Voting begins today for the 68th Emmy Awards and with that is the release of the official ballots those nominations will be based on. Covering all aspects of television from directing to acting to sound and animation, the ballots often reveal the strategy of a studio, network or individual based on an episode submission and category placement. This year is no different and I’ve zeroed in on some strange and even unfortunate ones. Sometimes there are contractual obligations for submitting but sometimes it just seems foolish. Shows that submit, say, a single episode for Writing (as black-ish did) stand a very good shot at a nomination vs a show that submits too many to choose from (as Girls did, submitting six). The Americans, which was nominated in Writing last year, smartly submitted a single episode (the season finale).
Here is a handful of those submissions:
PERFORMERS
-Chris Messina (The Mindy Project) – Lead Actor in a Comedy Series instead of Supporting.
-Noah Galvin (The Real O’Neals) – Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series instead of Lead while co-star Jay Ferguson is in Lead (instead of Supporting).
-Brett Dalton, Elizabeth Henstridge, Chloe Bennett (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) – all submitted in Lead instead of Supporting.
-Matt Bomer (American Horror Story: Hotel) – Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie instead of Supporting.
-Jamie Lee Curtis (Scream Queens) – Lead Actress in a Comedy Series instead of Supporting.
-Lili Taylor (American Crime) – Lead Actress in a Drama Series instead of Supporting.
-Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live) – Listed together, not separately for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
SERIES
– Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp submitted in Comedy Series and not Limited Series.
– The X-Files submitted in Drama Series and not Limited Series.
– Horace & Pete submitted in Drama Series and not Limited Series.
WRITING
Fear the Walking Dead submitted 11 of its 16 episodes. Ash vs. Evil Dead submitted eight, as did Modern Family, a two-time winner in this category. Shameless, Better Call Saul, House of Cards all submitted seven. Blunt Talk submitted six.
DIRECTING
Better Call Saul submitted a whopping nine of its ten episodes (sorry, Colin Bucksey, director of “Inflatable”), Survivor’s Remorse submitted seven, as did Vinyl (including the Martin Scorsese-directed pilot). Ash vs. Evil Dead, Girls submit six episodes.
Here are the full ballots in every Emmy category at your fingertips. Expect lots of conversation in the next month before the July 14th announcement of the 68th Emmy Nominations.
2016 Emmy Awards Nominating Ballots
| Animation | |
| Art Direction | |
| Casting | |
| Cinematography | |
| Commercial | |
| Costumes | |
| Directing | |
| Documentary/Nonfiction Program | |
| Hairstyling/Makeup | |
| Host – Reality/Reality-Competition | |
| Interactive Program | |
| Lighting Design/Lighting Direction | |
| Main Title Design | |
| Nonfiction Cinematography | |
| Nonfiction Directing | |
| Nonfiction Picture Editing | |
| Nonfiction Sound Editing | |
| Nonfiction Sound Mixing | |
| Nonfiction Writing | |
| Performer | |
| Picture Editing | |
| Program | |
| Reality Cinematography | |
| Reality Picture Editing | |
| Sound Editing | |
| Sound Mixing | |
| Stunt Coordination | |
| Special Visual Effects | |
| Technical Direction | |
| Writing |