Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Philly will have rooting interest in this year's Emmys

Tina Fey’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” breaks into the comedy category, while Lee Daniels’ “Empire” has a lead actress in the running.

Philly will be representing at the 67th annual Emmy awards.

Upper Darby's Tina Fey, who between "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" already owns eight of the gold-ish statuettes, is up for four more.

"Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," the Netflix series that Fey and "30 Rock" veteran Robert Carlock originally created for NBC, received seven nominations yesterday, including one for outstanding comedy and another for Fey's guest turn as attorney Marcia Cross.

Fey's also nominated for her writing on the Golden Globe awards, which she co-hosted, and, in the same category, for writing on the "SNL" 40th anniversary special.

Fox's "Empire," created by West Philadelphia's Lee Daniels, scored three nominations, one for lead actress Taraji P. Henson and two for costumes.

Netflix's "Grace and Frankie," created by Broomall's Marta Kauffmann, received a nomination for Lily Tomlin as outstanding lead actress in a comedy.

Though HBO, as usual, led the field with 126 nominations - two more than ABC, CBS and NBC combined - the streaming competition is coming up fast, with Netflix scoring 34 nominations and Amazon Instant Video 12.

HBO's "Game of Thrones" received 24 nominations, the most for any single program, followed by FX's "American Horror Story: Freak Show," whose 19 nominations represented half the entire take for the FX Networks (which received three more nods than broadcast sibling Fox).

The Television Academy made some changes in categories this year, but head-scratchers remain. Edie Falco was once again nominated for lead actress in a comedy for Showtime's decidedly uncomedic "Nurse Jackie," while Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez ("Jane the Virgin") was overlooked altogether. ("Jane" did receive one nomination, for Anthony Mendez's truly outstanding narration.)

And Keegan-Michael Key entered (and is nominated) as a supporting actor in a show with his name in the title, Comedy Central's "Key & Peele."

Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black," a nominee for outstanding comedy series last year, is in the running this year for outstanding drama. Other drama nominees include AMC's "Better Call Saul," PBS' "Downton Abbey," HBO's "Game of Thrones," Showtime's "Homeland," Netflix's "House of Cards" and AMC's "Mad Men."

Besides "Kimmy Schmidt," outstanding comedy nominees are FX's "Louie," ABC's "Modern Family," NBC's "Parks and Recreation," HBO's Silicon Valley" and "Veep," and Amazon's "Transparent."

We'll no doubt be arguing about who got snubbed [insert your grievance here] till the awards are announced Sept. 20 on Fox, but some of the acting categories showed more diversity than usual.

Besides Henson of "Empire," nominees for outstanding lead actress in a drama are Claire Danes, Showtime's "Homeland"; Robin Wright, Netflix's "House of Cards"; Viola Davis, ABC's "How to Get Away With Murder"; Elisabeth Moss, AMC's "Mad Men"; and Tatiana Maslany, AMC's "Orphan Black."

Nominees for lead actor in a drama are Bob Odenkirk, AMC's "Better Call Saul"; Kyle Chandler, Netflix's "Bloodline"; Kevin Spacey, Netflix's "House of Cards"; Jon Hamm, AMC's "Mad Men"; Jeff Daniels, HBO's "The Newsroom"; and Liev Schreiber, Showtime's "Ray Donovan."

Besides Falco of "Nurse Jackie" and Tomlin of "Grace and Frankie," nominees for lead actress in a comedy are Lisa Kudrow, HBO's "The Comeback"; Amy Schumer, Comedy Central's "Inside Amy Schumer"; Amy Poehler, NBC's "Parks and Recreation"; and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, HBO's "Veep."

Nominees for lead actor in a comedy are Anthony Anderson, ABC's "Black-ish"; Matt LeBlanc, Showtime's "Episodes"; Don Cheadle, Showtime's "House of Lies"; Will Forte, Fox's "Last Man on Earth"; Louis C.K., FX's "Louie"; William H. Macy, Showtime's "Shameless"; and Jeffrey Tambor, Amazon's "Transparent."

A complete list of nominees can be found at emmys.org.

Phone: 215-854-5950

On Twitter: @elgray

Blog: ph.ly/EllenGray