What does it take to earn an Emmy nomination? Judging by this morning's announcement of nominees for the 69th Emmy Awards, it helps to be brand new, past your prime, a prestige cable show, a streaming phenom, a broadcast hit, totally expected, lucky to be included and pretty great.
In other words, the 2017 Emmy nominations are all over the map. Which may be appropriate, considering how sprawling the TV world is now.
Going in, the big question for 2017 was what shows might fill the gaps left by previous powerhouses as "Game of Thrones" and "Downton Abbey." The delayed Season 7 "Game of Thrones" premiere on July 16 makes it ineligible, since shows had to be released between June 1, 2016 and May 31, 2017 to be considered. "Downton Abbey" ended its final season in March 2016.
So, what shows and performers benefited from all this newly freed-up awards real estate? Apparently, Emmy voters were eager to fill HBO's "Game of Thrones" gap by going to "Westworld." The highly ambitious -- and highly uneven -- drama about a futuristic theme park that put high-paying guests into Old West settings made hay during its first year of Emmy eligibility. The freshman drama rounded up 22 nominations.
It was also a winning year for shows that went all-in for satirizing the 2016-2017 political scene. "Saturday Night Live" tied "Westworld" for most nominations, racking up a total of 22.
While cable shows like "Westworld" continued their nomination domination, streaming shows keep making inroads, as the 18 nominations earned by Netflix freshman drama "Stranger Things" indicates.
But the longtime Emmy habit of shunning dramas carried on broadcast TV - the over-the-air likes of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox - was shaken up by "This is Us."
NBC's hit first-season drama came racing out of the gate, with high-profile nominations for best drama, best drama series lead actor nominations for Sterling K. Brown and Milo Ventimiglia, and a supporting actress in a drama nod for Chrissy Metz, among a total of 11 nominations.
Here's a look at some of the smart choices, dumb picks, surprises, snubs and Oregon-related nominees among the 2017 Emmy crop.
Hooray for new faces: This year is unusual in how many first-season shows were recognized. In addition to "Westworld," "This is Us," and "Stranger Things," the best drama series nominees included Hulu's freshman series, "The Handmaid's Tale" and Netflix's "The Crown." In the comedy category, it's terrific to see the Donald Glover's innovative FX series "Atlanta" do so well.
Boo for the same old same old: That best drama series list also included Netflix's "House of Cards," the political drama that, after previous nominations, wasn't included last year. Why did it make the cut in 2017? Because of eerie similarities to what's going on in Washington, D.C.? Must be, because while "House of Cards" has its entertaining moments, its most recent season was far from its best.
And isn't "Modern Family" past its prime? Yes, the cast (including Oregon's own Ty Burrell, who earned another supporting actor in a comedy nomination this year) is always game. But the show hasn't been in top form for years. Emmy voters giving it yet another best comedy series nomination feels like force of habit rather than recognition of achievement.
Oregon connections: But let's not take Ty Burrell's accomplishments for granted. His "Modern Family" nomination is Burrell's eighth year in a row to be honored. He won in 2014. That's an impressive record. Burrell also earned a second nomination this year, as outstanding actor in a short form comedy or drama series for "Boondoggle," a comedy loosely based on Burrell's life, which is available on ABC.com.
"Portlandia" scores again: With its final season coming up in 2018, "Portlandia" showed it can still get Emmy love. The filmed-in-Portland IFC series was again nominated in the outstanding variety sketch series category. It's going up against "Billy On the Street" (TruTv); IFC's "Documentary Now!" (the clever parody that also features "Portlandia" co-creator and costar Fred Armisen); Comedy Central's "Drunk History"; NBC's venerable "Saturday Night Live"; and HBO's "Tracey Ullman's Show."
But that's not all. "Portlandia" also scored in the category of outstanding costumes for variety, nonfiction or reality programming category for the "Carrie Dates a Hunk" episode. Nominees are Amanda Needham, costume designer; Jayme Hansen, assistant costume designer; and Jordan Hamilton, costume supervisor.
"Portlandia" also was nominated in the category of outstanding production design for variety, nonfiction, reality or reality-competition programming, for the "Fred's Cell Phone Company" episode. Nominees are Schuyler Telleen, production designer; and Katherine Isom, set decorator.
Female power: We've said it before, and we'll say it again - while fully developed female characters in movies still tend to be few and far between, TV consistently offers gifted female actors roles worthy of their talents. Emmy voters recognized that this year, with well-deserved nominations for such stellar limited series as FX's "Feud: Bette and Joan," (18 nominations) and HBO's "Big Little Lies" (16 nominations.)
Surprises: Though Louie Anderson won an Emmy as supporting actor in a comedy series for FX's "Baskets" last year, it was still a shock to see Zach Galifianakis nominated for best lead actor in a comedy for the quirky show. Maybe he got extra credit for playing two roles?
It was also a surprise, and a very pleasant one, to see another FX comedy lead among the actress nominees. Pamela Adlon isn't just the star of "Better Things," she's its driving force, and the perceptive comedy is based on her own experiences as a single mother/actress in Los Angeles. "Better Things" is one of TV's most affecting comedies, so it was good to see Adlon recognized.
In other supporting actress categories, it was a bittersweet pleasure to see the late Carrie Fisher nominated as outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for her role as Rob's exasperating mother in Amazon's "Catastrophe."
And Barb lives! Shannon Purser got a surprise nomination as outstanding guess actress in a drama series for playing Barb Holland, the unlucky high schooler in "Stranger Things."
Snubs: This year's Emmy nominations reminded us that, as Heidi Klum says on "Project Runway," one day you're in, and the next day you're out.
Rami Malek, last year's lead actor in a drama series winner, didn't even get a nomination for "Mr. Robot." That's what happens when a series goes from a dynamic first season to a disappointing second one (another example: no Constance Zimmer nomination this year for "UnReal," which stumbled in Season 2.)
"The Americans" finally broke through to be nominated as best drama series last year, but missed out this year after what was arguably a challenging, slower-paced season. At least stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell were again nominated.
As far as drama series go, you couldn't find one more intentionally eccentric than HBO's "The Young Pope." But its star, Jude Law, was amazingly magnetic and subtle. It's too bad there wasn't room for him.
And while Bill Maher got in hot water recently after making racially insensitive comments, his HBO show, "Real Time With Bill Maher," still earned a nomination in the variety talk series category, while Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Trevor Noah" didn't. Even more surprising, perhaps, was "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" getting the cold shoulder.
It was a great year for women's roles, which may be why Claire Danes missed out on another nomination for Showtime's "Homeland." Also failing to score nominations were HBO stars Issa Rae ("Insecure"), Sarah Jessica Parker ("Divorce") and Lena Dunham ("Girls.")
Danes may not have been nominated, but her costar, Mandy Patinkin, got a best supporting actor in a drama nomination for "Homeland." This was a slot that could have - and should have - gone to Michael McKean, who had a mesmerizing season on AMC's "Better Call Saul."
The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards show will air at 5 p.m. PT on CBS Sunday, Sept. 17. Stephen Colbert will host. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be telecast at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16 on FXX.
For a complete list of 69th Emmy Awards nominees, go to emmys.com.
-- Kristi Turnquist
kturnquist@oregonian.com
503-221-8227
@Kristiturnquist