Every year, when the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announces its Emmy nominations, the reaction is focused more on which worthy shows and performances were left out than who was actually nominated.
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Five-time best comedy victor Modern Family was once again nominated – it is now tied with Frasier for the show with the most titles in the category.
There were also nods for Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, for their writing on comedy Catastrophe, and for The Americans’ Matthew Rhys, who was nominated in the best drama actor category.
The People v. O.J. Simpson: “American Crime Story”, a TV mini-series exploring racial tensions that strained the criminal justice system 20 years before Black Lives Matter, dominated the Primetime Emmy nominations on Thursday along with HBO’s medieval fantasy “Game of Thrones”. Sam Esmail’s moody online nightmare broke into the hotly contested Best Drama Series category, and Rami Malek nabbed a nomination for his performance as show’s the unstable hacker-wunderkind hero.
Which would make sense – according to the Emmys’ own website, the eligibility period to receive a nomination runs from January 1, 2015 until December 31, 2015.
HBO usually mops the floor with these categories, but despite multiple nominations for “All the Way”, it missed out for mini-series “Show Me a Hero” (sorry, Oscar Isaac fans) and “The Dresser” (despite Emmy-bait stars Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen). Corden’s show, little more than a year old, is famed for its viral Carpool Karaoke segments.
Courtney B Vance’s turn as defence attorney Johnnie Cochran also earned him a Best Actor in a Limited Series nod, while co-stars Sterling K Brown, David Schwimmer and John Travolta are all nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series, taking up half of that entire category. What’s disappointing is that, even though its leading lady was rightfully nominated, Orphan Black as a show was not, which is a shame considering it’s one of the most engaging, complex, and thought-provoking shows no television right now. Dude damn near stroked out when he got the news while he was presenting the Emmy noms with with “Gilmore Girls” star Lauren Graham live Thursday morning, as you can see from his reaction above. So was “Empire” star Taraji P. Henson.
Making a stand for basic cable, FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”, proved the second-most nominated show with 22 bids.
If anyone has owned the acting Emmys in modern history, it’s Cranston, who won the lead actor drama Emmy in three consecutive years (2008-10) for portraying Walter White in “Breaking Bad”, and won again in 2014. Best of all, Maura Tierney, who brought such great energy and dimension to “The Affair”, was given her first supporting nod for the show (she was previously nominated for “ER” in 2001).
The Night Manager is up for best limited television series against Fargo, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Roots and American Crime. With 94 total nominations, it is the most-nominated network for the 16th year in a row.
“It’s hard to quantify a monetary benefit for an Emmy nomination”, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore, said. Tambor, last year’s victor for lead comedy actor, earned a second nod for his turn as the transgender Maura Pfefferman, as did Gaby Hoffmann for supporting actress, playing her genderqueer daughter, Ali. If the pendulum swings the latter direction, it could mean nominations for “The Good Wife” and “Downton Abbey”, which both concluded their runs earlier this year.
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The 2016 Primetime Emmys will air Sunday, Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
