The Biggest 2014 Emmy Snubs And Surprises

Why This Year's Emmy Snubs Hurt REALLY Bad

The 2014 Emmy nominations are in, and while a lot of the nominees were total shoo-ins, there were also a handful of unexpected surprises. This year was exceptionally overcrowded in the Drama categories, especially when it comes to the leading women. There's simply not enough room for everyone.

Here are the biggest snubs and surprises of this year's Emmy nominees, and all those twists that got the Interwebs all riled up.

DRAMA SERIES

  • "The Good Wife" -- Twitter was pretty upset following the Emmy announcements that this CBS drama failed to get any awards recognition in the main Drama category. With a fantastic season of 22 episodes (something the network pushed during campaign season), there was a sense of hope that "The Good Wife" would break into the race. At least it got four nominations in Lead and Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor and Guest Actor.
  • "The Walking Dead" -- The AMC zombie drama has only hung out in the Best Makeup and Special Effects categories for the past few years, but it felt like maybe, just maybe, it could have a shot at Outstanding Drama this year. Unfortunately not.
  • "The Blacklist" -- The James Spader series was one of the best dramas on network TV this year, but clearly the network shows aren't breaking into the Drama race this year.
  • "The Americans" -- Another FX drama to get totally shut out of the awards, "The Americans" has proven to be one of the best shows on the network. It only managed to grab another Guest Actress nom for Margo Martindale.

LEAD ACTRESS DRAMA

  • Tatiana Maslany ("Orphan Black") -- Everyone was rooting for Maslany this year, especially after she was snubbed at last year's Emmys for the first season of BBC America's "Orphan Black." But seriously, someone needs to give this woman a nomination -- she plays enough characters to fill the entire Lead Actress category.
  • Elisabeth Moss ("Mad Men") -- Moss has been nominated for the past five years for "Mad Men," so she seemed an easy shoo-in this year. Competition is only getting more tough in this overflowing category of talented actresses though, and clearly someone had to be booted.
  • Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order: SVU") -- The lead of "Law & Order: SVU" has been nominated eight times for Lead Actress in a Drama and has only won once, in 2006. This year however, was the year that Hargitay deserved a second Emmy the most, as her Olivia Benson endured a series of brutal attacks from a serial rapist throughout the entire season. Hargitay undoubtedly gave her best performances to date in multiple episodes and it's a shame it won't be recognized.
  • Keri Russell ("The Americans") -- Keri Russell looked like a strong contender for Lead Actress this year for "The Americans," especially since the FX drama has yet to get any Emmys recognition beyond a Guest Actress and Main Theme Music noms.

LEAD ACTOR DRAMA

  • Michael Sheen ("Masters of Sex") -- The Showtime drama did get recgonized for its first season with noms for Lead Actress Lizzy Caplan and two Guest performances, but what about star Michael Sheen? What's going on, TV Academy?
  • Damian Lewis ("Homeland") -- Wait, you're seriously not going to give Lewis a nomination for his (spoiler alert) final season? We know the third season was nowhere near the strongest, but following two nominations and a win, at least give him a nice goodbye.
  • James Spader ("The Blacklist") -- As we said above, "The Blacklist" didn't get any Emmy love this year. Yet after Spader's Golden Globe nomination for the series this year, we did have a little bit of hope.
  • Matthew Rhys ("The Americans") -- It's a real shame that the series got shut out in all three main categories, including no nomination for Rhys. We'll have to keep hoping for next year.
  • Hugh Dancy ("Hannibal") -- It's unfortunately rather expected that "Hannibal" hasn't gotten any Emmy love, especially for star Hugh Dancy who had a fantastic second season this year. Maybe next time.
  • Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy") -- Hunnam has yet to get a nomination for his six-year (going on seven-) run on FX's "Sons of Anarchy." Maybe The Academy is just pissed that he ditched "Fifty Shades of Grey"?

SUPPORTING ACTRESS DRAMA

  • Emilia Clarke ("Game of Thrones") -- It was a bit of a surprise that Clarke didn't receive a nom for her Daenerys since she's had a rather emotional season on "Game of Thrones" this year, having to lock up her dragons and all. At least co-star Lena Headey got some much deserved Emmy love.
  • Bellamy Young ("Scandal") -- Young had a fantastic season on "Scandal" this year and seemed a likely contender for the Supporting race. At least the series got noms in the Lead Actress and Guest Actor and Actress categories.

SUPPORTING/GUEST ACTOR DRAMA

  • Mads Mikkelsen ("Hannibal") -- We also knew this probably wasn't going to happen due to the unwarranted lack of Emmy love for "Hannibal." Can we at least give him the Emmy for Best Dressed Character?
  • Charles Dance ("Game of Thrones") -- As Tywin Lannister, Charles Dance is one of the best parts of "Game of Thrones," and a character we love to hate. Out of any season, he definitely deserved recognition for this one.
  • Pedro Pascal ("Game of Thrones") -- It's incredibly shocking that Pascal didn't get a Guest Actor nomination for his run as Prince Oberyn Martell on "GoT" this year. We're not sure who was worse to him at this point, The Mountain or The Academy.
  • Pablo Schreiber ("Law & Order: SVU") -- "SVU" hardly gets recognized at the Emmys anymore, but Schreiber's multiple-episode run as psycho serial rapist William Lewis should've been an exception. His performances were so great that it actually caused fans to actively express their hatred for the actor via Twitter.

