2013 Emmy Nominations: 6 Biggest Surprises and Snubs

While Kerry Washington scored her first nomination, New Girl was ignored completely by the Academy

By Tierney Bricker Jul 18, 2013 1:56 PMTags
Jake Johnson, Nick Offerman, Tatiana Maslany, Jason Bateman, Kerry WashingtonFox/BBC/Mitchell Haaseth/NBC/ABC

It's Emmy season, time for nominations that come with no rhyme or reason!

The 2013 Emmy nominations were announced this morning, and while perennial awards season fan favorites such as Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Modern Family found themselves on the short list once again, several surprising nominees snuck in.

Of course, along with some unexpected nods come some unforgivable snubs, and this year proved to be no exception. 

Snubs

• Are we taking crazy pills?! That is the only reasonable explanation we can seem to come up with after failing to hear Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany's name read in the Best Actress in a Drama category. Girlfriend tackles six roles better than most actors can handle one. This is a crime against TV! Clone Club, we're calling a vent session, stat.

• We basically want to challenge all Emmy voters to a duel after they failed to nominate New Girl's Jake Johnson, who gave one of the best, if not the best, male comedic performance of the year. We also want to slap their wrists for ignoring the series in the Best Comedy category and Zooey Deschanel for Best Actress in a Comedy.

• Sure, there are a lot of great dramas this season, but it's pretty darn upsetting to once again see amazing series such as Justified, Sons of Anarchy and The Americans, save for an acting nom for Margo Martindale for the latter, largely ignored. 

• No love for Parks and Recreation in the Best Comedy category...again? Why do we even bother to dream, people? At least Amy Poehler was recognized. Knope we can!

• We are crying even more tears over Monica Potter's snub in the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy than we did over her amazing work as the cancer-stricken Kristin on Parenthood. Tissues, please!

• If any Glee actor was going to score a nod for the 2012-13 season, we probably would've guessed it would've been Lea Michele, who completely owned season four just as much as Rachel took New York City by storm. But the only star to be nominated? Jane Lynch for Best Supporting Actress.

Surprises

• Listen, we love, love, love Connie Britton more than anyone else on this earth, but to have her work on ABC's uneven (at best) Nashville over Maslany on Orphan Black and several other dramatic leading ladies is kind of insane. And we feel like Britton would agree. Also, the fact that Hayden Panettiere didn't land a Supporting Actress nom for her work as emotional wrecking ball Juliette Barnes is not OK.

Netflix

• Why hello, Netflix! The live-streaming site fared quite well in its first Emmy season, landing nominations for House of Cards and its stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, as well as Arrested Development's Jason Bateman. Looks like their release-it-all-at-once model paid off!

• Three cheers for Kerry Washington landing a nom for her work as Olivia Pope (aka one of TV's best characters, male or female) on ABC's Scandal. And three cheers as well for Dan Bucatinsky being recognized in the Best Guest Star category. Suck on that, Cyrus (Jeff Perry)!

• We're giving Dowager Countess-esque side-eye to Emmy voters after seeing how much love they showered upon Downton Abbey, which is still good, but let's face it, has become more soap opera-esque as of late. The PBS period hit scored nominations for Best Drama, Best Actor (Hugh Bonneville), Best Actress (Michelle Dockery), Best Supporting Actor (Jim Carter) and Best Supporting Actress (Maggie Smith).

Richard McLaren/Lifetime

• We totally expected TV It girl Lena Dunham and her series, Girls, to land their second nominations in as many years, but it quite the pleasant surprise to see Adam Driver, who was the standout in season two as Hannah's weird and hopelessly compelling boyfriend, Adam, receive a Best Supporting Actor nod. 

• We guess the reign of American Idol truly is over as it was once again left off the shortlist for Best Reality Program in favor of Dancing With the Stars and The Voice

• Oh, and Liz & Dick scored two Emmy nods. No, Lindsay Lohan didn't receive one, so pigs aren't flying just yet. The TV movie was nominated for hair and makeup. 

Were you sad to a see a certain show or star ignored? Any happy surprises? Sound off in the comments!

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