Mad Men, The Film Experience's favorite show for five years running, and American Horror Story -- cheating with a "miniseries" categorization (like Downton Abbey in its debut year) -- led the nominations with 17 a piece.
The Emmys seem to be over genre shows... or perhaps American Horror Story and Game of Thrones hogged too much attention for the wealth to be spread. True Blood and Teen Wolf scored 0 nominations between them (and to think True Blood once was a nominee for "Best Drama Series") and The Walking Dead and Ocne Upon a Time scored only 3 nods apiece. Dexter somehow managed to keep Michael C Hall nominated for a really terrible season despite earning no other nominations.
- Boardwalk Empire (not my cuppa)
- Breaking Bad (the show I feel guiltiest about missing year after year)
- Downton Abbey (bliss. I'd be happy to see this win)
- Game of Thrones (wildly overrated)
- Homeland (so much better than I expected. a worthy nominee.)
- Mad Men (still the best show on television - my vote)
Snubbed Entirely and Not Just Here: REVENGE. How weird is that given the impact it made as a new show? It's the best nighttime soap since Dynasty. Respect!
- The Big Bang Theory (laugh track.noooooo)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm (still. really?)
- Girls (yay! so individualistic)
- Modern Family (still funny. but not as strong as parks & recreation)
- 30 Rock (still hilarious. but not as strong as parks & recreation)
- Veep (often funny. but not as strong as parks & recreation which also lampoons government)
Snubbed: You guessed it!
"We demand a recount"
And the rest of the nominations play like those are the only 12 series the voters watch, if you ask me!
MORE after the jump including THREE UNFORGIVABLE SNUBS
- Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey)
- Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire)
- Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
- Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
- Jon Hamm (Mad Men) -my vote
- Damien Lewis (Homeland)
I think Michael C Hall is brilliant as Dexter but his best seasons are behind him and he's not finding anything new in the role at this point. Time to move on. Jon Hamm needs to win but never shall. (sigh)
- Kathy Bates (Harry's Law)
- Glenn Close (Damages)
- Claire Danes (Homeland) - my vote
- Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey)
- Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
- Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)
Kathy Bates and Glenn Close. Love those ladies but one of them is phoning it in this time and the other one has played the character too long. Always pulling for Regina King to make a dent here for Southland but she won't.
Happiest surprise: Michelle Dockery has a tricky part that could be played with one note. She finds multiple variations.
UNFORGIVABLE SNUB #2: Madeleine Stowe not nominated for Revenge on which she is delicious and brilliant and riveting with every eye flicker and line reading.
Best Supporting Actress, Drama
- Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad)
- Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey)
- Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey) -my vote if Christina Hendricks weren't around
- Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)
- Christine Baranski (The Good Wife)
- Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) - my vote
SNUBBED: Anjelica Huston (Smash)
Best Supporting Actor, Drama
Sibel Kekilli (who I ♥) and the great Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones
- Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)
- Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad)
- Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey)
- Jim Carter (Downton Abbey)
- Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) - my vote and really he makes everyone think the show is better than it is.
- Jared Harris (Mad Men)
Best Guest Actress, Drama
- Martha Plimpton (The Good Wife)
- Loretta Devine (Grey's Anatomy)
- Jean Smart (Harry's Law)
- Julia Ormond (Mad Men) - the first time I've ever really dug her as an actor. she's just terrific on this show and I hope she's around next season.
- Joan Cusack (Shameless) -my vote. love love love her on this show.
- Uma Thurman (Smash) -yay!
Best Guest Actor, Drama
- Mark Margolis (Breaking Bad)
- Dylan Baker (The Good Wife)
- Michael J Fox (The Good Wife)
- Jeremy Davies (Justified)
- Ben Feldman (Mad Men)
- Jason Ritter (Parenthood) -nice surprise. he's so sweet on this show
- Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
- Don Cheadle (Luck)
- Louis CK (Louis) -my vote though the lineup is uninspiring
- Jon Cryer (Two and Half Men)
- Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
- Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory)
yawn. Seriously who is Jon Cryer blowing to get nominated without fail every single year? Sorry to be crass but seriously? Snubbed: Garrett Dillahunt on Raising Hope.
- Zooey Deschanel (The New Girl)
- Lena Dunham (Girls)
- Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
- Tina Fey (30 Rock)
- Julia Louis Dreyfuss (Veep)
- Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly)
- Amy Poehler (Parks & Recreation) -my vote
Good lineup. But SEVEN NOMINEES?
