5 Biggest 2014 Primetime Emmy Snubs

I recently wrote a post for the 2014 MLB All Star Game and who was snubbed. In that post, I mentioned my definition for a snub and how there's two parts to being considered a true snub. I'm going to borrow that definition and tweak it for this particular post. The first part to being considered an Emmy snub is that you have to have done incredible work to deserve being nominated in this first place. This first part of the definition is obvious, but it is not the only criteria. While The Internet may believe it to be so, there's one more aspect to being considered an Emmy snub. The second part of the definition, is that the Emmy's needed to have been aware of the show/performance, and reasonable minds needed to have predicted that a nomination was evident. In the aftermath of the nominations being announced, many articles were written about how Keri Russell from The Americans should have gotten a nomination. However, Keri Russell is not a snub. While she may fit the first part of the definition, she absolutely does not fit the second part of the definition. You may enjoy The Americans and believed its second season was Emmy worthy, but it was a show that Emmy voters were not even remotely aware of as evidenced by the fact that the show only received one nomination- and that was for Emmy darling Margo Martindale's guest performance. In a world dominated by a litany of great TV, Emmy voters just can't watch it all, and The Americans was just a show they missed. So now that you know the definition of what makes up a snub, here is the list for the 6 Biggest 2014 Primetime Emmy Snubs:

Rian Johnson (Breaking Bad)
Outstanding Direction in a Comedy Series

Rian Johnson is a decently well known film director (Looper, Brick) who is now in charge of Star Wars Episodes 8 & 9. He is also the director of many Breaking Bad episodes including Fifty-One and Fly. Johnson is also the director of probably the greatest Breaking Bad episode ever made: "Ozymandias". The final 8 Breaking Bad episodes are eligible this Emmy period, and "Ozymandias" was episode 6 of 8, and in my mind, the true season finale with Episodes 7 & 8 being the epilogue to the show. It included two of the greatest scenes ever these past 12 months including the aftermath of the Nazi shoot out in the desert, and the scene where Jesse and Flynn fight back against Walt. In fact, the latter was so good, that Entertainment Weekly named it as The Single Greatest Television Scene of 2013.

Breaking Bad is clearly a show that Emmy voters watch. It's currently the reigning champion of the Outstanding Drama Series category, Bryan Cranston has three Emmy's, Aaron Paul had two, and Anna Gunn, has one. Even worse, the writer of "Ozymandias", Moira Walley-Beckett, earned an Emmy nomination for writing the episode. While that nomination was extremely well-deserved, it's astonishing that the director wasn't rewarded as well. Even worse, Downton Abbey and House of Cards each earned a directing nomination this year. I don't know how any rational human being can suggest that an episode of House of Cards or Downton Abbey is better than Breaking Bad's "Ozymandias".

Dean Norris (Breaking Bad)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Speaking of Breaking Bad, let's move right along to Dean Norris. For the past two years, Breaking Bad has had two actors nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category, Aaron Paul and someone else. Two years ago it was Paul and Giancarlo Esposito for his incredible work as Gus Fring. Last year, it was Paul and the stoically brilliant Jonathan Banks for his work as Mike Ehrmantrout. This year, it seemed inevitable that Aaron Paul's Breaking Bad Emmy buddy was going to be Dean Norris. Not only did Norris' Hank Schaeder have a more prominent role in the final 8 episodes of Breaking Bad, but he's been so damn good throughout the series' run, including the eligible episodes, that his nomination seemed inevitable. I predicted he was going to earn a nomination, GoldDerby predicted he was going to earn a nomination, and Hitfix's Daniel Feinberg had Norris ranked 5th on his Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series power rankings. Yet come nomination time, we have the likes of Downton Abbey's Jim Carter (who was barely in the terrible 4th season of the show) and Josh Charles from The Good Wife earn nominations over Dean Norris.

