The 66th annual Emmy nominations are in, and Netflix made waves for the second year in a row, garnering an impressive 31 nominations. The lofty number more than doubles the streaming titan’s historic 2013 entrance into the Emmy race, in which it raked in 14 nominations to become the first Web-based service to be nominated for its original programming.
House of Cards was again the breadwinner for the service, pulling in 13 nominations this year for its second season, while Netflix’s other ‘it’ show, Orange is the New Black, nipped closely at its heels with 12 nominations. Ricky Gervais also pulled a nod for best actor for his Netflix-commandeered series, Derek. The show is considered a Netflix original, though it initially aired on Brittain’s Channel 4 network.
Other notable entries include a whopping (though not surprising) 99 nominations for HBO, which easily ranked at the top of the field, as usual. The network’s flagship series, Game of Thrones pulled in 19 nominations to lead the pack, while the hit new comedy Silicon Valley, which skewers the opulent and surreal world of the San Francisco tech hub of the same name, also did well with 5 nominations of its own. True Detective also struck gold, pulling 12 nominations, with best actor nods for both Matthew McConaughey, and Woody Harrelson.
HBO’s numbers were down by 9 nominations over last year’s total, however, thanks to more competition in the field, including a massive haul of 45 nominations for FX. The number puts the network up by 20 nominations from last year, with help from its new sleeping giant, Fargo which cleared 18 nominations on its own- the same total, interestingly enough as the entire haul for FX’s sister network, FOX.
Netflix shined today even beyond its original content, thanks to its hosting of Breaking Bad, which gained new life after being re-mastered for streaming on the site in blazing 4K resolution. The Shakespearean drama drew 7 nominations in its last year of eligibility, including a sixth nomination for Bryan Cranston for his masterful performance as the ultimate bad breaker, science teacher/meth-empire kingpin, Walter White.
But perhaps the most telling number of the day for Web-based content isn’t 31, it’s zero – as in the number of Emmy nominations awarded to either of Netflix’s primary streaming competitors, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video. While both services have dipped into the waters of original content, neither have had success on par with Netflix. And seeing as Netflix dominates both services when it comes to streaming traffic as well, today’s news only underlines its supremacy in the field.
Whatever your thoughts about the legitimacy of Web-based original content, one thing is certain: for now, Netflix is the undisputed king.