COMEDY SERIES

  • "Parks and Recreation" -- The NBC comedy has only be nominated once for Outstanding Comedy Series, in 2011. The show had a great sixth season and continued to make us laugh over the most mundane subjects and careers, yet The Academy still didn't want to recognize it. Leslie Knope never gives up hope, and neither will we for its final chance at a nomination next year.
  • "The Mindy Project" -- Um ... why has "The Mindy Project" never received any Emmy nominations? Hey, Television Academy, it's really not cool that you get the creator, writer and star of the show to wake up at the crack of dawn to announce your nominations, but not include her or her series in them.
  • "Girls" -- Lena Dunham's HBO has been nominted for Oustanding Comedy Series for its past two seasons, but got snubbed this year. It also got snubbed in the Comedy Writing and Directing caterogies, both of which it was nominated for in previous years. At least Dunham grabbed a Lead Actress nom and Adam Driver got another Supporting.
  • "Broad City" -- Okay, we know this was a major longshot wish, but still, the Amy Poehler-executive-produced Comedy Central series was one of (if not the) funniest shows on TV this year. In our dream world, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson take all the Emmys.
  • "Inside Amy Schumer" -- We know this is another unlikely nom, but that doesn't mean we're not upset about it getting snubbed. Wait, we might have to take back what we said above because Schumer's show might actually be the funniest thing on TV ... it's a close tie.

LEAD ACTRESS COMEDY

  • Mindy Kaling ("The Mindy Project") -- As we said: Not cool, guys, not cool.
  • Amy Schumer ("Inside Amy Schumer") -- Yeah, yeah, we know Amy Schumer would likely never get an Emmy nom for her Comedy Central series, but we're still bummed.

LEAD ACTOR COMEDY

  • Chris Messina ("Mindy Project") -- This is us further ranting about the unacceptable lack of love for "The Mindy Project" at the Emmys. Come on, guys!
  • Andy Samberg ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine") -- Samberg won Best Actor in a Comedy for his Detective Jake Peralta at the Globes this year. Where's his Emmy nom?

SUPPORTING/GUEST ACTRESS COMEDY

  • Yael Stone ("Orange Is the New Black") -- The cast of Netflix's "OITNB" got insane amount of much-deserved love this year, with Taylor Schilling, Kate Mulgrew and a handful of Guest Actress noms. Yael Stone was the only one left out, but there's still hope for next year. Stone's Lorna Morello was one of the highlights of Season 2 and had one of the best episodes of the entire series yet.
  • Natasha Lyonne, Uzo Aduba & Laverne Cox ("Orange Is the New Black") -- BEST SURPRISE EVER! These amazing ladies all got nominated for Guest Actress in a Comedy and we couldn't be happier (except the above comment). It will definitely be a tough race for this one, especially since they're up against Tina Fey and Melissa McCarthy, but we're hoping at least one of them takes home a statue.
  • Zosia Mamet ("Girls") -- Mamet has yet to be recognized for her hilarious Shoshanna on "Girls." This year's Season 3 gave Shoshanna a handful of shining moments (e.g. her bitch rant at Hannah at the beach house), and we really would've loved to see her nominated.

SUPPORTING/GUEST ACTOR COMEDY

  • Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother") -- Neil Patrick Harris was nominated four times for the CBS comedy, however not since 2010. We at least thought he'd get some love for the finale season of "HIMYM" this year, but maybe the Academy is just upset over that ending.

LEAD ACTRESS MINISERIES/MOVIE

  • Kristen Wiig ("The Spoils of Babylon") -- Wait, did Kristen Wiig just get an Emmy nomination for something non-"SNL"? Yes. Yes, she did.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS MINI/MOVIE

  • Allison Tolman ("Fargo") -- FX's "Fargo" got a lot of deserved love this year, with nominations for Best Miniseries, two for Lead Actor and one for Supporting Actor. We're glad to see Tolman get noticed for her incredible Molly Solverson.

OVERALL YAYS

  • "Game of Thrones" -- It's not really a surprise that the HBO series is totally claiming the Iron Throne of the Emmys this year with 19 nominations. But still, it's an awesome achievement and we definitely won't be shocked if it wins the most awards.
  • "American Horror Story: Coven" -- Last year, Ryan Murphy's "AHS: Asylum" dominated the Emmys with 17 nominations. The third season of the horror anthology got the same amount this year, but still fell behind to "Game of Thrones." Regardless, we're glad to see it grab a ton of Actress noms, five to be exact.

The 66th annual Primetime Emmy Awards air Monday, August 25, at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC.

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