The good news for the Duchess of Sussex is that it is technically true that her cookery and lifestyle show has been nominated for an Emmy award.
"A huge congratulations to the amazing crew, producers, and team who worked on With Love, Meghan on @netflix," Meghan wrote in an Instagram post. "We are nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lifestyle Series!"
This is a welcome fillip for a show that Netflix cancelled after it ranked 1,218th in the streamer's list of most popular shows, between a cartoon about a superhero who dresses as a ladybird and the French animation Karate Sheep.
The bad news is that this is a bit like someone announcing that they own a Lamborghini while omitting to mention they mean a tractor rather than a hypercar.
With Love, Meghan has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy, the dowdier cousin of the Primetime Emmys that isn't televised, takes place in an auditorium half the size and has a mixed record of attracting global stars. Jennifer Hudson was the only attendee last year who would be recognisable on the world stage.
Her fellow guests were the cast of soap operas such as The Young and the Restless and General Hospital, which is the show for which Meghan's estranged father, Thomas Markle, won two Daytime Emmys and was nominated for a further seven.
© NetflixIt is a marker of how undynamic the Daytime Emmys are that General Hospital and The Young and the Restless have each received an average of 20 nominations every year for the past 20 years and have never gone home empty handed in that time.
Indeed, last year, the six nominees in the category for Lead Actress in a Drama Series comprised two from General Hospital and four from The Young and the Restless.
With Love, Meghan, is competing in the Outstanding Lifestyle Series alongside the home makeover show George to the Rescue and documentary The Wizard of Paws, about animals receiving prosthetic limbs.
Perhaps because of its segments on how to make balloon arches and wrap presents in silk scarves, With Love, Meghan was not nominated in the Outstanding Culinary Instructional Series category.
A personal view
For transparency, I should admit that I was not beguiled by With Love, Meghan. I found it unsatisfying in a way I couldn't grasp at first.
There were jarring elements: Meghan's greeting of a stranger on a video call with "Hi friend!", the claim that no one remembers what they ate at a dinner party so long as they leave with their "heart feeling full", the adjectival use of "darling" and her tendency to laugh-frown with demonstrative embarrassment when someone compliments her.
But there was something more fundamental. For comparison, I watched an episode from one of Nigella Lawson's shows, which have parallels with Meghan's. Both feature beautiful and stylish women in enviable kitchens talking about their passions while sharing food tips. It dawned on me, as I watched her Italian show Nigellissima, that I was actually interested in what Nigella was saying. She told compelling stories about regional Italian dishes and her relationship with them before showing us how to make them.
© Toronto Star via Getty ImagesIn Meghan's show, she never developed an interesting narrative. The only point of watching was to see Meghan being herself, and she wasn't particularly convincing at that.
Despite this, it is exciting for Meghan to receive her first award nomination in the entertainment business and it will be fascinating to watch her reaction on October 30, if she attends the 53rd annual awards at the Hollywood Palladium. Will you wish her the best of luck?
