The Academy has spoken. Now it’s my turn.
****
It’s official: the nominations are in for the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards and we’re off to the races! Here’s my rundown on The Good, The Bad and The WTF?! from this morning’s announcement.
THE GOOD
- The Americans returning to the drama series roundup and repeating lead actor/actress and writing nominations for a phenomenal final season
- Jason Bateman being recognized for both acting in and directing Ozark
- All the love for the surprisingly great live production of Jesus Christ Superstar
- Sandra Oh making history as the first Asian performer to register in the lead actress in a drama series category
- Tatiana Maslany getting recognized for Orphan Black’s swan song season
- Jessica Biel (The Sinner) and Edie Falco (Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders) landing noms in lead actress in a limited series or movie
- All the acting recognition for The Handmaid’s Tale, especially Yvonne Strahovski joining her two Emmy-winning co-stars in supporting actress in a drama series
- Judith Light (The Assassination of Gianni Versace) and Sara Bareilles (Jesus Christ Superstar) landing in supporting actress in a limited series or movie
- Katt Williams being honored for his hilarious, scene-stealing turn as Alligator Man in Atlanta
- An almost entirely spot-on line-up in Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series
- The groundswell of love for RuPaul Charles and his Drag Race
- Queer Eye reboot making a showing in structured reality program
- The Academy rejecting the American Idol revival one year after the original series wrapped
- Modern Family finally falling off the radar in major categories
- The brilliant British talent Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the running for her Killing Eve pilot script
- Shows of support for both Samantha Bee and Michelle Wolf in the aftermath of high-profile public indictments over edgy political content
- Godless making a great showing, especially for stars Michelle Dockery, Merritt Wever and Jeff Daniels
THE BAD
- Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington making the move to lead from supporting—and both missing out a nomination
- The excellent limited series Howards End getting shut-out
- Alec Baldwin making another appearance in supporting actor in a comedy series for his somewhat tired Trump portrayal on Saturday Night Live, while Marc Maron (GLOW) and Lakeith Stanfield (Atlanta) were left out
- Joseph Finnes—the weakest link in The Handmaid’s Tale ensemble—scoring his first supporting actor in a drama series nod, taking the spot of more deserving contender Noah Emmerich (The Americans)
- The best part of the overrated limited series, The Looming Tower—supporting actor Bill Camp—not being recognized
- The declining Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt keeping its hold on a comedy series nomination
- No series, writing or directing love for Better Things
- The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story—while great in some parts—garnering more nominations than it should have
THE WTF?!
- Only five years after landing it’s first series nomination for House of Cards, Netflix topples HBO as the network with the most nominations—the first time the cable outlet falls from the top spot in 18 years
- Paterno landing a nom for Outstanding Television Movie, but Al Pacino snubbed for his layered performance in the title role
- The Academy continuing to ignore One Day At A Time—TV’s best multi-camera sitcom—in major categories
- The strange case of the Mandy Moore’s: one landing a nod (choreography for So You Think You Can Dance), while another is left by the wayside (lead actress in a drama series for This Is Us)
- The GLOW gals: Alison Brie doesn’t make the cut, while supporting player Betty Gilpin—however deservingly—manages to get in
- Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) and John Goodman (Roseanne)—the best parts of their respective revived series—getting left out
- Sandra Oh breaking into the lead actress in a drama series race (see: THE GOOD), while equally awesome Killing Eve co-star, Jodie Comer, misses the mark
- Eight nominees for supporting actress in a comedy series, but no room for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s excellent Marin Hinkle
- This Is Us being shut-out of both supporting categories
- The cold comfort consolation nominations: Viola Davis getting bumped out of lead actress in a drama series but scoring a guest actress nod for playing the same role on Scandal, and Liev Schreiber falling off the lead actor in a drama series roster but landing in the Outstanding Narrator category
- Westworld—a beautifully produced, narrative mess—still finding its way to 21 nominations
- Ditto Saturday Night Live’s nomination haul for an inarguably weak season
- Puzzling number of noms for the utterly sub-par movie adaptation of Fahrenheit 451
- Noteworthy showing for newcomer, Barry, save for Sara Goldberg—arguably one of the best parts of show