Surprise: Supporting comedy actors
Louie Anderson (“Baskets”) and Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”) kicked off the night with unexpected wins for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress in a comedy, respectively.
Surprise: Susanne Bier, “The Night Manager”
“The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story” swept basically everything on Emmy night, but in the Best Directing category, in which three of its directors were nominated, AMC’s miniseries beat swiped a crucial win.
Surprise/Snub: “Downton Abbey”
Maggie Smith took home Best Supporting Actress, beating three “Game of Thrones” competitors, but the series itself, once a dominant Emmy player, didn’t win anything else Sunday night, in its last chance at gold.
Snub: “Game of Thrones” actors
“Game of Thrones” may have drawn the most acting nominations in the show’s history this year, but its actors came away empty-handed Sunday night, when they were beaten by Maggie Smith of “Downton Abbey” and Ben Mendelsohn of “Bloodline.”
Surprise: Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black”
Best Actress in a Drama was always going to be a tough race, but “Orphan Black” star Tatiana Maslany definitely pulled off an upset, beating the likes of Robin Wright for “House of Cards” and Viola Davis for “How to Get Away With Murder.”
Surprise: Aziz Ansari, “Master of None”
Ansari and co-writer Alan Yang won Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for a powerful episode of Netflix’s “Master of None,” but the comedian stayed surprisingly mum during the speech, giving the floor to his colleague.
Snub: “Fargo”
While “People v. OJ” was always expected to dominate the miniseries category, most observers assumed Noah Hawley‘s excellent show would get something — perhaps Jean Smart for Best Supporting Actress — but it came away statue-less.
Surprise: Jeb Bush
A former presidential candidate showing up as a chauffeur is one way to start the show that no one expected. Punctuating his appearance with the beaten Bush declaring “Jeb exclamation point!” elevated it from surprise to legend.
Snub: “House of Cards”
The fourth season of the series garnered 13 nominations in virtually all of the major categories, including Best Drama, but the cast and crew of Netflix’s flagship show came away weighing the same as they entered Sunday night.
