Westworld, SNL lead Emmy nods
Sketch show, Westworld lead Emmy race with 22 nods each
Saturday Night Live, powered by madcap skits skewering the Donald Trump administration, earned 22 Emmy Award nominations. That includes bids for Alec Baldwin’s florid portrayal of the U.S. president, Melissa McCarthy’s manic, gender-busting take on press secretary Sean Spicer and Toronto native Lorne Michaels’ writing.
The long-running NBC variety show tied with HBO’s sci-fi drama Westworld, which also earned 22 bids on Thursday, to jointly top the field for the 69th Primetime Emmys.
Netflix shouldered into the best drama category with three contenders, The Crown, House of Cards and Stranger Things, a best-ever total for streaming as the platform grows in strength as a competitor to broadcast and cable.
The drama field opened up with the absence of HBO’s dominant Game of Thrones, which aired outside the eligibility window for Emmy consideration this year. It won 12 Emmys last year, including its second consecutive best drama award.
Newcomers were ready to step in, including breakout series This Is Us. It received 11 nods, including the first best drama series for a network show since The Good Wife in 2011. NBC’s intricately told story of an extended family, a hit with viewers and critics, also earned bids for Sterling K. Brown and Milo Ventimiglia, who are competing with each other in the best actor category.
Sci-fi series Stranger Things received an impressive 18 bids, including one for star Millie Bobby Brown, while The Crown, a lavish peek at the life of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as played by the nominated Claire Foy, received a total of 13 bids.
So did the dystopian saga The Handmaid’s Tale, including a nomination for star Elisabeth Moss and for the Canadian special effects group that worked on the series based on Toronto author Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel.
Other Canadian Emmy nominees include Quebec’s Jean-Marc Vallée and Toronto native Samantha Bee.
Montreal-born Vallée has a nomination for directing HBO’s acclaimed limited series Big Little Lies, which got a total of 16 nods.
Quebec cinematographer Yves Belanger also got a nomination for his work on Big Little Lies, which had a star-packed cast including Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz, Alexander Skarsgard, Adam Scott and Dartmouth, N.S., native James Tupper.
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and the show’s recent Not The White House Correspondents Dinner special were also nominated for several Emmys.
The political late-night series is up for best variety talk series, best writing for a variety series and best interactive program for its web content.
Bee’s Not The White House Correspondents Dinner is in contention for several awards in varietyspecial categories, including best special, best directing, best writing and best production design.
Bee also got an Emmy nomination last year, for writing her latenight variety show.
Montreal-born Barry Julien got a nod for his writing on Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk series as well as his election-night special.
Veep, the most nominated comedy with 17 bids, has a chance for its third consecutive top comedy trophy. Star Julia Louis-Dreyfus has the chance to build on her record of most wins for a lead comedy actress: She has five for Veep and one for New Adventures of Old Christine.
Emmy voters showed their willingness to recognize new comic voices as well as diversity. Donald Glover’s freshman Atlanta earned a best comedy bid, as did Master of None, starring Aziz Ansari, and Black-ish. But there was room in for an old favourite, Modern Family, although it earned only a handful of bids besides best comedy, including for Ty Burrell in the supporting actor category.
Silicon Valley and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt round out the best comedy ranks.
Competing with Brown and Ventimiglia for best drama acting honours are Anthony Hopkins (Westworld), Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), Matthew Rhys (The Americans), Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) and Kevin Spacey (House of Cards).
Foy and Moss are joined in the best drama actress category by 2015 winner Viola Davis from How To Get Away With Murder, Keri Russell of The Americans, Evan Rachel Wood in Westworld and Robin Wright from House of Cards.
Orphan Black isn’t in the running because it missed the eligibility window, depriving Regina-born star Tatiana Maslany of the chance to repeat as best drama actress.
The Emmys are scheduled to air Sept. 17 on CBS and CTV, with Colbert as host.