I absolutely adore award shows, and I get so excited every year waiting to see who is going to receive nominations.  This morning the 2018 Emmy Nominations were announced, and I am FULL of hot takes.  Which nominees made me squeal with delight, and what left me saying, “What the fork???”

2018 Emmy Nominations That Bring Me Joy

• Tatiana Maslany receiving her third nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the final season of Orphan Black. This woman amazes me every time she walks on screen. She doesn’t just portray numerous clones with distinct accents, personalities and mannerisms. She does that with multiple clones in a single scene, and occasionally as one clone masquerading as another. Season 5 was some of her best work and I’m hoping she’s able to close out this chapter of her career by walking away with the trophy again like she did in 2016. #CloneClub forever, y’all.

• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel receiving  ELEVEN nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Rachel Brosnahan), Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Tony Shalhoub),Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Alex Borstein), and Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Jane Lynch). It also received nominations for costumes, directing, editing, hairstyling, writing and music supervision.  I streamed this series about a divorcée finding she has a flair for standup comedy, in about days when it was released on Amazon and I could easily see it taking home the award in most of these categories.  Amy Sherman-Palladino creates such dynamic characters, and both the dialogue and situations made me want to know immediately what was going to happen next as soon as an episode ended.  The second season is currently in production (and has already been renewed for a third),  and I expect I am going to rewatch it several times before it returns.

• For the third consecutive year, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell and Spencer Gilbert received a nomination for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series for their Honest Trailers videos. They are part of the ScreenJunkies channel on YouTube, and the people who work there are such hardworking, brilliant, witty, and gracious people who are so passionate about what they do.  Their channel went through a difficult period last year as a result of the actions of one of their founders. Rather than shying away from that, the channel has used it as an opportunity to discuss a lot of the difficult topics the entertainment industry is facing right now, from harassment to providing opportunities for underrepresented voices.  And the Honest Trailers are hilarious. I’m so thrilled for them as individuals and that their work continues to receive recognition.

meanwhile at the Fab 5 loft 😍… pic.twitter.com/LZgQgY5IpW

— Queer Eye (@QueerEye) July 12, 2018

• The past few months since my sister died have been rough. Enter Queer Eye. This series is about so much more than the general premise of 5 gay men working with people to improve their look, relationships and lifestyle.  They have so much love for each other and the people they help and in several episodes they have open discussions with people to come to a place of understanding between each other and internally. Just watch the video above of them celebrating their nomination and try not to smile.
• I can’t comment on the shows that these following actors were nominated for, but I’ve enjoyed their work in the past, so I was happy to see Bill Hader(Barry), Matt Smith(The Crown), Letitia Wright(Black Mirror), Sara Bareilles(Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert), Laura Dern (The Tale) and Samira Wiley(Black Mirror) all get acting nods.

2018 Em-MEH Nominations

• I am a fan of Saturday Night Live.  I was picked in their ticket lottery a couple years ago to see a live dress rehearsal, Gilda Radner is one of my idols, and it’s not uncommon for me to quote random sketches every few weeks. But overall I felt this past season was not that great. I think the series this year relied too heavily on appearances from non-host guest stars.  There were some definite highlights: Les Mis Lobster from the John Mulaney-hosted episode is one of my favorite sketches of the past 10 years and Kate McKinnon kills everything she does.  Her nomination for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series is the one I agree with. Which leads me to my next gripe…

• WHERE THE FORK IS D’ARCY CORDAN‘S SUPPORTING ACTRESS NOMINATION????? I also am stunned The Good Place was shut out of Outstanding Comedy Series, since it’s my favorite series on network television right now. And Kristen Bell is a magical unicorn of a human who I want to make my best friend.  But D’Arcy’s portrayal of Janet, the physical, interactive representation of The Good Place’s mainframe is one of the best performances on television right now, comedy or otherwise.  This character could easily be grating or worse, forgettable. But her delivery is impeccable, and she fully commits to the words, physicality and facial expressions that are written for her.  I am so excited for Ted Danson to receive his deserved nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series  and Maya Rudolph for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, but they really missed the ball on additional nominations.
• Speaking of omissions, how did Crazy Ex-Girlfriend get completely shut out? I understand the inclination to turn away from a show like this for award talk based on the title and that it airs on the CW. I myself am guilty of that. But this show literally does everything. Lead actress Rachel Bloom will make you laugh, want to sing along, feel uncomfortable and break your heart all in the same episode. Sometimes even in the same scene. It’s billed as a musical comedy, but Crazy Ex-Girlfriend does not shy away from taking the show to a dark place with regards to mental illness.  And I cannot even begin to imagine the amount of work that goes into each episode to bring multiple musical numbers to life, between the costumes, sets and choreography. I just can’t understand how it didn’t even garner an Outstanding Original Music & Lyrics nominee. Baffling.

