The Emmy® Award nominations for 2016 have been announced and there are the usual surprise inclusions and a few noteworthy snubs. (One noteworthy thing about this year’s acting noms (pay attention Oscars®): eighteen qualify as diverse.)
Rather than name a few of them here to just take up more space, I’ll make my comments by category. The list of major categories follow the jump. Feel free to list your kudos and brickbats for this year’s nominations and/or snubs in the comments.
The 69th Primetime Emmy® Awards will be broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, on ABC, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, on Sunday, September 18th (7/6C).
Drama Series
The Americans
Better Call Saul
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
House of Cards
Mr. Robot
Kudos for including The Americans (at long bloody last!) and Mr. Robot (you got it right first time here, Academy – what happened?).
Brickbats for including Downton Abbey, House of Cars and Homeland – all of which have seen much better days (just they improved over their previous seasons doesn’t mean they belong here). Where are unREAL (a Peabody Award winner!), Orphan Black and The Leftovers (another Peabody winner!)? Or the incredible Homer and Pete? Where?
Comedy Series
Black-ish
Master of None
Modern Family
Silicon Valley
Veep
Transparent
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
The only complaints I have about this category are the inclusion of the incredibly tired Modern Family and the exclusion of Broad city.
Limited Series
American Crime
Fargo
The Night Manager
The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Roots
Looks about right to me.
Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Kyle Chandler, Bloodline
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Matthew Rhys! Rami Malek! YES!
Kyle Chandler? Instead of Damien Lewis or Paul Giamatti from Billions? Really?
Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Claire Danes, Homeland
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Taraji P Henson, Empire
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Keri Russell, The Americans
Robin Wright, House of Cards
Eva Green gave a deeper, more nuanced performance – with more range – than Claire Danes or Robin Wright. Pity it was on a supernatural drama, Penny Dreadful. Ditto the amazing Krysten Ritter in Netflix’s Jessica Jones.
Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Bryan Cranston, All the Way
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Idris Elba, Luther
Cuba Gooding Jr., The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager
Courtney B. Vance, The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Can’t argue with this lot.
Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Sarah Paulson, The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Lili Taylor, American Crime
Kerry Washington, Confirmation
Can’t argue here, either.
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Aziz Ansari, Master of None
Will Forte, Last Man on Earth
William H. Macy, Shameless
Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Damn! Three categories in a row where I can’t argue.
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Laurie Metcalf, Getting On
Tracee Ellis Ross, Blackish
Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie
Okay, Academy. Sacrilege coming up: Rachel Bloom had a much more demanding role than Lily Tomlin and aced it! Ditto Gina Rodriguez! (Oh, right. If it’s an hour, it’s drama! How incredibly silly of you!)
Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Louie Anderson, Baskets
Keegan-Michael Key, Key & Peele
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Matt Walsh, Veep
Tony Hale, Veep
Either of Jaime Camil and Yael Grobglas from Jane the Virgin would have been a better choice than Ty Burrell. (See also: rules silliness)
Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Niecy Nash, Getting On
Allison Janney, Mom
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Judith Light, Transparent
Gaby Hoffmann, Transparent
Anna Chlumsky, Veep
No argument from me.
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Kit Harington, Game of Thrones
Michael Kelly, House of Cards
Jon Voight, Ray Donovan
You could have added David Tennant from Jessica Jones – or, if you were never going seven noms in this category, replaced Michael Kelly with him.
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones
Maura Tierney, The Affair
Constance Zimmer, UnREAL
No complaints here.
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Jesse Plemons, Fargo
Bokeem Woodbine, Fargo
Hugh Laurie, The Night Manager
Sterling K. Brown, People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
David Schwimmer, People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
John Travolta, People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Seems about right to me.
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Melissa Leo, All the Way
Regina King, American Crime
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Hotel
Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Hotel
Jean Smart, Fargo
Olivia Colman, The Night Manager
Yup.
Outstanding TV Movie
A Very Murray Christmas
All the Way
Confirmation
Luther
Sherlock
Not sure about All the Way, but Bryan Cranston’s performance does elevate the material substantially.
Variety Talk Series
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
The Late Late Show With James Cordon
Real Time With Bill Maher
Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon
You included John Oliver but not Full Frontal with Samantha Bee? Madness!
Variety Sketch Series
Documentary Now
Drunk History
Inside Amy Schumer
Key & Peele
Portlandia
Saturday Night Live
Okay.
Reality-Competition Program
The Amazing Race
American Ninja Warrior
Dancing With the Stars
Project Runway
Top Chef
The Voice
Never watched any of these.
Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars
Jane Lynch, Hollywood Game Night
Steve Harvey, Little Big Shots
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, Project Runway
RuPaul Charles, RuPaul’s Drag Race
Don’t really care (unless Lynch wins again – then, huzzah!).