Cheering, jeering Emmy nominations.
The 2017 Emmy nominations were announced on Thursday, and, as usual, there were plenty of things to cheer — and jeer. For every performer or producer who received an earlymorning bit of good news, there were two or three who failed to land an invite to television’s biggest shindig.
Here’s a rundown of some of the winners and losers.
The winners
“Westworld”: HBO couldn’t count on a “Game of Thrones” windfall this year because the fantasy epic was ineligible, due to its delayed air date. No worries. HBO’s robot Western nicely filled the void, capturing 22 nominations to tie “Saturday Night Live” for the most.
“Saturday Night Live”: The producers of NBC’s venerable sketch- comedy series surely wish we could have a presidential election every year. Among its 22 nominations, “SNL” landed three cast members — Vanessa Bayer, Leslie Jones and previous winner Kate McKinnon — in the race for best supporting actress in a comedy. Also, Alec Baldwin, who won raves for his Donald Trump spoofs, is nominated in the best support- ing actor category.
“Stranger Things”: Sure, Netflix’s beloved sci-fi series won a Golden Globe award earlier this year, so maybe this shouldn’t be a big surprise. But 18 nominations, including one for best drama? That’s incredible, especially considering that Emmy voters haven’t always been kind to this genre. Even 13- year- old Millie Bobby Brown, who plays the girl with psychic powers called Eleven, earned a nomination for best supporting actress in a drama.
“This Is Us”: Break out the tissues; NBC’s weepy freshman drama scored an impressive 11 nominations, including a coveted bestdrama nod. It proves that highly rated, quality productions can still happen in the broadcast realm. It’s the first drama from one of the Big Four networks to get nominated since “The Good Wife” was in 2011.
The streamers: Online sites continue to flex their muscles. Netflix garnered 91 nominations — up from 54 last year — and trailed only HBO (111) in the overall race. Hulu had its best showing ever with 18 nominations (after earning only two last year). And Amazon had 16.
The losers
Jimmy Fallon: The “Tonight Show” host was reluctant to wade into politics during a politically turbulent year and he apparently paid the price. While Samantha Bee, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, James Corden, Stephen Colbert and even Bill Maher will vie for the talk/ variety host trophy, he’ll be on the outside looking in. Perhaps Fallon should have kept his paws off Donald Trump’s hair.
“The Leftovers”: Critics and fans absolutely fawned over the third and final season of HBO’s murky mystery. Emmy voters weren’t as impressed. The show, along with its standout leads, Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon, were left behind. (Coon did pick up a nomination for “Fargo”).
“The Americans”: Lead performers Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys both received nominations, but FX’s acclaimed Cold War drama was left out of the best drama category — again. Should we blame Russian hackers?
Oprah Winfrey: Many Emmy prognosticators expected the media mogul to get nominated for her remarkable performance in the HBO film, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” But no such luck.
Rami Malek: How soon they forget. The terrific lead actor of “Mr. Robot” took home the Emmy last year, but couldn’t crack the seven- man field this time around. Could this be the work of Evil Corp.?
The Emmy Awards will air Sept. 17 on CBS.