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To see the best stories inside the Emmy nominations, you often have to look past the ones that often make headlines. The big nomination numbers were raked in by familiar nominees: 

 led with 16, but the next two spots went to first-year series: Amazon's 

right behind at 13. 
This year, five of the drama series nominations are exactly the same as last year: 

, were both ineligible. Taking their spots are 

, which missed out last year but had been nominated in 2016. In other words, the big drama series nominees are just about as similar as they could have been to recent history. 

On the comedy side, there are four repeats from last year: 

weren't eligible to repeat; the additional nominees are 

, HBO's very dark comedy about a hit man starring Bill Hader; 

from Netflix. The last three of those are all nominated in their first year of eligibility, which is where comedy shows itself to be a much more open field than drama. The other big story, though, is that 

, which has been nominated eight years in a row and won the first five times in a row, finally fell off the list. Its actors did, too, ending a long residence that sometimes dominated the comedic acting nominations.

As some actors left the stage, others surged forward: Issa Rae is a first-time nominee for lead actress in her comedy series 

. Ted Danson hasn't been nominated for a comedy series since 

(he was nominated a few times for the drama series 

), but he was recognized for his work on NBC's inventive 

. Zazie Beetz won her first nomination as Van on 

. John Legend, Sara Bareilles and Brandon Victor Dixon are all first-time nominees for the NBC telecast of 

episode, "Black Museum." And Sterling K. Brown has now been nominated for very different performances in three different categories on three different shows in three years: 

The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story 

in 2017 and again this year, and now also a guest shot on 

, where he was very funny as an interrogated suspect. 

As is often the case, you'll find some fun stories in less publicized categories. Netflix's 

installment "U.S.S. Callister," which is fun, strange, scary and painfully timely, pulled a nomination for best TV movie (last year's winner was 

's "San Junipero"), and for its busy lead actor Jesse Plemons. Megan Amram, a writer on 

who's known on Twitter for tweeting "Today is the day Donald Trump finally became president" every single day, made a comedy web series called 

, which explicitly parodied overwrought awards-friendly cliches and was made only to try to land her an Emmy nomination for outstanding actress in a short-form comedy or drama series. She was nominated. So was her series.

There are certainly nominations that many hoped for that didn't come through. While Sandra Oh was nominated for her leading role on BBC America's excellent 

, the series itself wasn't nominated. Neither was any aspect of Netflix's well-loved 

, other than multi-camera editing. Those hoping for a big showing for the return of 

got directing and writing nominations plus seven other more technical awards, but the series and acting categories left the show out. There was nothing at all for either 

, the CW's pair of smart, unique comedy-dramas about women. 



Approaching the Emmy nominations in particular — because of their sheer volume — as a reliable list of bests is a losing game. It will always end in disappointment over what wasn't recognized. But a lot of these nominees are well worth watching for those who haven't seen them, and the upside of the overstuffed TV landscape is that we'll never lack worthy options. 

Below is the list of this year's Emmy nominees.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Outstanding lead actress in a drama series

Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series

Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series

Arts and Culture

Linda Holmes

Author

For the first time in years, the venerable Modern Family and its cast failed to nab a nomination, making room for several freshman comedies — and new faces.

Emmy nomination analysis: Lots of old, but something new

Go Deeper.

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