Holy cow, I don't think anyone saw this coming as Modern Family took a huge blow this year (or at least a huge blow according to its expectations). Again, two-time winner Eric Stonestreet fails to earn a nomination, but Sophia Vergara and Ed O'Neill join him. Only Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Julie Bowen earn a main acting nomination for their work on the show. The show also only earned one Outstanding Direction nomination (see, high standards, it normally gets at least two), and failed to earn any writing nominations. While the show itself was still nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, it lost a lot of nominations in 2014, and I suspect Modern Family is going to come up lame come award time.
While Modern Family is trending downwards, Game of Thrones is trending upwards. For those who said the Emmy's hate Game of Thrones is just absurd, considering the show had three Outstanding Drama Series nominations and Peter Dinklage is a former winner from the show. Not only does the show itself and Peter Dinklage earn another nomination this year, but this time they're joined by Lena Headly. Last year, Emilia Clarke earned a nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category, and this time it's Headley. It's nice to see other actors other than Dinklage get rewarded for their work on the show. Game of Thrones also earned an Outstanding Direction nomination for Neil Marshall for his work on the penultimate episode "The Watchers on the Wall" (although I would have preferred if it went to Alex Graves) and creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss earned a writing nomination for their work on the finale "The Children" (although I suspect it's for their work on the show as a whole).
3) Orange Is The New BlackEveryone knew the Netflix show was going to earn some Emmy nominations, it was just a matter of how many. It turns out, the answer is quite a bit. It earned a nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress (Taylor Schilling), Outstanding Supporting Actress (Kate Mulgrew), Outstanding Direction (Jodie Foster), Outstanding Writing (Liz Friedman and Jenji Kohan), and three Outstanding Guest Actress nominations (Uzo Adubo, Laverne Cox, and Natasha Lyonne). Serious question, is Laverne Cox's nomination the first time a transgendered actor/actress earn an acting Emmy nomination? If it is, congratulations to Cox!
The CBS drama was a staple at the Emmy's for a long time (especially during its rookie year) but as the years went on, The Good Wife's nominations kept dwindling. But not this year after it had arguably its best season to date. I'm actually proud of the Emmy's for recognizing quality and being able to nominate a show based on its eligible body of work as opposed to just going through the motions which it normally does. Julianna Marguiles re-enters the incredibly deep Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series field after losing her nomination last year, Josh Charles re-enters in the incredibly deep Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series field after only being nominated in 2011, Christine Baranski remains a staple in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series nomination, and the show itself seemingly has a spot reserved in the Outstanding Guest Actor category as Dylan Baker earns a nomination for his work as Colin Sweeney. Although for all the "new" nominations The Good Wife received, it failed to earn an Outstanding Drama Series nomination. That being said, the CBS show should still feel like a winner this morning.
I'm having a tough time deciding if Breaking Bad is a winner or not this morning. Of course the AMC drama earned a butt load of nominations, but it also failed to earn a handful of nominations where it should have. Let's first start with the negative. Dean Norris failed to earn an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nomination where his nomination seems inevitable. Also, Rian Johnson failed to earn an Outstanding Direction nomination for his work on the fucking incredible "Ozymandias". I have no idea who in their right mind can say any episode of House of Cards or Downton Abbey is better directed than "Ozymandias" was, but I guess the Emmy's have spoken. Now, onto the good. Breaking Bad earned a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor (Bryan Cranston), Outstanding Supporting Actor (Aaron Paul), Outstanding Supporting Actress (Anna Gunn), Outstanding Direction (Vince Gilligan), and two Outstanding Writing nominations for Vince Gilligan ("Felina") and Moira Walley-Beckett ("Ozymandias"). Hey, at least "Ozymandias" get something.
Of course Saturday Night Live dominated the Outstanding Guest Actor/Actress in a Comedy Series categories as Louis C.K., Jimmy Fallon, Tiny Fey, and Melissa McCarthy all earned nominations for hosting the show, but what's really surprising is that Kate McKinnon picked up an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nomination. SNL is no stranger to this category as Kristen Wiig and Amy Poehler have both earned a nomination here for their work on Saturday Night Live in the past, but when you think about the fact that Sophia Vergara (Modern Family) and 2013 winner Merritt Weaver (Nurse Jackie) failed to earn a nomination here, that makes McKinnon's nomination that much more surprising. However, I think the biggest surprise nomination of all came from the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category where Fred Armisen earned a nomination for his work on the IFC show Portlandia. Not only is Fred Armisen not a fucking supporting actor considering he's in every sketch and I'm sure he writes and controls almost every aspect of the show, but big hitters like Ed O'Neill, Eric Stonestreet, and Beau Bridges didn't earn a nomination in this category. Steve Buscemi also earned a Guest Actor nomination for his work on Portlandia.
