Happy 70th, Emmys! The big awards night won't be held until September 17th (hosted by Colin Jost and Michael Che) but the nominations were announced this morning. The Emmys have so many categories that beware when you see any site that says "full list of nominees." Even the major news outlets (like Variety and all the massive circulation papers) do this while leaving out a shit ton of categories. In other words don't believe it when anyone says "full list". The only place that regularly shares that is the Emmy site itself. Here's the PDF.
The behemoth, once again, is "Game of Thrones" which, after a year off, returns again to its throne of "Most Nominated Show" just barely edging out "Saturday Night Live," "West World" and "The Handmaid's Tale" all of which received 20 or more nominations. I was particularly happy about plentiful nominations for "GLOW" though it's worth noting that these nominations are not from the show as we know it right this second but from season 1 a full year ago.
After the jump the major stuff and a few other categories that we're interested in...
Drama Series
“The Handmaid’s Tale” S2
“Game of Thrones” s7
“This Is Us” S2
“The Crown” S2
“The Americans” S6
“Stranger Things” S2
“Westworld” S2
7 nominees this year. It's the same list as last year but for the return of Game of Thrones (not eligible last year) and The Americans (the final season gave it enough juice to return as it was clearly a bubble show having risen in esteem each year until finally breaking through with the season 4 and apparently just missing with season 5). Better Call Saul and House of Cards weren't dropped from the list exactly. Neither were eligible. The rule is the same as always: The Television Academy does not change their lists unless they have to!
Next year they won't even have to change the list either. The Americans will drop out since it's over but then they can just bring back Saul or House of Cards since they'll be returning. Expect this same list for years to come since most of the shows are only on their second season. The big question: will "Game of Thrones" win its 3rd Best Series prize or can "The Handmaid's Tale" repeat last year's win?
this show... so fabulous.
Comedy Series
“Atlanta” (FX) S2
“Barry” (HBO) S1
“Black-ish” (ABC) S4
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO) S9
“GLOW” (Netflix) S1
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon) S1
“Silicon Valley” (HBO) S5
“The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (Netflix) S4
8 nominess this year when there were 7 last year so let's just say it had to expand to include the return of Curb which has been nominatd for every one of its 9 seasons. The had room for two new since Master of None and Veep took the year off and weren't eligible but Modern Family finally missed the list in its 9th season. Thus three debuts: GLOW, Mrs. Maisel, and Barry. If Emmy is true to form they'll be nominated for each of their remaining seasons so welcome shows.
But the big news: Since the past eight years worth of Best Comedy Series prizes have gone to either "Veep" and "Modern Family" and both are out of the way now, we'll finally get a new "Best Comedy Series" winner. May the best show win!
i tried to get into this one but lost interest. You?
Limited Series
“The Alienist”
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
“Genius: Picasso”
“Godless”
“Patrick Melrose”
Lead Actor in a Drama Series:
Jason Bateman (“Ozark”)
Sterling K. Brown (“This Is Us”)
Ed Harris (“Westworld”)
Matthew Rhys (“The Americans”)
Milo Ventimiglia (“This Is Us”)
Jeffrey Wright (“Westworld”)
Brown, Rhys, and Ventimiglia return but the rest of the field is shaken up, given that Hopkins, Odenkirk, and Schreiber, and Spacey weren't eligible this go around. That left three or four open slots so they welcomed in Jason Bateman for his first season of Ozark, Harris for his second season of Westworld, and promoted Wright (who was a supporting nominees last season)
I was personally disappointed not to see Jonathan Groff here for "Mindhunter"... not that I expected to see him. The Netflix serial killer was almost completely ignored.
