Al Pacino’s haunting portrayal of Joe Paterno was snubbed. SNL’s Keenan Thompson and Aidy Bryant were nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. Although David Lynch’s 18-episode Twin Peaks was nominated for 9 Emmy’s, the series was largely ignored in major categories. Netflix dethroned HBO as most nominated network.
Jesus. He was nominated too, in the form of John Legend for his star turn in NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar.
Welcome to the 70th annual Emmys!
Nominations for the 70th Emmy Awards were announced last Thursday by the Television Academy in a ceremony hosted by Television Academy Chairman and CEO Hayma Washington along with Samira Wiley from the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale and Ryan Eggold from NBC’s upcoming drama, New Amsterdam.
“It’s been another record-breaking year with more than 9,100 entries in 122 unique categories for the initial nomination round of voting,” said Washington. “The continued growth of the industry has provided opportunities for acclaimed new programs to emerge, while allowing last season’s break-through programs to thrive. In addition, 36 performers — ranging from new discoveries to revered international stars — have received their first-ever acting Emmy nomination across all categories of scripted programming. We are honored to recognize both television’s seasoned veterans and rising talents.
Washington added, “This year’s nominations continue to represent increased diversity and inclusion in front of the camera. And, there is a wealth of new and returning programs that reflect so many of today’s critical issues.”
It’s also notable that for the first time in 17 years, HBO was not the most nominated network. That now belongs to Netflix. The streaming giant surpassed HBO as the most nominated network or platform with 112 nominations to the premium cablers’ 108. However like Cersei Lannister, the home of Game of Thrones didn’t flinch, releasing this statement:
“HBO is very pleased with its 108 nominations, especially the wide range over so many categories. We’re grateful to all our nominees for making this the eighth year we’ve had 100 nominations or more. We look forward to Sept 17th.”
The network can’t shed too many tears as it did earn nominations for Westworld with 21 nominations; Barry with 13 nominations and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver with 9 Nominations. Oh and Game of Thrones earned a dragon-slaying 22 nominations, the most of any series. Other HBO series to earn nominations in the single digits were Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley, Paterno, Fahrenheit 451 and The Defiant Ones.
Among this year’s eight “Outstanding Comedy Series” nominees, there are three first-timers representing an exceptional range of storytelling. Freshman shows Barry, GLOW and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel join returning hits Atlanta, Black-ish, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Besides Game of Thrones, the nominations in Outstanding Drama Series were again spread over distribution platforms, with returning nominee The Americans (FX) joining all of last season’s new nominees The Crown (Netflix), The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), Stranger Things (Netflix), This Is Us (NBC), and Westworld (HBO)
Here are the major nominees:
Drama Series
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
This Is Us (NBC)
The Crown (Netflix)
The Americans (FX)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
Westworld (HBO)
Comedy Series
Atlanta (FX)
Barry (HBO)
Black-ish (ABC)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
GLOW (Netflix)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Silicon Valley (HBO)
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Limited Series
The Alienist (TNT)
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (FX)
Genius: Picasso (National Geographic)
Godless (Netflix)
Patrick Melrose (Showtime)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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 (USS Callister)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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 Museum (Black Mirror))
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)
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)
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)
Reality Competition
The Amazing Race (CBS)
American Ninja Warrior (NBC)
Project Runway (Lifetime)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Voice (NBC)
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 (Comedy Central)
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS)
Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS)
Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
Television Movie
Fahrenheit 451 (HBO)
Flint (Lifetime)
Paterno (HBO)
The Tale (HBO)
Black Mirror: USS Callister (Netflix)
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)
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)
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)
The full list of Emmy Nominations can be found here.
The 70th Emmy Awards will telecast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los
Angeles on Monday, September 17, (8:00 – 11:00 PM ET/5:00 – 8:00 PM PT)
on NBC 5. Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost and Michael Che will serve as co-hosts.
The Creative Arts Emmy Awards will air Saturday, September 15 at 8:00 PM ET/PT
on FXX.
Source: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.
