Hit Netflix show Better Call Saul sets an unwanted and puzzling record at the 2024 Emmys

The 2024 Primetime Emmys are over, and three shows – Succession, The Bear, and Beef – swept the board at this year's event.

With the latter, one of the best shows of 2023, landing six prizes on the night, Netflix will be celebrating a job well done. Despite that success, the world's best streaming service will be consoling another of its hit shows – Better Call Saul – after it set an undeserved record during last night's (January 15) ceremony.

The fan-favorite legal crime drama, whose six season run ended in August 2022, was nominated for 53 Primetime Emmys during its time on the air. But, with Better Call Saul walking away from this year's event empty handed, it's made Emmys history by failing to win a single award. That means the Breaking Bad spin-off is the most snubbed TV show since the Primetime Emmys began in 1967.

Was Better Call Saul judged too harshly?

For comparison sakes, Breaking Bad won 12 Primetime Emmys across its five seasons. And, while it's an absolutely fantastic series that needs to be seen by every type of TV aficionado, some will argue that Better Call Saul is a better show than the program that spawned it.

Indeed, Better Call Saul, which originally aired on AMC in the US before it joined Netflix's TV ranks, edges out Breaking Bad in the critics score stakes. Currently, Better Call Saul's Rotten Tomatoes approval rating sits at 98%, with Breaking Bad chalking up a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes. From an audience perspective, there's little to be drawn between the two, with Breaking Bad's 97% score pipping its successor's 96% rating out by the finest of margins.

It's all subjective, of course, when it comes to individual opinions on which is the better show. However, it's baffling that these two heavyweights – both of which found a spot on our best Netflix shows list – have fared differently at the Primetime Emmys through the years.

Sure, Better Call Saul had to compete with some of the biggest TV shows of our generation, including Succession on Max, but it's nonetheless a gross injustice that the Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seahorn-starring series didn't land a single Primetime Emmy. Based on threads that have popped up on ResetEra and Reddit, the overriding emotion within Better Call Saul's devote fanbase is one of bemusement after it was shut out yet again.

Better Call Saul is far from the only highly-rated TV show that never won a Primetime Emmy, mind you. HBO's iconic show The Wire, comedy classics Parks and Recreation and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Apple TV Plus' hugely popular soccer comedy Ted Lasso, and even Star Trek's TV series have been given short shrift throughout history. Better Call Saul, then, is in good company, although I'm sure that's scant consolation for everyone involved in its production.

Better Call Saul is available to stream in full on Netflix in the US and UK, and Stan in Australia.

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