Best Supporting Actress, Comedy
- Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory)
- Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives)
- Julie Bowen (Modern Family)
- Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)
- Merrit Wever (Nurse Jackie) - my vote
- Kristen Wiig (SNL)
UNFORGIVABLE SNUB #1: Jane Krakowski for arguably her all time best season on 30 Rock. The Emmys suck
Oh, Schmidt!Best Supporting Actor, Comedy
- Ed O'Neill (Modern Family)
- Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
- Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
- Erin Stonestreet (Modern Family)
- Max Greenfield (The New Girl) -my vote
- Bill Hader (SNL)
SNUBBED AGAIN: Adam Scott and Nick Offerman from Parks & Recreation who are both doing truly outstanding work.
Outstanding Guest Actress, Comedy
- Dot Marie Jones (Glee)
- Maya Rudolph (SNL)
- Melissa McCarthy (SNL)
- Elizabeth Banks (30 Rock)
- Margaret Cho (30 Rock)
- Kathy Bates (Two and a Half Men)
Outstanding Guest Actor, Comedy
- Michael J Fox (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
- Greg Kinnear (Modern Family)
- Bobby Cannavale (Nurse Jackie)
- Jimmy Fallon (SNL)
- Will Arnett (30 Rock)
- Jon Hamm (30 Rock)
Can't say I'm qualified to vote on the guest categories though I did love Kinnear on Modern Family. And for a second I thought Cannavale was nominated for his angry clown gig on Modern Family, too. But no. Nurse Jackie.
Best Miniseries/TV Movie
- American Horror Story
- Game Change
- Hatfields and McCoys
- Hemingway and Gelhorn
- Luther
- Sherlock
Best Actress, Miniseries/TV Movie - THIS IS THE ONE. SO MANY FAVORITES
- The Underappreciated Connie Britton (American Horror Story)
- God (Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in Game Change) -we'll finally get to see Julianne Moore receive an award on network television. It just never happens.
- #KIDMANIAFOREVER (Nicole Kidman as Martha Gellhorn in Hemingway & Gelhorn)
- Ashley Judd (Missing)
- The One and Only Emma Thompson Who Needs To Be In Our Lives More (The Song of Lunch)
Best Actor, Miniseries/TV Movie
- Woody Harrelson (Game Change)
- Kevin Costner (Hatfields & McCoys)
- Bill Paxton (Hatfields & McCoys)
- Clive Owen (Hemingway & Gelhorn)
- Idris Elba (Luther)
- Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia)
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Miniseries/TV Movie
- Frances Conroy (American Horror Story)
- Jessica Lange (American Horror Story)
- Sarah Paulson (Game Change) -YES
- Mare Winningham (Hatfields & McCoys)
- Judy Davis (Page Eight)
American Horror Story is a miniseries? Thought it was a plain ol' regular series. Downton Abbey also pulled this trick in its first season.
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Miniseries/TV Movie
- Denis O'Hare (American Horror Story)
- Ed Harris (Game Change)
- Tom Berenger (Hatfields & McCoys)
- David Strathairn (Hemingway & Gelhorn)
- Martin Freeman (Sherlock: A Scandal)
There are millions of other nominations in technical categories and writing and directing and every thing under the sun. It's almost like the Grammys wither overload. You can see all the nominations here.
Outstanding Costumes for a Series
- John Dunn (Boardwalk Empire)
- Gabriella Pescussi (The Borgias)
- Susannah Buxton (Downton Abbey)
- Michele Clapton (Game of Thrones)
- Eduardo Castro (Once Upon a Time)
UNFORGIVABLE SNUB #3: No Janie Bryant for Mad Men. It's utterly shameful that she's lost every year and now this? Basically the costume category is very uninspired this year and went straight for MOST COSTUMES. No Smash or Revenge either? And none of them anywhere to be seen in favor of the straight-up gaudy camp of Once Upon a Time?
Important Notes we didn't cover above... Smash's Joshua Bergasse was nominated for BEST CHOREOGRAPHY for "Let's Be Bad"/"National Passtime"/"Never Met a Wolf" and it damn well better win. Weirdly Smash only got one nomination for ORIGINAL MUSIC & LYRICS for "Let Me Be Your Star" which will compete with "The Heart of Christmas" a title song, "Welcome Back to Hope" from Raising Hope, "It's Not Just For Gays Anymore" from the Tony Awards, and "I Can't Believe I'm Hosting" from the Jason Segel episode of SNL. BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY nominations are very strong with Glee's only great episode "Asian F" getting a nomination, Mad Men for "The Phantom" and Pan Am's "Pilot" --loved the bright color of that show -- all in the mix.