Network TV Might Have the Worst Luck at Emmys, but Angela Bassett Still Deserves a Nomination for ‘9-1-1’

This week’s Emmy nominations, unsurprisingly, continued to favor prestige cable and streaming dramas over network television. The Best Actress in a Drama Series category is dominated by deserving performances from shows on HBO, Netflix, and other streamers — with one notable exception. Kathy Bates earned a well-deserved nomination for her role in CBS’s Matlock, becoming the oldest nominee in the category’s history. But it was a rare acknowledgment. The last time a network drama actress was nominated? Back in 2019, when Mandy Moore (This Is Us) and Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder) were recognized. In recent years, network performances, no matter how compelling, have mostly been shut out.

And yet, there’s one Oscar-nominated movie star who’s been delivering powerhouse performances on network TV for eight seasons straight with no Emmy recognition: Angela Bassett. The Emmys may have moved on from network dramas, but Bassett is still giving one of the most commanding performances on television as LAPD Sergeant Athena Grant in 9-1-1. Balancing action, intensity, and emotional complexity, she brings unmatched gravitas to every episode. Her work is nuanced, riveting, and often deeply moving — and it’s long past time the industry started treating it that way.

Angela Bassett’s Work on ‘9-1-1’ Has Been Emmy-Worthy for Years

Since the premiere of 9-1-1 back in 2018, one thing has remained constant: Angela Bassett’s incredibly powerful performance. As LAPD Sergeant Athena Grant, she brings a rare combination of authority, compassion and vulnerability to every episode. Whether she’s landing a failing airplane or talking a victim down in a high-stakes crisis, Bassett grounds even the most outrageous scenarios in emotional truth. She balances strength and sensitivity with ease, often conveying volumes with a single glance. That’s what makes her performance so captivating in basically everything she's in. She can do more with silence and stillness than most actors can with an entire monologue.

While every season has showcased her extraordinary range, Season 8 delivered some of Bassett’s most Emmy-worthy work yet. Athena’s long-running relationship with Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) has been one of the emotional backbones of the series, and the final episodes, following Bobby’s tragic death, offered Bassett a chance to explore the full spectrum of grief. We saw Athena collapse, rage, spiral into denial, and lash out at Chimney (Kenneth Choi) in moments of raw pain. Nothing felt forced. You could see the weight of her loss in her posture, the effort it took to simply keep moving, let alone keep working. Bassett let the silence, the stillness and the devastation do the work.

9-1-1 has never shied away from its procedural roots or its penchant for the spectacular, but through it all, Bassett has remained its emotional anchor. Even amid the show’s wildest emergencies and dramatic turns, she never lets the stakes overshadow the humanity at the heart of Athena’s character. In lesser hands, Athena might come off as just another “tough woman” archetype. But Bassett makes her layered, empathetic and real. Angela Bassett deserves an Emmy nomination not just because she’s great for a network show — but because she’s been delivering one of the most consistently outstanding performances on television, period.

Angela Bassett Should Also Have an Oscar

Of course — and unfortunately — this isn’t the first time Angela Bassett has been overlooked during awards season. She was widely expected to win the Oscar for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, only to be snubbed at the last minute. The upset reignited an ongoing conversation about how Black women, especially those delivering emotionally rich, complex performances, are so often left out of major awards recognition. That same pattern is repeating with 9-1-1, and it shouldn’t be. Yes, it may be uncommon for a Marvel movie to get a major acting nomination, just as it’s rare for a network procedural, but that doesn’t mean the work isn’t award-worthy. Bassett, a Yale-trained powerhouse with unmatched range, has proven again and again that her performances transcend platform or genre.

Following the Oscar snub, Bassett spoke candidly about her disappointment to Oprah Winfrey via Variety, acknowledging, with grace and honesty, that it was a deeply human reaction. That emotional intelligence is part of what makes her such an exceptional performer. It’s hard not to envy the actors who get to share the screen with her, even briefly. Whether she’s trading heavy dialogue with longtime co-stars or creating chemistry with guest stars on 9-1-1, she connects instantly and authentically. You see it in the way she mines raw emotion from even the most procedural moments. You saw it again in Wakanda Forever, where she channeled the real-life grief of losing Chadwick Boseman into one of the most resonant performances of her career.

When Viola Davis was nominated (and won) for How to Get Away with Murder, it was a watershed moment, not just because she deserved it, but because it was a rare acknowledgment of how powerful network performances can be. Now, it’s Angela Bassett’s time. She’s not just outstanding “for network TV”. She’s one of our best actors working today. And while flashier roles come and go, Bassett has been delivering Emmy-caliber performances season after season.

Bassett’s work deserves recognition not in spite of being on network television, but because it proves just how powerful and enduring those performances can be. While she took home an Emmy last year for Outstanding Narrator for Queens: African Queens, it’s long past time her acting earned her another win.

All eight seasons of 9-1-1 are available to stream on Hulu.