To the surprise of no one who watched Widow’s Bay, the show racked up 19 Emmy nominations earlier today, including nods for acting, writing, directing, casting, cinematography, production design, editing, music composition and supervision, and sound editing and mixing. These are all extremely well-earned, and no doubt many will translate into trophies at the ceremony in September. But some might wonder: why was Widow’s Bay classified as a comedy? Sure, it had lots of funny moments—but it’s also scary as hell!
The Hollywood Reporter posed that very question to Apple TV head of programming Matt Cherniss. “One of the best things about television right now is, I think, the variety of shows and the uniqueness of the creativity that’s out there, and that things don’t necessarily fit into a category maybe as simply as they did in the past,” he said, pointing to Widow’s Bay as an excellent example of this phenomenon. “[Widow’s Bay] scares you, it makes you think, and it makes you laugh—and it makes me laugh a lot.”
He continued, “I also think that there’s a heightened element to the show—and the genre—that leans it a little more into that category. The intention of the actors and the characters are a little bit larger than life at times that I think suits the comedy category for that show, in particular … if you’re doing a show that examines the human condition, anyway, and there’s no laughs in it, that’s going to be tough … Ultimately, I do think that Widow’s Bay is in the right place.”
Insert your own GIF of Mayor Tom flying off a bench while at sea with a 350-year-old living corpse, or raspily intone “dead baby” in your best Rosemary imitation, or mutter “he made a pass” while flipping through your photo album in tribute to Ruth. The humor of Widow’s Bay was only made greater by the show’s horror elements, and Cherniss hopes new fans continue to discover this. (All that Emmy attention can’t hurt.)
“Right now, Widow’s Bay is having a moment, right? And there’s a lot of audience coming to it,” he said. “I think and hope that these nominations will only further supercharge that process, but it’s still very much in that accelerating-growth phase as it relates to people finding it, talking about it, telling other people about it. We’re in sort of the white-hot center of that as we speak.”
Praise the Salty Whale; a second season is coming. And Widow’s Bay season one holds up under repeat viewings should you need a little sea-hag situation or perhaps a cursed dance party to lift your spirits in the meantime.
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