Emmy Nominations 2013

I'm not usually one to delve into the particulars of the Emmy race, since I don't know the television landscape nearly as well as I know the movies. There's also an institutional inertia about the Emmys that results in the same crop of nominees year after year after year. The narrative can get a little tedious and maddening. However, television has been producing so much quality media in recent years and the whole industry has been changing rapidly. This year's crop of nominees, though they do contain a lot of familiar names and faces, are a good reflection of that.

The biggest story is the arrival of the Netflix series. After months of serious campaigning, they've netted themselves fourteen nominations: nine for "House of Cards" and three for "Arrested Development," plus one for the title sequence of "Hemlock Grove." They're not pulling in nearly the numbers of the network or cable channels, but they've definitely arrived as a contender. Whatever you want to say about Netflix as a viable alternative to tradition forms of television, the Emmys have taken the stand that they're willing to recognize good work no matter where it originates from. "House of Cards" is in the running for Outstanding Drama Series, and Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright are going to be making the Lead Actor and Lead Actress races more interesting. Also making their debut is The Sundance Channel, with ten nominations for their miniseries, "Top of the Lake" and "Restless."

Aside from "House of Cards," the Outstanding Drama Series list looks about the same. Over in Outstanding Comedy Series, "30 Rock" is the mostly likely winner since it's their last season, but it's nice to see "Louie" finally breaking into the category. The returning "Arrested Development," sadly, did not. The lead acting categories have some new faces. In addition to Spacey and Wright, we have Jeff Daniels for "The Newsroom," Vera Farmiga for "Bates Motel," "Connie Britton for "Nashvile," Kerry Washington for "Scandal," and Laura Dern for "Enlightened." And Jason Bateman was nominated for the second time for "Arrested Development" after a gap of eight years. Over in the supporting categories, new nominees include Jonathan Banks for "Breaking Bad," Bobby Cannavale for "Boardwalk Empire," Mandy Patinkin and Morena Baccarin for "Homeland," Emilia Clarke for "Game of Thrones (Go Daenerys!), Anna Chlumsky and Tony Hale for "Veep," and Adam Driver for "Girls."

Miniseries are Movies are still one big unhappy consolidated mass for the time being, but the acting categories won't be next year, and some of the others may follow. As we've seen a resurgence in entries, there's been more competition for slots and there will be some un-merging going on soon. This year, the one to beat will be Steven Soderbergh's "Behind the Candelabra," which has landed Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in the Outstanding Lead Actor Category together (along with Al Pacino as Phil Spector) and brought renewed attention to television movies. "American Horror Story: Asylum" didn't get an Outstanding Miniseries/Movie nod, but it still racked up an impressive seventeen nominations, more than any other program this year. Also note that Laura Linney got her nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress of "The Big C: Hereafter," the truncated fourth season of the Showtime dramedy that was submitted as a mini-series.

So who got squeezed out? "Boardwalk Empire" seems to have been the biggest casualty, getting ten nominations, but mostly in technical categories. CBS's "The Good Wife" is also missing from the Outstanding Drama Series, and Julianna Marguilies from Outstanding Lead Actress. "The Newsroom" managed one acting nod, but little else. "Dexter" has been shut out completely. Jon Cryer won last year for "Two and a Half Men," and this year he hasn't even been nominated. Ditto past winner Melissa McCarthy for "Mike & Molly." Meanwhile, no love for newcomers "The Americans" or "Hannibal" despite all the good press. FX's "Justified," "Sons of Anarchy," and "The Walking Dead" are still on the outs. Still, it's hard to really call any of these snubs because the bar has been raised very quickly, and there are so many, many good shows in the running now.

Finally, because this is something I've been keeping track of for a while now, I'll note that this is an absolutely spectacular year for women directors - three nominations in Comedy (Lena Dunham, Gail Mancuso, Beth McCarthy-Miller), two in Drama (Michelle MacLaren, Leslie Linka-Glatter), and two in Movies/Miniseries (Allison Anders, Jane Campion).

The 2013 Primetime Emmy Awards Ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, September 22. I have no idea who is going to win anything, but I'm sure it'll still be a lot of fun, especially since Neil Patrick Harris will be back hosting the show. Speaking of which, where on earth did the Outstanding Performance in a Variety Show/Special go, I wonder?
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