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North Hollywood, Calif.—Nobody had more fun at the 68th Emmy Awards nominations event than Anthony Anderson.
The black-ish actor was co-host for the announcements July 14 and had the pleasure of reading off his own name first for the nominees for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
"Hi mama, I know you're watching," Anderson quipped. "It's not in alphabetical order, is it?"
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The Emmy nominations event always lasts just a few minutes, yet always yields a mountain of news to talk about. FX’s The Americans earned the most audible response from the crowd at the Television Academy’s Wolf Theatre, when both Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys earned their first lead drama actor nominations, and the series itself picked up its first nomination in the Outstanding Drama Series category, after four years on the air.
Anderson’s black-ish picked up its first nomination as well—something the actor screamed to the rooftops when it was announced—for Outstanding Comedy Series, joining Master of None and Mr. Robot among other first-time series nominees.
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Game of Thrones once again locked down the most nominations overall (23), but limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (22) and Fargo (18) weren’t far behind. Three-time Emmy winner Laurie Metcalf earned multiple nominations herself: one for the lead category for Getting On, one for guest actress in The Big Bang Theory, and another for guest actress in a drama for Horace and Pete.
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HBO racked up 126 nominations in 2015, and this year saw that number fall off to 94. That was still good enough to far outpace every other outlet, with FX Networks at No. 2 with 56 (up from 38 in 2015).
Netflix, meanwhile, was No. 3, with 54 nominations, up from 34 in 2015. NBC matched its 41 nominations from 2015 for the No. 4 slot, while ABC was No. 5 with 35 (down from 42). Amazon—showing the Academy’s continued appreciation of non-traditional outlets—pulled in 16 nominations, up from 12 in 2015.
“From favorites like Game of Thrones, Veep, and House of Cards to nominations newcomers like black-ish, Master of None, The Americans and Mr. Robot, television has never been more impactful in its storytelling, sheer breadth of series and quality of performances by an incredibly diverse array of talented performers,” said Academy chair and CEO Bruce Rosenblum.
