This morning, Orange is the New Black‘s Uzo Aduba and So You Think You Can Dance host Cat Deeley came together to announce the nominations for the 67th annual Emmy Awards. And now that the dust has settled on the lucky shows, actors, directors and writers, it’s clear that Emmy voters are starting to adjust to the times but still have a while to go before they’re as on the money as the competing Critics’ Choice Awards.
Game of Thrones had the strongest showing of any series, pulling in a stunning 24 nominations including for Outstanding Drama Series, even after a controversial season that caused some viewers and critics to revolt against what was once a near-universally acclaimed show.
This was also a great year for new shows. Bloodline‘s Kyle Chandler and Ben Mendelsohn, Better Call Saul‘s Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks, How to Get Away with Murder‘s Viola Davis and Empire‘s Taraji P. Henson all earned acting noms in their series’ freshman outings, while Transparent, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Better Call Saul broke through to earn nominations in the series categories.
2015 will also be known as the year Tatiana Maslany finally got her due for Orphan Black, after being snubbed two years running for what’s considered to be one of the best dramatic performances on television. Also excitingly, though Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen both got nominated for their turns on Modern Family, that juggernaut ABC series had a much weaker showing this year than in past ones, which allowed fresh-faced shows more of a chance to make an impression (though Jane the Virgin is conspicuously absent). Ditto for The Big Bang Theory, which only managed two acting noms.
American Horror Story continues to be the apple of Emmy voters’ eyes, despite Freak Show certainly failing to gather steam in the same manner as the FX show’s first two outings, and there was a solid deal of love shown toward vets like Mad Men, The Newsroom, Nurse Jackie, Shameless, Downton Abbey and Parks and Recreation (though maybe Parks deserved a little more).
All in all, it’s a solid list of nominees, and though some of the newer inclusions may have rough odds of actually earning gold at the Emmy Awards, it’s thrilling to see so much variety in a race where familiarity usually matters a lot.
Check out the full list of nominations after the page jump: