Emmy Reactions: Our Favorite Nominations!
Thursday, July 13, 2017 at 7:00PM 
Since the Emmy nominations announced today, some celebration is in order! We polled our lively Team Experience for their thoughts on today's results, starting with their favorite nominees across any of Emmy's umpteen categories. Before we bemoan what got left out, let's pop a cork and spend some time on the many exciting nominees that made the cut:
What nomination made you the happiest?
JASON - LAURA DERN, OBVIOUSLY. I mean what am I, an animal?
LYNN - B.D. Wong as Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Mr. Robot). While Emmy voters cooled on Mr. Robot this year - a shame, since I maintain the second season was actually stronger than the first - I'm happy to see they did recognize one of its standout turns: B.D. Wong as the enigmatic White Rose. Whether appearing as the female leader of the Dark Army or the male Chinese Minister of State Security, he was always absolutely mesmerizing to watch, offering glimmers of insight but never full access to the character's agenda and putting a slyly subversive spin on the old trope of the "inscrutable Oriental."
CHRIS - I'm going to cheat times eight, because the eight nominations for RuPaul's Drag Race was even more than we could have hoped for! That Reality Competition nomination has been a long time coming for a category of repetitive players, but each of noms it earned feel like a nod to a crucial element of the show - Untucked, casting, editing, etc. The cherry on top is that two former contestants landed a nomination for their behind-the-scenes work on the show: season 2's Raven for makeup and season 3's Delta Work for hairstyling!
JORGE - I was truly surprised Pamela Adlon made it in for Comedy Actress. She was my favorite performance last year and was ready to dismiss it as the Biggest Snub. I was also thrilled for Kathryn Hahn and Alison Wright, both overdue.
SPENCER - In a field dominated by bleak dramas and stuffy period pieces, it was such a breath of fresh air to see Black Mirror: San Junipero being recognized in TV Movie. Both heartbreaking and life affirming, this was one of television's finest hours of the last season, and it was rightfully represented.
ERIC - I'm thrilled to see Kathryn Hahn get in for her sophisticated, transcendent acting in Transparent, and nominations for both Bill Camp and Alexander Skarsgard in the Supporting Actor, Mini/Movie category are both wonderful surprises for character actors who don't usually get this kind of well-deserved recognition.
DENNY - Given the character's arc, I probably shouldn't have been so worried about Ron Cephas Jones getting nominated for his touching performance on This Is Us, but I was worried it would seem too easy or too baity somehow. But his performance is so perfectly rough around the edges, never leaning into the saintly glow the show tried to frame him with, that I was pulling for him more than any other member of that sterling ensemble.
SEAN - Vanessa Bayer's inclusion in Supporting Actress in a Comedy for Saturday Night Live is truly a shock, and welcome recognition of a hardworking ensemble member in her final year on the show, and one not helped on the way to awards attention by a big budget film.
KIM - Give Elisabeth Moss the Emmy she deserved for Mad Men. She is magnificent in The Handmaid's Tale. I'm also thrilled for Sterling K. Brown who owns This is Us and gave the best male performance on TV last year. He's on a completely different level than the rest of his castmates, and that's saying a lot because they are all excellent.
BEN - I have never been the biggest Shailene Woodley fan, but I thought she was spectacular in Big Little Lies. No one really predicted it, but I'm great with the inclusion.
MARGARET - For the second year running the brilliant Crazy Ex-Girlfriend struck out in all major categories - expected, though disappointing. It managed to net just one nomination this year, sneaking into the Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics category for the song "We Tapped That Ass." It's a joyful and hilarious number that expertly riffs on Singin' in the Rain's "Moses Supposes" (with a raunchy twist) and features, naturally, an extended duo tap-dance routine. I love it with all my soul and I'm so glad it was recognized.
What were your favorite nominations, readers?
Reader Comments (14)
Jackie Hoffman in Feud. Such a subtle, underrated performance. A complete surprise but extremely deserving.
Barb from Stranger Things got a nod in Guest Actress, that's a fun nomination, more of a pop culture acknowledgement but she did do decent work in the second episode. Also David Harbour got a supporting actor nod.
Yay for San Junipero but bummer that Nosedive was missing a few nods.
Also happy that American Horror Story was skipped this year mostly. It usually snags one or two acting nods that are sometimes unnecessary.
Maybe people forget that BD Wong is a Tony winner! He won for M Butterfly very early in his career. He chose to use only his initials to add to the gender ambiguity of the character.
Mark- Agreed!
I think the supporting actress in a drama nominations for Ann Dowd and Samira Wiley are both great - they were both so good, in wildly different ways (although I think "The Handmaid's Tale" is overall a bit overrated - I find it uneven and sometimes implausible*, but the good parts are so good).
*When I say "implausible", I'm not talking about the specifics of the rules and roles of Gilead - I'm talking about scenes like the one at the end of the episode with the Mexican ambassador, where Offred gives a long, impassioned speech about her life as a Handmaiden. I find it incredibly hard to believe that, in a world as heavily monitored as Gilead & in which she has been conditioned to fear retribution, she would talk so openly in a room with multiple doors wide open in a house where anyone could be either listening around a corner, or walk in at any minute, about what she thinks is wrong with Gilead.
Ann Dowd. Finally with two nominations. Almost makes up for that Oscar snub. Brilliant actress.
Angela Basset for guest actress. Yes.
Judy Davis in Feud. A tip of the hat to the various hats she wore for her every appearance.
Ann Dowd for The Leftovers. Sadly the only Emmy nom ever for The Leftovers.
Mandy Patinkin for constantly being the best part of Homeland.
Billy on the Street!!!!!
BLL girls and Alex Skarsgaard FTW!
Jane Fonda finally.
Carrie Coon for Fargo.
I'm so glad Felicity Huffman wasn't left out and fought his way into this very Movie Star line-up.
I keep my fingers crossed for Michelle Pfeiffer's quietly powerful performance to win the trophy.
Keri and Matthew kept their noms when The Americans was left out of the Best Drama field after just one nomination for the fourth season. Rhys has a chance to win, and Russell could if Foy and Moss cancel each other out. But all three deserve to win, even Wright who never stops impressing me in HOC and who's reaaaaally overdue.
The Night Of getting so much love is a relief : i was really affraid it would be this year's "Show Me A Hero" (still can't get over the snub)
And as much as i like seeing fresh things in the big categories, i was kind of hoping for a Stranger Things shut out ... It never really felt that great to me.
Above all, I'm so surprised and happy that Alison Wright was FINALLY nominated for playing Martha Hanson on The Americans. She gave my favorite performance on tv several years in a row prior to this one.
I wasn't crazy about The Handmaid's Tale as a tv show but I was glad to see Samira Wiley, Ann Dowd and Alexis Bledel recognized (I knew Elisabeth Moss would be nominated).
I'm really happy that Samantha Bee and Billy on the Street made the cut, too.
Clearly Thandie Newton, who should rule the world. Also equally thrilled to not see a single Big Bang Theory nomination.
Wait, no one predicted Woodley? I know there were questions about which category she'd end up in, but people did expect her to get in somewhere, right?
Did the actors from Big Bang Theory stop submitting themselves? Hard to believe that Parson went from 4 wins to not even getting nominations anymore.
Alexis Bledel for 'The Handmaid's Tale'. Her work, gagged in the back of a van... and that whole episode. Amazing.
Can Titus Burges win this year please?