‘O.J.,’ ‘THRONES,’ ‘VEEP’ LEAD A DIVERSE FIELD OF NOMINEES
Simpson trial drama is a favorite in a competitive miniseries slate
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Game of Thrones and Fargo emerged as favorites among Emmy voters in nominations for the 68th Primetime awards Thursday. Thrones topped the list with 23 total, followed by 22 for O.J., an acclaimed FX miniseries about the murder trial of the former football star, and another FX limited series, Fargo, with 18.
HBO’s Veep led comedy contenders with 17. FX’s O.J. snared nods for best limited series and lead actors Sarah Paulson, Courtney B. Vance and Cuba Gooding Jr., while USA’s Mr. Robot earned that network its first nominations as best drama and lead actor (Rami Malek). FX’s The Americans, long snubbed by Emmy voters but adored by critics, will compete in lead acting categories for Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell and best drama for its fourth season.
Other top drama nominees include HBO’s Thrones, AMC’s Better Call Saul, Netflix’s House of Cards, PBS’s Downton Abbey and Showtime’s Homeland. Aside from Veep, for which Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a multiple winner, top comedy contenders are its companion series, HBO’s Silicon Valley, Amazon’s Transparent, ABC’s Black-ish and Modern Family and Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
The Television Academy embraced diversity in several categories, handing nominations to Viola Davis ( How to Get Away With Murder) and Taraji P. Henson ( Empire) for lead drama acting;
Gooding, Vance, Idris Elba ( Luther), Audra McDonald and Kerry Washington in movies/miniseries; and Aziz Ansari ( Master of None) and Black-ish’s Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross in comedies. But one of TV’s most diverse series, Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, was missing from top categories after moving to the drama category from comedy. Netflix had no shortage of other nominees, including lead drama actors Kyle Chandler ( Bloodline), Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright ( House of Cards), and comedy actors Ansari and Ellie Kemper of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The commercial broadcast networks again were mostly sidelined in top categories as voters continued to embrace streaming and cable outlets. ABC was the prime beneficiary in major categories for Black-ish and limited series American Crime, and Henson and Will Forte of Last Man on Earth earned nods for Fox.
The miniseries category is among the most competitive this year, with O.J. facing its own network’s Fargo, ABC’s American Crime, AMC’s The Night Manager and History’s Roots remake. But O.J. is pegged by awards prognosticators as a top contender as Paulson, Gooding and Vance were joined by supporting actors John Travolta, Sterling K. Brown and David Schwimmer facing off in the supporting-actor category.
HBO, as usual, topped the nominations tally with 94 ( but was down from last year’s 126), followed by FX with 56 and Netflix with 54.
The awards will be televised live Sept. 18 on ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel as host.