Emmy Noms Include Usual Suspects and a Noteworthy New Contender
Netflix made its maiden voyage as an Emmy contender Thursday, with House of Cards setting the pace with nine of the digital streamer’s 14 nominations.
The announcements otherwise had a gratingly familiar ring, with HBO again the supremely reigning network, FX’s drama series getting skunked in major categories and a wealth of repeaters among the nominees for best drama and comedy series.
House of Cards, the only new entrant in the top drama series category, joined a reprise of 2012’s nominees — HBO’s Game of Thrones, AMC’s Breaking Bad and Mad Men, Showtime’s Homeland and PBS’ Downton Abbey. Only HBO’s Boardwalk Empire failed to repeat, but it still received 10 nominations overall.
FX’s widely acclaimed first year series The Americans and the network’s long-running Justified were left off the list. The Americans received two nominations in minor categories; Justified came up completely empty, leaving it trailing the likes of The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and NBC’s Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, both with one nomination.
In the comedy series division, FX’s Louie broke through for the first time, replacing Curb Your Enthusiasm (which didn’t air in the past year). Otherwise it was same-old, same-old, with repeaters Girls and Veep (HBO); 30 Rock (NBC); Modern Family (ABC); and The Big Bang Theory (CBS).
Netflix’s new 13-episode run of Arrested Development didn’t make the best comedy series cut, but had three nominations overall, including a best actor nod for Jason Bateman. Netflix’s other two nominations went to the werewolf/vampire drama Hemlock Grove.
HBO’s leading total of 108 nominations is well up from last year’s 81, which also topped the field. It’s twice as many nominations as the top broadcast network performer, CBS, which has 53. Fox had another lean year, getting just 19 nominations to trail all broadcast nets except The CW, which again had none. Only NBC upped its total from last year, from 51 to 53. PBS took the biggest plunge, with 25 nominations compared to 58 in 2012.
HBO’s highest scorer is Game of Thrones, whose 16 nominations trailed only American Horror Story. GOT got 11 nominations last year.
Emmy’s double-digit nominees also include NBC’s Saturday Night Live (15); NBC’s 30 Rock and AMC’s Breaking Bad (13 each); AMC’s Mad Men, PBS’ Downton Abbey and ABC’s Modern Family (12 each); and Showtime’s Homeland (11).
Here are some other Emmy nomination highlights:
• The most nominated among this year’s contenders is Tina Fey with a grand total of 29 chances and 7 wins so far. Louis C.K. is the runner-up with 23 nominations, including an eye-popping total of seven this time out for Louie (acting, writing, directing), Louis C.K.: Oh My God (writing, directing, editing) and as a guest host on Saturday Night Live.
• Notable first-time Emmy nominees include Emilia Clarke (dragon lady Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones); Jeff Daniels (HBO’s The Newsroom); Harry Hamlin (Mad Men); Kerry Washington (ABC’s Scandal) and Robin Wright (Netflix’s House of Cards).
The 65th annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards will be telecast Sunday, Sept. 22 on CBS, with Neil Patrick Harris hosting.
A complete list of Thursday’s Emmy nominees is here.
Read more by Ed Bark at unclebarky.com