As everyone expected, the decision to make the HBO mini-series eligible in the Drama Series categories paid off in spades. The show earned a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, two nominations in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series category (Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson), as well a nomination each in the Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Direction category (where True Detective was only eligible to earn one nomination in each category). Really, the only surprise is that Michelle Monaghan failed to earn a nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category, and even though she had a solid Emmy submission episode, her entire body of work on the show did not did not merit a nomination.
The reason that Mini-Series and TV Movies were combined in the same category over the past few years is because networks weren't making enough mini-series to justify its own category. That trend is clearly changing as both HBO and FX are purposefully gearing itself towards more mini-series as well as flimsy Emmy rules which can make a show like "Sherlock" a movie and a show like "Treme" a mini-series". Even with True Detective calling itself a regular TV program, there were more than enough mini-series' eligible to create its own category. This year we have an Outstanding Mini-Series category as well as an Outstanding TV Movie category. The acting categories are still combined, but the fact that the main categories have branched off is a good thing. Come award time, the winners of all of these categories will come down to FX's mini-series "Fargo" and HBO's movie "The Normal Heart", but each program is guarantees at least one win thanks to this split.
Is it possible for me to give a huge "I Told You So" to the entire internet? Almost everyone was predicting that Downton Abbey would essentially be left in the dust come nomination time. Everyone, expect for me. While the show did lose some nominations as Hugh Bonneville lost his two-time Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series nomination, Downton Abbey still remains a strong contender in 2014. The show earned a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress (Michelle Dockery), Outstanding Supporting Actor (Jim Carter), and two Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series nominations for the indelible Maggie Smith and Joanne Froggatt (who failed to earn a nomination last year). Paul Giamatti also received a nomination for his guest work on the PBS period piece and David Evans earned an Outstanding Direction nomination for his work on the show.
I grouped these two shows together for two reasons. The first is that they feel like they're on opposite sides of the same coin this year as House of Cards is on the rise and Homeland is on the decline. Secondly, House of Cards feels like it's on the same trajectory as Homeland- a great rookie season, a huge misstep during its sophomore season, and just a flat out decline in its third. The flat out decline in the third season is the reason Homeland barely earned any nominations in 2014. The former Outstanding Drama Series winner only had two major nominations this year, and they went to Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin. House of Cards on the other hand seems to get a bump in nominations similar to what Homeland received last year for its sophomore season. The Netflix series retained its nominations in the Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor (Kevin Spacey), and Outstanding Lead Actress (Robin Wright) categories. House of Cards is the reigning champion of the Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series category thanks to David Fincher directing the pilot, and the show again earned a nomination in that category, but this time it went to Carl Franklin. Showrunner Beau Willimon picked up his first nomination for his work on the show in the Best Writing category and Reg. E Cathy and Kate Mara picked up Guest Acting nominations for their work during House of Cards' second season.
Mad Men
I'm stunned, absolutely stunned, that five-time Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series nominee Elizabeth Moss failed to earn a nomination this year. The only logical conclusion I can think of is that Moss' best two episodes and the episodes that should have propelled her to a nomination were also Mad Men's last two episodes, and it's possible voters already submitted their ballot before they fully watched all of Mad Men. Although I may need to double check my timeline on that, as I think all of Mad Men aired before the eligible nominees were even released. I understand that the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category is incredibly deep this year, but that's still no excuse for Moss to lose her nomination. What's even worse is that Christina Hendricks retained her Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series nomination when her character, Joan Harris, literally did absolutely nothing during this past season of Mad Men. The show also failed to earn any directing nominations (which is no surprise) and well as any writing nominations (which is a huge surprise considering the show earned at least two for the first five years of the show's run). However, the show did gain in one category as Robert Morse earned a Guest Actor nomination for singing and dancing in the finale's final scene and Jon Hamm and the show itself retain their nomination.
OTHER NOTABLES
* HBO's "Girls" lost a lot of nominations, including an Outstanding Comedy Series nomination. Their "spot" went to another HBO comedy: Silicon Valley. Girls also failed to earn any writing or directing nominations this year. However, Lena Dunham and Adam Driver's acting nominations were safe.
* There were two open spots in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category. One of them went to William H. Macy for his work in Shameless (this isn't surprising considering it was between him or Robin Williams or Johnny Galecki) and the other spot went to Ricky Gervais for his Netflix comedy "Derek". Truthfully, I shouldn't be as surprised as I am considering the Emmy's LOVE Gervais and he's a former winner in this category for his work on "Extras". Poor Andy Samberg though. I really thought he was going to get a nomination for his work on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, especially after his Golden Globe win.
* There was a wide open spot in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category. I thought it was going to go to Anna Faris for her work on Mom considering that's what the conventional wisdom was, but it instead went to former winner and movie star Melissa McCarthy. I'm upset at myself for not calling this one.
* Veep actually earned a technical nomination! One of its episodes earned an Outstanding Writing nomination- which is even more surprising considering the show is almost all improv.
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