The 2015 Emmy Nominations

The 2015 Emmy Nominations are out!  Let the kvetching begin!

 

There seems to be general agreement among the sources I consulted that this year’s Emmy nominations are a slight improvement over previous years, meaning that they suck less.  There do seem to be fewer nominations-by-rote than before, but for every rubber stamped unworthy booted from the ranks of nominees (Jim Parsons’ performance on The Big Bang Theory is brilliant, but it is a one trick pony that needs no further encouragement) there seems to be a deserving repeat nominee kicked out as well.  Cutting down on the number of Supporting Actor nominees from Modern Family is laudable, but did Ed O’Neill have to be one of the ones not nominated?

 

My biggest gripe (now that our long national nightmare of Tatiana Maslany not being nominated for Orphan Black has been resolved) is the failure of Ellie Kemper to get a nomination for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.  Not only did she give the best performance by an actress in a comedy that I’ve seen since Felicity Huffman in Sports Night, but the series relied on her character being perceived as “special” and she delivered in spades.  It was nice to see the show nominated for Best Comedy and several of her co-stars nominated (although I suspect Jane Krakowski’s pick was more a nod to her prior work on 30 Rock and Ally MacBeal), it remains inconceivable that the show would have worked at all without her brilliant performance in a very nuanced role.

 

One of the (not surprising) nominees from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was Guest Actor Jon Hamm, who is probably more likely to pick up an Emmy for his work on the series Mad Men.  Thanks to Mad Men’s strategy of postponing its final season, he now faces a very thin class in the Best Actor in a Drama category. Most of the competition he’s lost too previously is gone (although Kyle Chandler managed to sneak in for a new show), and the fact that Jeff Daniels and Chandler have won before actually hurts their chances to repeat.  Kevin Spacey deserved the Emmy for House of Cards’ first season but it has been diminishing returns since then.  The only possible thing that could upset Hamm finally winning the Emmy as Don Draper is if Better Call Saul picks up where Breaking Bad left off and Bob Odenkirk follows in Bryan Cranston’s footsteps.

 

There is no broadcast network series nominated for Best Drama; only the unstoppable Modern Family and the departing Parks & Recreation are nominated in the Best Comedy category.  I’m not sure what the most obscure outpost to secure a major nomination might be, but I think it’s something called Acorn-TV getting a best TV movie nomination for the awkwardly titled Agatha Christies’ Poirot Curtain: Poiriot’s Last Case.

 

Louis C.K. picked up six nominations by himself, three for performing, two for writing and one for directing.  He’s a talented guy.

 

Will someone explain this to me: these are the Primetime Emmy Awards, Saturday Night Live comes on at 11:30 PM Saturdays, and its cast members are called The Not Ready for Primetime Players; so how is SNL eligible for Primetime Emmys?  It makes no sense.

 

There is now a category called “Best Narration.”  Where was this category when Ron Howard was doing brilliant work on Arrested Development?

 

I predict the run of The Daily Show progeny winning Best Variety Series will continue with “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” following up ten wins by The Daily Show and two by The Colbert Report.

 

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt picked up seven nominations, but was denied ones for Main Title Design and Main Title Theme.  That’s like not nominating Jon Hamm for Mad Men; simply nuts.

 

Predictions?  Best Drama: Mad Men one last time.  Best Comedy: Louie ends the Modern Family juggernaut.  Best Actor, Drama: Jon Hamm, Mad Men.  Best Actor, Comedy: Jeffery Tambor, Transparent. Best Actress Drama: Elizabeth Moss, Mad Men.  Best Actress, Comedy: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep.  Outstanding Variety Show, Talk: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Outstanding Variety Show, Sketch: Inside Any Shumer.  Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series: Community (yes, the show was nominated for Stunt Coordination, and for the second year in a row.  Go figure).