Now that we have had a little bit of time for the Emmy nominations to sink in, the afterglow of our favorite nominees has faded enough to reflect on what missed out. This year had quite a few stings for what we expected to be a more open playing field. Recurrent outsiders like The Leftovers and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend have long been on our lips here at The Film Experience as criminally ignored by awards bodies, and this year was no different! Here's what missed out this morning that has us lamenting:
JORGE - Rita Moreno is destined to win an EGOT twice and they just delayed it. Truly upset about her snub for One Day at a Time.
DENNY - It's clear the voting body watched Black Mirror: San Junipero. So why wasn't Bryce Dallas Howard nominated for her tremendous, go-for-broke performance in Nosedive? The arc the episode traces for her character (desperately trying to boost her favorability rating to attend a wedding) is hilarious, terrifying, and all too relatable, and Howard's mad commitment is key to the episode working as well as it does. For my money, she probably should have WON the trophy.
BEN - Where is any love for The Leftovers?
ERIC - Twin nominations for Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon, as well as supporting player Amy Brenneman, for The Leftovers is a major boner move by the Emmy academy. It's probably a little too deep and esoteric for the average voter.
SEAN - As imperfect as The Young Pope is, it's a little shocking the Emmys somehow found six men more worthy of attention than Jude Law. The ridiculous show enabled Law to return to his flirtier, pre-prestige days of Wilde and The Talented Mr. Ripley, and this viewer thoroughly appreciated it.
CHRIS - Someone explain to me how Insecure lands not a single nomination. Maybe this one stings a bit more because Issa Rae was expected among the Comedy Actress lineup at least, and her voice was the freshest among television's new voices in the last season. And with so many Comedies nominated for the big prize for weaker seasons? It doesn't compute.
LYNN - Guerrilla, Showtime's limited series about the radicalization of a group of Black Power activists in 1970s London, got virtually no attention when it aired earlier this year other than for a controversy about creator John Ridley's decision to make the main female lead (played by Freida Pinto) Indian rather than black. It deserved so much more: taut, suspenseful, and well acted, it's also a fascinating window on a period of history probably unfamiliar to most Americans that both echoes and departs from the equivalent period in our own, and a remarkably nuanced treatment of political and racial issues that still very much resonate today.
MARGARET - I was staggered to see Ted Danson miss for The Good Place. He's a TV Academy darling, with two statues and a full 15 nominations, and he gave a delightful and surprising performance on an admired network show. For this moment alone (GIF) he should have gotten in. Perhaps voters also assumed he was safe?
JASON - Danielle Brooks has been giving the best performance on Orange is the New Black since the first season from where I've been standing, so when I saw some people saying that "These nominations are for Season 4 - Season 5 will be Taystee's time" it reads like gibberish to me. IT IS ALWAYS TAYSTEE'S TIME. It especially feels egregious to me since I think the Emmys keep nominating the weakest two links on the show when there are literally dozens of better options. But Brooks' snubs years after year are easily the most egregious. #justicefortaystee
KIM - The one that steams me the most is the complete lack of love for Speechless. It is the best comedy on TV, you guys. And Minnie Driver's overbearing mama bear Maya DiMeo should have been complete Emmy bait.
What missed out that has you most irked?