Every July, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announces the year's primetime Emmy nominations, and every time, predictable outrage pours forth over the Academy's supposedly faulty judgment. Of course, now that we're living in the supposed new golden age of television, it's hard to argue against any of the Academy's choices. Then again, the abundance of stellar performances in well-written, sharply directed shows means that, inevitably, some favorites will be left out and that not everyone will be happy with the names that did make the cut. Here, then, is Moviefone's list of surprises and snubs from the 2014 Emmy nominations.
SURPRISES:
Kate McKinnon and Fred Armisen -- Sketch players rarely get nominated, in part because it's hard to single them out from their ensemble casts. But Armisen is half the ensemble on "Portlandia" by himself, while McKinnon was a clear standout this season on "Saturday Night Live" for her broad range of insanely committed turns as personalities from Ellen DeGeneres to Justin Bieber.
Jane Fonda and Paul Giamatti -- Fine work (in "The Newsroom" and "Downton Abbey," respectively), but did either of them get more than 10 minutes of screen time?
Beau Bridges and Margo Martindale -- Both were nominated for their supporting roles in cable dramas ("Masters of Sex" and "The Americans," respectively) but not for their starring roles on new sitcom "We're the Millers."
Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin -- Were they just reflexively nominating "Homeland" this year? This show jumped the shark awfully fast.
"Scandal" -- Emmy finally catches up with everyone's favorite guilty-pleasure show. Guess we don't have to feel guilty anymore.
"Orange Is the New Black" -- Was there anyone on this show who didn't get nominated? With 12 nods, it's this year's most nominated comedy series. All five of its nominated performers -- Uzo Aduba, Laverne Cox, Natasha Lyonne, Kate Mulgrew, and Taylor Schilling -- are first-time nominees.
"Masters of Sex" -- In its first year of eligibility, the steamy Showtime historical drama got five nominations, including a leading-role citation for first-time nominee Lizzy Caplan. This (along with "Orange") marks one of those times that the Emmys have an opportunity to show how cutting-edge and not-stodgy they are.
Kate Mara and Reg E. Cathey -- Speaking of Netflix, how much does Emmy love the streaming outlet's shows? We knew "House of Cards" would score big, but we didn't expect nominations for these two performers way down on the roster.
Ricky Gervais -- What channel is "Derek" on? Oh yeah, Netflix.
Kristen Wiig - Not sure many people saw "Spoils of Babylon," Will Ferrell's parody of 1970s miniseries, but Wiig was certainly a standout for her over-the-top performance as the faux-drama's incestuous heroine.
"The Normal Heart" -- We knew this HBO movie would get a lot of love, but not so much that it would include five supporting acting nominations. Was Alfred Molina on anyone's Emmy radar?
"Treme" -- Emmy has overlooked HBO's scrappy New Orleans drama for most of its run, but its final season finally earned it some love as a Miniseries, for Best Writing and Best Miniseries.
SNUBS:
No "Walking Dead" or "Hannibal," -- still too gruesome for the Academy.
No Tatiana Maslany -- maybe they couldn't decide which of her "Orphan Black" clones to nominate.
No love for ABC's "Trophy Wife," perhaps this season's most criminally overlooked comedy (so overlooked, that it's not coming back in the fall). Let's blame that unfortunate title, one that would not have led you to believe that this was a warm-hearted, fast-moving, single-camera show about a blended family, in the vein of "Modern Family" but subtler.
No love for ABC's "The Goldbergs," another underrated freshman comedy. Many pundits expected at least one nomination, for Wendi McLendon-Covey as smothering mom Beverly, the show's standout character.
No Anna Faris: Allison Janney gets two nominations (for "Mom" and "Masters of Sex"), but no nominations for "Mom" lead Faris?
"Breaking Bad" -- With all the nods this year (16!), they couldn't find room for Dean Norris (RIP Hank) or Bob Odenkirk? Better call Saul!
"Game of Thrones" -- Emmy was even more generous to the bloody swords-and-shields drama (it's the year's most nominated show, with 19 nods), but there was nothing for Emilia Clarke (Dany), guest Pedro Pascal (the vengeful Prince Oberyn), or Charles Dance (Tywin). Guess there are some things even more ignominious than being slain on the toilet by your own crossbow-wielding son.
Mindy Kaling -- This morning, Carson Daly got to read out a nomination for his own show, "The Voice," but his announcement-reading partner Kaling got no such love for her daring work as creator/writer/star of "The Mindy Project."
Photo courtesy of Steve Wilkie for BBC AMERICA