Lead Actress in a Drama Series:
Claire Foy (“The Crown”)
Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”)
Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”)
Keri Russell (“The Americans”)
Evan Rachel Wood (“Westworld”)
Foy, Moss (who won last year), Russell, and Wood are repeats. Maslany returns (after winning two years ago). The big news is that Sandra Oh arrives for the very buzzy Killing Eve (though the series itself was conspicuously absent in the Best Drama Series despite that same buzz). It received only 1 other nomination - Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. For the first time ever in Emmy history Network television was completely shut out of this particular race because Viola Davis missed a nod for her fourth season of How to Get Away With Murder (3 previous noms for the show, the first of which she won for)
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:
Donald Glover (“Atlanta”)
Bill Hader (“Barry”)
Anthony Anderson (“Black-ish”)
William H. Macy (“Shameless”)
Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”)
Ted Danson (“The Good Place”)
It's no surprise that Tambor misses for the first time for Transparent's fourth season (after 3 previous noms, 2 leading to wins) given his recent firing from the show and the harassment allegations. With Tambor gone will Glover repeat his win from last year? The rest of the field are all regularly nominated for these shows with the exception of newbie Bill Hader for his debuting series and Ted Danson who missed for Season 1 of this well-regarded show. This is Danson's 16th nomination. He won this category thrice during his long long run on "Cheers"
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series:
Pamela Adlon (“Better Things”)
Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”)
Allison Janney (“Mom”)
Lily Tomlin (“Grace and Frankie”)
Issa Rae (“Insecure”)
Suddenly competitive! Julia Louis-Dreyfus has had a strangehold on this category for six consecutive years (an Emmy record) but since Veep is on hiatus, there's finally a chance for some other funny lady to win. Adlon, Janney, Ross, and Tomlin have all returned but Fonda and Kemper (both nominated last year) were snubbed in favor of newbies Issa Rae and Rachel Brosnahan (the latter of whom could even win this whole thing with such much enthusiasm for that show. We'll see)
Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie:
Antonio Banderas (“Genius: Picasso”)
Darren Criss (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”)
Benedict Cumberbatch (“Patrick Melrose”)
Jeff Daniels (“The Looming Tower”)
John Legend (“Jesus Christ Superstar”)
Jesse Plemons (“Black Mirror: USS Callister”)
Hmmm, who do you think will win this? I'm not usually a Plemons fan but I loved that episode of Black Mirror. It was great, right?
CONSPICUOUSLY ABSENT: Kyle Maclachlan for Twin Peaks who was Globe nominated in their parallel category.
Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie:
Laura Dern (“The Tale”)
Jessica Biel (“The Sinner”)
Michelle Dockery (“Godless”)
Edie Falco (“The Menendez Murders”)
Regina King (“Seven Seconds”)
Sarah Paulson (“American Horror Story: Cult”)
This is the first season of American Horror Story that I haven't heard anyone talk about in real life but given Paulson's popularity perhaps it's not a surprise that she returns? This year it's a who's who of TV since Dockery, Falco, King, Dern and Paulson are all Emmy darlings. The only one of that quintent that hasn't previously won an Emmy is Dockery -- this is her fourth Emmy nomination (following 3 for Downton Abbey). The only first time nominee in the line up is Jessica Biel.
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”)
Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”)
Joseph Fiennes (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
David Harbour (“Stranger Things”)
Mandy Patinkin (“Homeland”)
Matt Smith (“The Crown”)
Lots of changes this year but from necessity. Last years winner John Lithgow (The Crown) was not eligible since he was only really in the first season of this British royals show. They replaced him with another Crown regular Matt Smith. Dinklage is returning to the category he's won twice since he wasn't eligible last year. But the big news is that Coster-Waldau and Joseph Fiennes, not previously nominated for their work on these two programs, received their very first Emmy nominations. In Coster-Waldau's case that's a "finally!" after 7 seasons on TV's most popular show.
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Alexis Bledel (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”)
Ann Dowd (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Lena Headey (“Game of Thrones”)
Vanessa Kirby (“The Crown”)
Thandie Newton (“Westworld”)
Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Last year's Handmaid champs Ann Dowd (YAS!) and Alexis Bledel (promoted to supporting from the "guest" category she won last year) returns as do Newton (the presumed runner up given how great she is on Westworld) and Brown, and Lena Headey (since her show is back on). The only real newbies are Kirby and Strahovski (breaking in after missing last year for the The Handmaid's Tale).
What a competitive category ! Somehow Headey has never won despite the Emmy's love of all things Game of Thrones. But Dowd or Bledel could repeat their Emmy wins, or Newton could take it or or or... Good category.
Titus Burgess and Jane Krakowski. It's absolutely absurd that neither of them have won an Emmy yet
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Louie Anderson (“Baskets”)
Alec Baldwin (“Saturday Night Live”)
Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”)
Brian Tyree Henry (“Atlanta”)
Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”)
Henry Winkler (“Barry”)
I'll just be over here shouting like a madman that Tituss Burgess has still not won this category despite being a) the best thing on his show and b) the funniest performance on any show I personally watch basically. Alec Baldwin and Louie Anderson have both previously won this category and might again given that it's the Emmys. Then again Shalhoub is like an awards magnet so maybe it will be him? What a year this has been for Brian Tyree Henry though, right. He was Tony nominated for Lobby Hero this summer, receives his second Emmy nod (though his first for Atlanta, and he co-stars in Widows, one of the fall's big Oscar hopefuls. In other big news regarding this category this is Kenan Thompson's first nomination for acting and Henry Winkler's seventh overall though he's never won an Emmy. Not even in his Happy Days heyday.
In all honesty, were it not for Roseanne's swift cancellation due to the star's behavior (not the ratings) I would have expected Laurie Metcalf to make a return to Emmy glory.
