Apple’s Matt Cherniss on Record Emmy Haul and ‘Studio’ Breakthrough: “Great All the Way Around”

Apple’s Matt Cherniss on Record Emmy Haul and ‘Studio’ Breakthrough: “Great All the Way Around”

Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese each landed their first Emmy nominations for acting on Tuesday for playing themselves in The Studio. It’s a bit of trivia that Apple TV+ head of programming Matt Cherniss could dine out on — but he’s choosing not to.

“I am not going to take credit, Cherniss told The Hollywood Reporter, laughing. “That’s a team decision here, but the fact that they did get those nominations is just fantastic. I mean, we’re fans ourselves here, so to see people like that, who we love to work with and are obviously legends in the business, have a little part of that is great.”

The nominations for Howard and Scorsese were two of a whopping 23 nods for The Studio, setting a record for a first-year comedy series and tying The Bear’s overall comedy record, set last year. In most years, a show with 23 nominations would lead any platform’s haul — except this one, where season two of Apple TV+’s Severance earned 27 nominations, leading the entire field.

Those two shows made up the bulk of Apple’s record 81 Emmy nods (up from 72 last year), but a dozen other series on the service also scored nominations. “To have 14 shows get acknowledged is really a testament to everyone involved in those series,” Cherniss said. “It was great to see Brian Tyree Henry nominated for Dope Thief. Presumed Innocent is a fantastic show, and I think so rewarding. Shrinking is funny and heartfelt, and to see nominations for Harrison Ford and Jason Segel and everyone involved in that show, again, it’s just great all the way around. We don’t take for granted the amount of effort that all of these creators and talent put into these shows.”

The Studio’s nominations include best comedy series, five of the six nominations for guest actor in a comedy series (Howard, Scorsese, Bryan Cranston, Dave Franco and Anthony Mackie), and an acting-writing-directing trifecta for co-creator, director and star Seth Rogen. Cherniss said the specific vision Rogen and co-creator Evan Goldberg (who also directed every episode with Rogen) had for the series helped lead to the bounty of nominations.

“They had a gut feeling about a show that they wanted to do, an instinct about how to tell the stories differently than maybe we’re used to seeing them,” Cherniss said. “I think the show is wildly funny, and also timely and resonant and celebratory of the business we all work in, while still telling great stories and having amazing characters. I think that all of their instincts were right, and their gut was right about the way to tell a story about this town and Hollywood.”