• I struggled on where to put GLOW on these list. On the one hand, I’m thrilled about the Netflix series receiving an Outstanding Comedy Series nomination. A show about female wrestlers in the 80s is not something I anticipated loving.  But it’s so well-written and Marc Maron and Allison Brie kill it every episode. So the fact that neither received acting nominations is beyond me. Betty Gilpin did receive a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and the show is also up for some technical awards, but this series deserves a lot more.  If they don’t at least win for stunt coordination, something is very wrong.

Full List of 2018 Emmy Nominations

Below is the full list of acting-related nominations. The complete list of 2018 Emmy Nominations can be found on the Emmy’s website or by clicking here.  Leave me a note in the comments with the nominations you’re excited about and who you think got snubbed! And be sure to watch the 70th Emmy Awards Ceremony on September 17th on NBC!

OUTSTANDING COMEDY

Atlanta
Barry
black-ish
Curb Your Enthusiasm
GLOW
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Silicon Valley
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Pamela Adlon, Better Things
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Allison Janney, Mom
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish
Lily Tomlin, Grace & Frankie

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Anthony Anderson, black-ish
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Donald Glover, Atlanta
Bill Hader, Barry
William H. Macy, Shameless

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Zazie Beetz, Atlanta
Aidy Bryant, Saturday Night Live
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Betty Gilpin, GLOW
Leslie Jones, Saturday Night Live
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Laurie Metcalf, Roseanne
Megan Mullally, Will & Grace

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Louie Anderson, Baskets
Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Brian Tyree Henry, Atlanta
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Henry Winkler, Barry

GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Wanda Sykes, black-ish
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
Tiffany Haddish, Saturday Night Live
Maya Rudolph, The Good Place
Jane Lynch, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Molly Shannon, Will & Grace

GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Katt Williams, Atlanta
Sterling K. Brown, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Bryan Cranston, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Donald Glover, Saturday Night Live
Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live

OUTSTANDING DRAMA

The Americans
The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid’s Tale
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Ed Harris, Westworld
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us
Jeffrey Wright, Westworld

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Claire Foy, The Crown
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Keri Russell, The Americans
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid’s Tale
Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things
Ann Dowd, The Handmaid’s Tale
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Vanessa Kirby, The Crown
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid’s Tale

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Joseph Fiennes, The Handmaid’s Tale
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
David Harbour, Stranger Things
Matt Smith, The Crown

GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones
Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away With Murder
Viola Davis, Scandal
Kelly Jenrette, The Handmaid’s Tale
Cherry Jones, The Handmaid’s Tale
Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale

GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA

F. Murray Abraham, Homeland
Cameron Britton, Mindhunter
Matthew Goode, The Crown
Gerald McRaney, This Is Us
Ron Cephas Jones, This Is Us
Jimmi Simpson, Westworld

TV MOVIE 

Black Mirror, “USS Callister”
Farenheit 451
Flint
Paterno
The Tale

LIMITED SERIES

The Alienist
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Genius: Picasso
Godless
Patrick Melrose

LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

Jessica Biel, The Sinner
Laura Dern, The Tale
Michelle Dockery, Godless
Edie Falco, Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders
Regina King, Seven Seconds
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Cult

LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

Antonio Banderas, Genius: Picasso
Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose
Jeff Daniels, The Looming Tower
John Legend, Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesse Plemons, Black Mirror, “USS Callister”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

Adina Porter, American Horror Story: Cult
Letitia Wright, Black Mirror, “Black Museum”
Merritt Wever, Godless
Sara Bareilles, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert
Penelope Cruz, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Judith Light, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE 

Jeff Daniels, Godless
Brandon Victor Dixon, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert
Ricky Martin, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Edgar Ramirez, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Finn Wittrock, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Michael Stuhlbarg, The Looming Tower
John Leguizamo, Waco

REALITY SHOW HOST 

W. Kamau Bell, United Shades of America With W. Kamau Bell
RuPaul Charles, RuPaul’s Drag Race
Ellen DeGeneres, Ellen’s Game of Games
Jane Lynch, Hollywood Game Night
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, Project Runway

REALITY SHOW COMPETITION

The Amazing Race
American Ninja Warrior
Project Runway
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice

VARIETY SKETCH SERIES

At Home With Amy Sedaris
Drunk History
I Love You, America With Sarah Silverman
Portlandia
Saturday Night Live
Tracey Ullman’s Show

VARIETY TALK SERIES

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
The Late Late Show With James Corden
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert