh (Killing Eve)
Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show)
Zendaya (Euphoria)

Best actor in a drama series
Jason Bateman (Ozark)
Brian Cox (Succession)
Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game)
Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul)
Adam Scott (Severance)
Jeremy Strong (Succession)

Best supporting actor in a drama series
Nicholas Braun (Succession)
Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)
Kieran Culkin (Succession)
Park Hae-soo (Squid Game)
Matthew Macfadyen (Succession)
John Turturro (Severance)
Christopher Walken (Severance)
Oh Yeong-soo (Squid Game)

Best supporting actress in a drama series
Patricia Arquette (Severance)
Julia Garner (Ozark)
Jung Ho-yeon (Squid Game)
Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets)
Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul)
J. Smith-Cameron (Succession)
Sarah Snook (Succession)
Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria)

Best comedy series
Abbott Elementary (Disney+)
Barry (Binge)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (Binge)
Hacks (Stan)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Only Murders in the Building (Disney+)
Ted Lasso (Apple)
What We Do in the Shadows (Binge)

Best actress in a comedy series
Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary)
Kaley Cuoco (The Flight Attendant)
Elle Fanning (The Great)
Issa Rae (Insecure)
Jean Smart (Hacks)

Best actor in a comedy series
Donald Glover (Atlanta)
Bill Hader (Barry)
Nicholas Hoult (The Great)
Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building)
Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building)
Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso)

Best limited or anthology series
Dopesick (Disney+)
The Dropout (Disney+)
Inventing Anna (Netflix)
Pam & Tommy (Disney+)
The White Lotus (Binge)

Best actress in a limited series, movie or anthology
Toni Collette (The Staircase)
Julia Garner (Inventing Anna)
Lily James (Pam & Tommy)
Sarah Paulson (Impeachment: American Crime Story)
Margaret Qualley (Maid)
Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout)

Best actor in a limited series, movie or anthology
Colin Firth (The Staircase)
Andrew Garfield (Under the Banner of Heaven)
Oscar Isaac (Scenes From a Marriage)
Michael Keaton (Dopesick)
Himesh Patel (Station Eleven)
Sebastian Stan (Pam & Tommy)