Why Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black Wasn't Nominated For An Emmy

The short answer: There's just too much great television to watch right now and Orphan Black is a small show on a barely watched network, that Emmy voters just didn't have time to get around to watching the show; therefore, Emmy voters just haven't seen Tatiana Maslany's performance(s).

The long answer? Well, here we go.

We live in an incredible age of television. 20 years ago it was just NBC, CBS, and ABC fighting it out. There wasn't a whole lot of television for Emmy voters to watch. Life was simple. Then FOX and HBO starting coming along and producing amazing television. In the model of HBO's success, Showtime, Starz, FX, and AMC starting producing original content that was so great that Emmy voters started to take notice. We now live in an era where networks you'd never heard of like Orphan Black's BBC America are springing up as well as non-television networks like Netflix and Amazon Prime are creating original content. There's just so much damn original and great television series', that it's extremely difficult for an average Emmy voter to take time out of their busy day (remember, Emmy voters are NOT T.V. critics, and they do have day jobs) to watch a niche show like Orphan Black.

How Well Did I Do On My 2014 Emmy Predictions?

DRAMA

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

MY PREDICTIONS:

* Breaking Bad (AMC)

* Downton Abbey (PBS)

* Game of Thrones (HBO)

* House of Cards (Netflix)

* Mad Men (AMC)

* True Detective (HBO)

HOW WELL DID I DO: 6 out of 6

WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE: Stayed the course and just be the awesome. 

SURPRISE NOMINATION: Not for me!

OBVIOUS SNUB: The Good Wife (CBS)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR

MY PREDICTIONS:

* Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

* Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey)

* Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom)

* Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

* Kevin Spacey (House of Cards)

* Matthew McConaughey (True Detective)

HOW WELL DID I DO: 5 out of 6

WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE: Predicted Woody Harrelson (True Detective) over Bonneville

SURPRISE NOMINATION: Not really

OBVIOUS SNUB: Martin Sheen (Masters of Sex)

10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2014 Primetime Emmy Nominations

1) Modern Family

Holy cow, I don't think anyone saw this coming as Modern Family took a huge blow this year (or at least a huge blow according to its expectations). Again, two-time winner Eric Stonestreet fails to earn a nomination, but Sophia Vergara and Ed O'Neill join him. Only Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Julie Bowen earn a main acting nomination for their work on the show. The show also only earned one Outstanding Direction nomination (see, high standards, it normally gets at least two), and failed to earn any writing nominations. While the show itself was still nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, it lost a lot of nominations in 2014, and I suspect Modern Family is going to come up lame come award time.

2) Game of Thrones

While Modern Family is trending downwards, Game of Thrones is trending upwards. For those who said the Emmy's hate Game of Thrones is just absurd, considering the show had three Outstanding Drama Series nominations and Peter Dinklage is a former winner from the show. Not only does the show itself and Peter Dinklage earn another nomination this year, but this time they're joined by Lena Headly. Last year, Emilia Clarke earned a nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category, and this time it's Headley. It's nice to see other actors other than Dinklage get rewarded for their work on the show. Game of Thrones also earned an Outstanding Direction nomination for Neil Marshall for his work on the penultimate episode "The Watchers on the Wall" (although I would have preferred if it went to Alex Graves) and creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss earned a writing nomination for their work on the finale "The Children" (although I suspect it's for their work on the show as a whole).

