The TV Column

As usual, HBO dominates Emmy nominations

Mandy Moore  and Milo Ventimiglia share a tender moment as Rebecca and Jack Pearson on NBC’s This Is Us, nominated for 11 Emmy awards.
Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia share a tender moment as Rebecca and Jack Pearson on NBC’s This Is Us, nominated for 11 Emmy awards.

Now that the Emmy nomination dust has settled, here's an overview.

It was once again a bad year for those of you who don't have HBO, don't subscribe to a digital streaming service (whatever that is), and only watch CBS police procedurals, especially the ones starring 72-year-old Tom Selleck and 65-year-old Mark Harmon. Sorry.

As has been the trend for a number of years, HBO leads the pack with 110 nominations. Streaming service Netflix was second with 91.

What's this? Third place for the most nominations actually went to one of the five broadcast networks. Imagine that. NBC earned an impressive 60 nods.

NBC's Saturday Night Live tied HBO's Westworld for the most nominations in all categories with 22. They were followed by Stranger Things (Netflix) and FX's Feud: Bette and Joan with 18, and Veep with 17.

Thanks to sketches lampooning President Trump and his administration, SNL had its highest ratings in 23 years.

Most encouraging is that the best drama category saw new blood with five first-time nominations -- The Crown (Netflix), The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu), Stranger Things (Netflix), This Is Us (NBC) and Westworld (HBO). Also nominated were House of Cards (Netflix) and Better Call Saul (AMC).

Game of Thrones (which amassed 23 nominations last year and was named best drama series for the second consecutive year) missed the eligibility period this year. It shall return next year.

With 11 nominations, This Is Us broke the hex. This is the first time since 2011 and The Good Wife that a broadcast drama made the list.

We'll find out who takes home the coveted statuette when the 69th annual Prime Time Emmy Awards air at 7 p.m. Sept. 17 on CBS with Stephen Colbert as host. My money is on This Is Us.

Setting aside such deserving categories as costumes, choreography, multi-camera picture editing and outstanding hairstyling for a single-camera series, here are the major categories.

Drama: Better Call Saul (AMC); The Crown (Netflix); The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu); House of Cards (Netflix); Stranger Things (Netflix); This Is Us (NBC); Westworld (HBO).

Best Actress, Drama: Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder); Claire Foy (The Crown); Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale); Keri Russell (The Americans); Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld); Robin Wright (House of Cards).

Best Actor, Drama: Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us); Anthony Hopkins (Westworld); Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul); Matthew Rhys (The Americans); Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan); Kevin Spacey (House of Cards); Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us).

Comedy: Atlanta (FX); black-ish (ABC); Master of None (Netflix); Modern Family (ABC); Silicon Valley (HBO); Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix); Veep (HBO).

Best Actress, Comedy: Pamela Adlon (Better Things); Jane Fonda (Grace and Frankie); Allison Janney (Mom); Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep); Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt); Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish); Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie).

Best Actor, Comedy: Anthony Anderson (black-ish); Aziz Ansari (Master of None); Zach Galifianakis, (Baskets); Donald Glover (Atlanta); William H. Macy (Shameless); Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent).

Limited Series: Big Little Lies (HBO); Fargo (FX); Feud: Bette and Joan (FX); Genius (National Geographic); The Night Of (HBO).

Limited Series Best Actress: Carrie Coon (Fargo); Felicity Huffman (American Crime); Jessica Lange (Feud: Bette and Joan); Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies); Susan Sarandon (Feud: Bette and Joan); Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies).

Limited Series Best Actor: Riz Ahmed (The Night Of); Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock: The Lying Detective); Robert De Niro (The Wizard of Lies); Ewan McGregor (Fargo); Geoffrey Rush (Genius); John Turturro (The Night Of).

After last year's Emmys, I got an email from an older viewer who confessed he'd only seen a handful of the winners and NCIS was his favorite show and Harmon his favorite actor.

After 14 seasons on the air, NCIS will just have to be content with being TV's No. 1-rated drama. Harmon? He'll have to lament his lack of an Emmy while he's at the bank depositing his $20 million annual salary.

Foodie news. The Little Rock-based crew from the The Southern Frenchie food truck is one of seven teams competing in the Food Network's Season 8 of The Great Food Truck Race set to debut at 8 p.m. Aug. 20.

On board The Southern Frenchie is noted chef Donnie Ferneau, his wife, Meaghan, and sous chef Amanda Ivy. The team will race from New Orleans to Savannah, Ga., for a $50,000 grand prize.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Style on 07/25/2017

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