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Zazie Beetz (“Atlanta”)
Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Aidy Bryant (“Saturday Night Live”)
Betty Gilpin (“GLOW”)
Leslie Jones (“Saturday Night Live”)
Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”)
Laurie Metcalf (“Roseanne”)
Megan Mullally (“Will & Grace”)
8 nominees so the voting must have been close. But if you ask us Emmy should make some harder rules about the size of their categories. How is it that the Oscars can figure out how not to have ties that expanding their fields randomly but no other awards body can?
But all that said. Fresh blood. Sort of! Previous winners Metcalf and Mullally return after long absences with their shows, Roseanne and Will & Grace were revived. But there's some actual fresh blood, too. Beetz, Borstein, Bryant, and Gilpin are all receiving their first ever regular acting nominations (though Borstein's been nominated before for voice-over work and producing, and Bryant's been nominated for songwriting with other SNL cast members).
CONSPICUOUSLY ABSENT: Jane Krakowski... but then the Emmys have never treated her right. She should have multiple trophies and still struggles for consecutive nominations on each show she's been brilliant on.
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Jeff Daniels (“Godless”)
Brandon Victor Dixon (“Jesus Christ Superstar”)
John Leguizamo (“Waco”)
Ricky Martin (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”)
Edgar Ramirez (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”)
Michael Stuhlbarg (“The Looming Tower”)
Finn Wittrock (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”)
I'm just thrilled to see Brandon Victor Dixon here who completely owned that live concert. But trust a Ryan Murphy series to figure out how to own half a category.
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Sara Bareilles (“Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert”)
Penelope Cruz (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”)
Judith Light (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”)
Adina Porter (“American Horror Story: Cult”)
Merritt Wever (“Godless”)
Letitia Wright (“Black Mirror: Black Museum”)
Guest Actor in a Drama Series
F. Murray Abraham (“Homeland”)
Cameron Britton (“Mindhunter”)
Matthew Goode (“The Crown”)
Ron Cephas Jones (“This Is Us”)
Gerald McRaney (“This Is Us”)
Jimmi Simpson (“Westworld”)
Very pleased about the Cameron Britton nomination. Damn he was alarming/amazing in Mindhunter and given that they completely shunned the show otherwise, this is a surprise. It means they meant it. In fact, if there were more Emmy nominations like this one, even for shows we didn't like, that indicated they were really thinking about their ballots rather than just putting their 4 favorite shows into all available slots, than the Emmys would immediately get 100 times more interesting and volatile.
In other category news, the world's most handsome man, Matthew Goode, receives his first Emmy nod. Despite solid to great performances in lots of things this is only his third major awards honor in his career having previously been nominated for two different ensemble awards at SAG.
Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Viola Davis (“Scandal”)
Kelly Jenrette (The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Cherry Jones (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Diana Rigg (“Game of Thrones”)
Cicely Tyson (“How to Get Away With Murder”)
Samira Wiley (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Just when you thought Emmy had let Viola Davis's Annalise Keating go (missing for the first time in Best Actress) they find a way to still nominate her for a crossover episode on anothe Shondaland show, Scandal! Meanwhile, this is Cicely Tyson's 14th Emmy nod, and her third for this occasional character on How to Get Away with Murder.
Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Sterling K. Brown (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”)
Bryan Cranston (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”)
Donald Glover (“Saturday Night Live”)
Bill Hader (“Saturday Night Live”)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”)
Katt Williams (“Atlanta”)
Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Tina Fey (“Saturday Night Live”)
Tiffany Haddish (“Saturday Night Live”)
Jane Lynch (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Maya Rudolph (“The Good Place”)
Molly Shannon (“Will & Grace”)
Wanda Sykes (“Black-ish”)
Yay, Molly Shannon, delivering again as crazy neighbor Val on Will & Grace
Reality Competition
“The Amazing Race” S30
“American Ninja Warrior” S9
“Project Runway” S16
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” S10
“Top Chef” S15
“The Voice” S13-14
A very long in the tooth category, this.
Variety Sketch Series
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
“Portlandia” (IFC)
“Drunk History” (Comedy Central)
“Tracey Ullman’s Show” (HBO)
“At Home with Amy Sedaris” (TruTV)
“I Love You, America” (Hulu)
Variety Talk Series
“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah”
“Full Frontal With Samantha Bee”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live”
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”
“Late Late Show with James Corden
“Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
Yay, Samantha Bee, breaking up the boys club.
Television Movie
“Fahrenheit 451” (HBO)
“Flint” (Lifetime)
“Paterno” (HBO)
“The Tale” (HBO)
“Black Mirror: USS Callister” (Netflix)
Ah, that was such a great episode of Black Mirror, wasn't it?
Structured Reality Program
“Antiques Roadshow” (PBS)
“Fixer Upper” (HGTV)
“Lip Sync Battle” (Paramount)
“Queer Eye” (Netflix)
“Shark Tank” (ABC)
“Who Do You Think You Are?” (TLC)
Shark Tank has won this category four times. The original Queer Eye in 2004 won it once. The rest of these have never won.
Unstructured Reality Program
“Born This Way” (A&E)
“Deadliest Catch” (Discovery)
“Intervention” (A&E)
“Naked and Afraid” (Discovery Channel)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked” (VH1)
“United Shades of America With W. Kamau Bell” (CNN)
United Shades of America won last time around after a long dominance of this category by Deadliest Catch.
Host for Reality/Reality Competition Program
W. Kamau Bell (“United Shades of America With W. Kamau Bell”)
Ellen DeGeneres (“Ellen’s Game of Games”)
RuPaul Charles (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”)
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn (“Project Runway”)
Jane Lynch (“Hollywood Game Night”)
RuPaul has won this category for the past two years. Third time?
Outstanding Variety Special (Live)
75th Annual Golden Globe Awards
60th Annual Grammy Awards
90th Annual Academy Awards
Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert
Night of Too Many Stars: America Unites for Autism Programs
Someday we should probably do some research to see which years of the Oscars were snubbed here.
CONSPICUOUSLY ABSENT: The Tony Awards which only rarely misses this category. I think the last time was 12 years ago? It's won 8 of the past 11 years.
Outstanding Animated Program
"Big Hero Six: The Series" episode "Baymax Returns"
"Bob's Burgers" episode "V for Valentine-detta"
"Rick & Morty" episode "Pickle Rick"
"The Simpsons" episode "Gone Boy"
"South Park" episode "Put it down"
Outstanding Production Design
"American Horror Story: Cult"
"The Handmaid's Tale" episode "June"
"The Handmaid's Tale" episode "Seeds" "First Blood" "After"
"Ozark" episode "My Dripping Sleep"
"Twin Peaks"
Oustanding Cinematography (Half-Hour)
"Atlanta"
"Barry" episode "Know Your Truth"
"The End of the Fucking World" episode 3
"GLOW" episode Pilot
"Insecure" episode "hella LA"
"Mozart in the Jungle" episode "Ichi Go Ichi E"
Outstanding Cinematography (One Hour)
"The Crown" episode "Beryl"
"The Handmaid's Tale" epsidoe "June"
"Legion" episode "Chapter 9"
"The Marvelous Mrs Maisel" episode "Pilot"
"Ozark" episode "The Toll"
"Stranger Things" episode "Chapter One: mad Max"
"Westworld" episode "The Riddle of the Sphinx"
Outstanding Period Costumes
"The Alienist" episode "A Fruitful Partnership"
"The Crown" episode "Dear Mrs Kennedy"
"Genius Picasso" episode "Chapter One"
"The Marvelous Mrs Maisel" episode "The Disappointment of The Dionne Quintuplets"
"Outlander" episode "Freedom and Whisky"
Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-fi Costumes
"Fahrenheit 451"
"Game of Thrones" episode "Beyon the Wall"
"The Handmaid's Tale" episode "Seeds"
"A Series of Unfortunate Events" episode "The Vile Village: Part 1"
"West World" epsiode "Akane No Mai"
Outstanding Contemporary Costumes
"The Assassination of Gianni Versace" episode "The Man Who Would be Vogue"
"black-ish" episode "juneteenth"
"Empire" episode "Slave To Memory"
"Grace and Frankie" episode "The Expiration Date"
"This is Us" episode "The Wedding"
Outstanding Visual Effects
"Altered Carbon" episode "Out of the Past"
"Game of Thrones" episode "Beyond the Wall"
"Lost in Space" episode "Danger, Will Robinson"
"Stranger Things" episode "Chapter Nine: The Gate"
"Westworld" episode "The Passenger"
Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
Seth MacFarlane for "American Dad!" episode "The Talented Mr Dingleberry"
Alex Borstein for "Family Guy" episode "Nanny Goats"
Seth MacFarlane for "Family Guy" episode "Send in Stewie, Please"
Russi Taylor for "The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular"
Dan Castallaneta for "The Simpsons" episode "Fear of Clowns
I only list this category because I've never understood the nominations. It's basically always the Seth MacFarlane show and the cast of "Bob's Burgers" and "Archer" are almost always ignored despite steadily brilliant work. So strange. Who votes on these things?
HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT THIS YEAR'S EMMY NOMINATIONS?