Final Predictions for the 2014 Emmy Nominations

COMEDY

OUTSTANDING WRITING:

* "Beach House" (Girls)

* "Can't Fix Crazy" (Orange Is The New Black)

* "I Wasn't Ready" (Orange Is The New Black)

* "London" (Parks and Recreation)

* "Pamela 3" (Louie)

CONFIDENCE LEVEL: Poor

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION:

* Beth McCarthy-Miller (Modern Family)

* Gail Mancuso (Modern Family)

* Lena Dunham (Girls)

* Louis C.K. (Louie)

* Michael Trim (Orange Is The New Black)

CONFIDENCE LEVEL: Medium

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

* Allison Janney (Mom)

* Anna Chlumsky (Veep)

* Julie Bowen (Modern Family)

* Kate Mulgrew (Orange Is The New Black)

* Merritt Weaver (Nurse Jackie)

* Sophia Vergara (Modern Family)

CONFIDENCE LEVEL: High, even though no Mayim Bialik scares me

4 Emmy Nomination Battles We're Looking Forward To Watching

1) Outstanding Drama Series (3 nominations up in the air)

LOCKS:

* Breaking Bad (AMC)
* Game of Thrones (HBO)
* True Detective (HBO)

THE LEGITIMATE CONTENDERS:

* Downton Abbey (PBS)
* House of Cards (Netflix)
* Mad Men (AMC)
* Masters of Sex (Showtime)
* The Good Wife (CBS)

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Hot damn, do we live in a great age for television. Ever since a new(er) network that called themselves HBO first decided to air Oz and The Sopranos, more and more networks have tried to get in on the action. Showtime got fans sucked in with Dexter and they stayed for Homeland and middle aged women with problem, FX started with The Shield which led them to air Justified and Fargo. AMC tries their best to be HBO. They first aired Mad Men which then led them to air Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. Now networks that don't even air on television like Netflix (House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black), Amazon (Alpha House), Hulu (Deadbeat), and Yahoo (Community) are getting in on the action. The point is, there is just so much damn good television to watch thanks to the broadening of networks, that there's very little margin for error to earn an Outstanding Drama Series nomination in 2014. Last year, there were 7 shows realistically competing for 6 spots, so HBO's 2-time Outstanding Drama Series nominee Boardwalk Empire was left high and dry. Now there's 8 shows realistically competing for 6 spots with Boardwalk Empire and Showtime's Homeland loitering around.

Either Breaking Bad or True Detective is going to win the whole she-bang, so both of those shows are safe, and Game of Thrones is adored by both critics and fans and is coming off of its greatest season yet, so the HBO epic is also safe. But outside of that? Your guess is as good as any.

Click here to see my full reasoning behind how I picked these Winners and Losers

THE WINNERS:

* Downton Abbey (PBS)
* House of Cards (Netflix)
* Mad Men (AMC)

THE LOSERS:

* Masters of Sex (Showtime)
* The Good Wife (CBS)

The 10 Funniest Comedians From Last Comic Standing Who Didn't Win

10) Ralphie May 
Season: 1
Place Finished: 2nd

Ralphie May was the runner up in the inaugural season of Last Comic Standing thanks to the no-talent ass clown who barely had enough material to fill a half hour set Dat Phan. Two years after Dat Phan won Last Comic Standing, he actually played his set at my freshman orientation and he used the exact same unfunny jokes at my orientation that he used on the show. I guess that's why Ralphie May claims people keep coming up to him on the street saying he should have won. If it was the choice between May or Dat Phan, yes, my choice would also have gone for Ralphie May, but truthfully, I would have liked to seen another comedian win it all (which you'll see later on this list). Since almost winning Last Comic Standing, Ralphie May has filmed FIVE stand up specials (two of which you can currently stream on Netflix) as well as appearing on Vh1's Celebrity Fit Club.

9) Myq Kaplan
Season: 7
Place Finished: 5th

Myq Kaplan is a (pretentious) gay hipster with a sharp wit and hilarious jokes. OK, so he's not actually gay (if you really want to learn about his sexual perversions and his polygamy I highly recommend you download Kaplan's interview with Pete Holmes on the You Made It Weird podcast now on iTunes) but he uses they way he looks and your stereotype of him to his advantage. Kaplan has an extremely cynical and dark view of the world and he uses to that bring out the worst laughter inside of you. Lastly, unfortunately I can't find an embedable clip, but I urge you all to check out his bit about books based upon movies.