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We Need to Talk About the 2015 Emmy Nominations

2015 emmy nominations

The 67th annual Emmy Award nominations were announced this morning. At least they got some things right.

Comedy Series

Who Should Win: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt/Silicon Valley/Transparent. I'd be happy with any three of these very different comedies taking the top prize, as each breathed new life into the sitcom genre in an already standout television year.

Who Will Win:Transparent. Aside from the watershed year for the transgendender community, Transparent is transcendentally good. The writing, direction and acting -- in particular Jeffrey Tambor -- were all uniformly on point, making this equally hilarious and heartbreaking while making the Amazon hit the most nominated comedy this year.

Who Was Snubbed: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The longest running live-action comedy in cable history has always been a highlight on FX's schedule and was still going strong in its 10th season, its best -- and certainly its most over the top -- in years.

Grace and Frankie. Though reviews have been mixed, Netflix's freshman series was a hoot and a half, bouyed by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin's brilliant performances and incredible chemsitry.

The Comeback. C'mon, people! Unless it's 2010 and no one told me, Modern Family and Parks and Rec have no business in this category. Not with Lisa Kudrow's amazing HBO comedy making a triumphant, well, comeback after nearly 10 years. But it was largely ignored by the Academy then as it is now.

the comeback gif

Drama Series

Who Should Win: House of Cards/Better Call Saul. Full disclosure, I haven't seen Breaking Bad -- is it too late to ask for no spoilers? -- but from what I hear, it's the best thing that ever happened. And Better Call Saul is eliciting similar sentiment, though I'm waiting to bingewatch Breaking Bad before getting into this prequel/spin-off. For consistency sake. As for HoC, this season was its best, making Washington D.C. seem a lot more interesting than it has any right to be.

Who Will Win:Mad Men. I mean, it's the last season....

Who Was Snubbed: Are we still pretending Homeland is a good show? Empire could have and should have easily slipped into this category based on its groundbreaking year alone, but the Emmys -- like most mainstream awards shows -- has always had a race problem.

Booty

Lead Actor in a Drama

Who Should Win: Jon Hamm.

Who Will Win: Jon Hamm. Seriously. The man's put in some of the best dramatic work ever seen on television and largely thanks to Bryan Cranston -- and inexplicably, one year, Jeff Daniels -- has walked away empty-handed for each of his seven previous consecutive nominations. It's time to pay the piper.

don draper mad men finale gif

Who Was Snubbed: Meh, I don't really have any opinions on this one. Thoughts?

Lead Actress in a Drama

Who Should Win: I swear to god if Claire Danes wins another undeserved Emmy. This year could see the first African-American woman winning a Lead Actress Drama Emmy (yeah, I know it's 2015) with Viola Davis and Taraji P. Henson vying for the honor.

Who Will Win: Taraji P. Henson. This is really her year, lest we forget this wig-snatching WMagazine spread.

Who Was Snubbed:Kerry Washington. I was really hoping for a blacktress threeway race, but Scandal jumped the shark ages ago and while Kerry's always great, the show rarely lives up to her standards. This blowout in the first episode of this season, though, deserves its own award.

scandal olivia hair prison

Leave it to Olivia Pope to make being held hostage look stunning.

Meanwhile, Julianna Marguiles was suspiciously absent from the list of nominees, but she's got two Emmys for The Good Wife and a ridiculously hot younger husband at home so don't cry for her, Argentina.

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Who Should Win: Jeffrey Tambor. Though I am glad to see Will Forte sneak in there for his great work on Last Man on Earth.

Who Will Win:Jeffrey Tambor. Tambor is beyond brilliant as Maura Pfefferman and has snatched up nearly every other award for his work. This one should be a no-brainer, even for the Emmys.

bea

Who Was Snubbed: Thomas Middleditch. As the nerotic heart and brains of Silicon Valley, Middleditch rattles off impressively complicated nerd lingo that would make multiple Emmy-winner Jim Parsons take pause, all while seemingly just seconds away from a breakdown.

Lead Actress in a Comedy

Who Should Win: Lisa Kudrow. If there's any justice in the world, Lisa Kudrow will win -- everything in the world. Along with Tambor on Transparent, what she did on The Comeback surpassed acting into something that draws you in and refuses to let you go.

Who Will Win: In what can only be described as one of the greatest travesites of modern times, Julia Louis-Dreyfus beat out Kudrow for Lead Actress duringThe Comeback's original run with The New Adventures of Old Christine. JLD's work on Veep is always amazing -- to which her three previous, consecutive wins in this category can attest -- but her time has passed. Always a bridesmaid and never a bride Amy Poehler has one last chance to win for Parks and Rec, while another Amy -- Schumer -- is currently winning life. It's really anyone's game, though it shouldn't be.

Who Was Snubbed: Tracee Ellis Ross. I'm no fan of blackish, but Ellis Ross is the best part of that show and her co-star Anthony Anderson got one, so why not her?

Jane Fonda. It must have been a real Sophie's Choice deciding which of Grace and Frankie's esteemed leading ladies would land the nomination. And yet here's Edie Falco coasting along with another nomination for Nurse Jackie.

jane fonda grace frankie

Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy

Who Should Win: Tituss Burgess and Jane Krakowski. The supporting acting comedy cateogries are perhaps the toughest this year, but two words: Peeno. Noir. Meanwhile, someone needs to throw the five Emmys Jane Krakowski should've won from Ally McBeal and 30 Rock in her face as retribution.

peeno noir gif

Who Will Win: Andre Braugher and Anna Chlumsky. I would also be fine with Key and Peele's Keegan-Michael Key (good for him!) and SNL's Kate McKinnon or Transparent's Gabby Hoffman. It's too hard to tell, really. Of course, someone from Modern Family will probably waltz away -- yet again -- with at least one of these trophies.

Who Was Snubbed: I've shat on Modern Family a lot in this post, but its five previous consecutive wins for Best Comedy were overindulgent at best -- insulting to other, better comedies at worst. But Ed O'Neil and Sofia Vergara have some of the best comedic timing on TV, yet they're consistently ignored. Also, Jordan Peele, the other half of Key & Peele, should've been acknowledged as well. And what about Kimmy Schmidt's other national treasure, Carol Kane?

Les Fabian Brathwaite -- seriously, though: Lisa Kudrow for the win, or I'm burning the internet down.

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