Emmy Nominations: ‘Mr. Robot’ and ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’ Make Things Interesting
I’d been hoping that Mr. Robot would dent the consciousness of Emmy voters this year, and my dream came to pass: With the nomination of lead actor Rami Malek and the show itself in the Outstanding Drama category, Mr. Robot immediately becomes one of the most adventurous television series ever to be so prominently nominated in its freshman season. (The other happy surprise: Constance Zimmer, nominated for her terrific, viper-ish performance in UnREAL. Maybe next year, the show it lampoons, The Bachelor, will sneak into the Reality-Competition category and replace junk like The Voice.)
Related: The Complete List of 2016 Emmy Nominations
Three other series made notable breakthroughs. Foremost was The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, the FX drama that was nominated in the Limited Series category, as well as scoring nominations for Sarah Paulson (who was also nominated as a Supporting Actress in American Horror Story: Hotel) and Courtney B. Vance. And their three — count ’em, three — Supporting Actor nominations for the same show, Sterling K. Brown’s superbly subtle performance as Christopher Darden, David Schwimmer’s hound-dog morose turn as Robert Kardashian, and John Travolta’s daringly campy Robert Shapiro.
After too many seasons of neglect, another FX show, The Americans, finally got some of the attention it deserves as the show was nominated not only in the Drama category, but also co-stars and real-life couple Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell were nominated as well. And Master of None, the freshman series from Aziz Ansari, got prominent nods for both the show and Ansari.
Related: Emmy 2016 Snubs and Surprises
Although Anthony Anderson was, shall we say, rather boisterous in interrupting and yelling through the Emmy announcements with Lauren Graham, I was very glad to see both him and especially his co-star, Tracee Ellis Ross, nominated for Black-ish.
In a dagger through the hearts of so many critics, one of their faves, Orange Is the New Black, was shut out in all the major categories. So were CW darlings Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin. Game of Thrones — such a dominator of pop-culture conversation — was nominated as a drama series and scored heavily in the Supporting Actor categories, which included Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams, and Kit Harington. The lack of nominations in Lead Actor/Actress categories demonstrates just how much of an ensemble cast this show has.
The category that showed the biggest shift in attitude and new faces was Variety Talk, where Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Larry Wilmore were ignored to make way for James Corden and Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. The Colbert snub must sting CBS, in particular, and Comedy Central must be going over the fine print in its contract with Trevor Noah, who has failed to make The Daily Show a conversational flashpoint in an election year. If only Emmy voters had been smart enough to nominate Full Frontal With Samantha Bee in place of Real Time With Bill Maher!
Other shows and performances I was surprised to see snubbed: The Good Wife in its final season; my beloved The Leftovers (I know the HBO show doesn’t get big ratings, but, come on, Carrie Coon and Regina King are great!); and Louis C.K.’s kitchen-sink comedy-drama Horace and Pete — I assumed Emmy voters would be unable to ignore its stubborn ambition.
So was it a good set of nominations overall? Yeah, pretty much. I’m all for Veep dominating the comedy categories. But look at how poorly network television was represented: If it weren’t for Black-ish, American Crime, and the indestructible Modern Family, cable and streaming would have wiped out network presence in the nominations in nearly every category except the reality and variety ones.
Oh, and Louie Anderson, nominated for playing a mom in FX’s Baskets? I’m rooting for you, kid.
The Emmys will be held Sunday Sept. 18 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and aired on ABC.
