Snubs and Surprises from the 67th Emmy Nominations!

The nominations for the 67th Emmy Awards were just announced, and well, let's just say there is a lot to talk about! Many good, promising things for the future of TV, but also some things that worry me. There are so many categories in which I have something to say, but for the sake of your time, we will stick to the main categories: Best Drama Series, Best Comedy Series, Lead Actor/Actress, and Supporting Actor/Actress:

SNUBS:

Since we all want to know about the snubs, lets start with that!

THE AMERICANS, which just won Best Drama Series at the Critics Choice TV awards earlier this year, missed out in Best Drama Series. Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, and Holly Taylor also missed in Best Actress, Actor, and Supporting Actress in a Drama series for THE AMERICANS respectively.

THE COMEBACK was overlooked for Best Comedy Series, which could have held up over SILICON VALLEY or MODERN FAMILY for a spot.

JANE THE VIRGIN is noticeably very absent from the entire nominations list, which is a big blow to the show and Gina Rodriguez who won a Golden Globe for her role.

The biggest snub for me was Ellie Kemper in Lead Actress Comedy Series. Especially since UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT got nominations in Comedy Series, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Guest Actor, and Guest Actress.

Maggie Smith was overlooked in Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.

THE LEFTOVERS was snubbed in everything: Drama Series, Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Christopher Eccleston.

EMPIRE, one of the biggest shows of the year, was snubbed in every major category except Lead Actress, in which a deserving Taraji P Henson was nominated. I was surprised that Terrence Howard didn't get a nomination, at the very least.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH missed out on a Best Comedy Series nomination, despite showing up in lead actor (for Will Forte), and Best Directing and Best Writing for a Comedy series for its pilot "Alive in Tucson."

Andy Samberg was yet again snubbed for his role of Captain Jake Peralta on BROOKLYN NINE-NINE. Samberg won the Golden Globe in 2014, but has yet to be recognized by the Academy. Since he's hosting the Emmys, I expect many a joke about this.

SURPRISES:

BETTER CALL SAUL did extremely well, scoring nominations in Best Drama Series, Lead Actor and Supporting Actor, but I was surprised by this. Mainly because, the buzz around the show wasn't as big as BREAKING BAD or were any predictions lists really mentioning the show.

A show that usually, along with Modern Family, sweeps the Comedy section of the Emmys, THE BIG BANG THEORY was virtually nowhere to be found, except for Mayim Bialik and Christine Baranski's nominations. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, since now deserving, but less watched comedies can have their chance to win.

I am a long suffering supporter of THE NEWSROOM, even when it lost it's magic after Season One, but Jeff Daniels? I do not think he was deserving of a Lead Actor nomination. His Season Three of THE NEWSROOM was not very memorable.

This isn't a surprise as much for me, but for the Academy to finally catch on: Tatiana Malsany! Her performances in ORPHAN BLACK deserved her a nomination for Lead Actress in a Drama 2 years ago, but at least she finally gets the recognition she deserves (and hopefully the Emmy she deserves).

Lily Tomlin got a Best Actress in a Comedy Series Nomination for GRACE & FRANKIE, yet I think that Ellie Kemper was more deserving, especially as a representative for Netflix and it's comedy.

GAME OF THRONES received 24 nominations for what is arguably the worst season of the show to date. On the topic of HBO, Niecy Nash was nominated for GETTING ON, which is apparently an HBO show? In addition, THRONES' 24 nominations is a staggering total, considering fellow Best Drama Series nominees HOUSE OF CARDS and MAD MEN only mustered a meager 11 nominations each, less than half of THRONES' amount.

Another strange surprise was that there were eight ladies nominated for the Supporting Comedy Actress category, which is a big shock because that means there was a double tie.

CITIZENFOUR, Lauira Poitras' Oscar-winning documentary about Edward Snowden, for some reason was also nominated at the Emmys this morning, despite having a theatrical release last year. Chock it up to also premiering on HBO, I guess.

Finally, this is a big showing for streaming services Amazon and Netflix. Amazon getting nominations for TRANSPARENT puts them at an equal playing field as all of the other platforms. TRANSPARENT has 11 nominations, the biggest showing for any comedy series, which is huge for Amazon, and likely means the show will walk away with the Emmy for Best Comedy.

---

Let us know your thoughts on the nominations: do you agree/disagree? Did we leave anything out? Leave your comments below or tweet us at @BWWTVWorld!

Also thank you to Gunnar Larson who helped me co-write this article!