The 70th annual Primetime Emmy Award nominations were announced Thursday morning. While we were thrilled to see some of our faves — like "This Is Us" stars Milo Ventimiglia and Sterling K. Brown — nominated in their categories, we also noted some happy surprises — and shocking snubs.
Now, like clockwork, it's time to give our unsolicited feedback to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on this year's choices. Ready?
Anthony Bourdain, Sandra Oh and more surprises
Although bittersweet, it was nice to see late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain honored with a posthumous nomination in the informational series or special category for his work on CNN’s "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations." All told, the show earned six nominations for 2018, five of them in Creative Arts Emmy categories.
"Killing Eve" star Sandra Oh made Emmy history Thursday morning when she became the first actress of Asian ancestry nominated in the lead actress in a drama category. (Oh previously scored five supporting actress nominations during her decade-long run as Dr. Cristina Yang on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.”)
NBC's "Jesus Christ Superstar" also earned some potentially historic nods. Not only was the live musical nominated for outstanding live variety special, its star, John Legend, was nominated too — and if Legend takes home an Emmy, he'll enter the exclusive EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) club.
But the actor and musician isn't alone. The musical's composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyricist, Tim Rice, were also nominated — and their wins would make them EGOTs, too.
Rachel Brosnahan, star of Amazon's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" picked up a well-deserved nomination in the outstanding actress in a comedy category. Brosnahan, niece of late fashion designer Kate Spade, earned raves as 1950s housewife-turned-stand-up comedian "Midge" Maisel in season one of the offbeat series.
Issa Rae picked up her first Emmy nod for outstanding actress in a comedy for her work on HBO's hilarious "Insecure," which she also created.
Also, hats off to "Glee" alum Darren Criss, who earned a lead actor nomination for his riveting portrayal of real-life serial killer Andrew Cunanan in FX’s "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story."
Hardly a surprise, but it was nice to see "Game of Thrones" back in the running. Because of the timing of its previous season, HBO's dystopian dragon drama missed the cutoff date for 2017 Emmy consideration. This year, "Game of Thrones" led the pack with 22 nominations.
And, let's hear it for Netflix. The streaming giant pulled off a big coup this year and broke HBO's 17-year streak as the most-nominated network. Netflix scored an impressive 112 nominations.
Now, for the snubs
The hit "Roseanne" revival certainly ended on a sour note — what with ABC canceling the series after star Roseanne Barr tweeted a racist remark —so perhaps it's no surprise the top-ranked comedy and its actors earned just a couple Emmy nods (one for Laurie Metcalf's portrayal of Roseanne's sister, Jackie, and one for outstanding multi-camera editing for a comedy series). Entertainment Weekly reports ABC actually pulled the show’s Emmy campaign after it axed the series. Still, we were sad to see Sara Gilbert looked over for her terrific portrayal of a grown-up Darlene Conner struggling to raise her two kids.
OK, we get the absence of "Roseanne," but no Emmy love for "Will & Grace" in the outstanding comedy category, or for stars, Eric McCormack, Debra Messing or the hilarious Sean Hayes? We were glad to see Megan Mullally get a supporting actress nod.
Last year, we griped about Mandy Moore's exclusion from the leading actress in a drama category, and we're here to do it again! The "This Is Us" actress delivers every week as the Pearson family matriarch — even playing her character at different ages. What's a girl got to do to get Emmy to pay attention?
This year, the hilarious Julia-Louis Dreyfus' name was missing from the lead actress in a comedy category — an almost inconceivable omission. But the beloved actress, who's swept the category every year since 2011, wasn't being snubbed. Her absence was due to the final season of "Veep" being delayed while she bravely battled breast cancer.
"Modern Family" fans were likely shocked to see the veteran ABC comedy missing from this year's Emmy list. 2018 marks the first time the show, which debuted in 2009, wasn't nominated for outstanding comedy. All of the show's stars were also snubbed.
Personally, we hoped to see talented Alison Brie pick up a lead actress nod for her breakout performance as faux Russian wrestler Ruth "Zoya the Destroya" Wilde in Netflix's cult-hit comedy "GLOW." But nyet! Still, we were happy to see Brie's co-star Betty Gilpin earn a supporting actress nod, and the show itself picked up a nomination, too.
As for late-night hosts, sharp and funny "Late Night" host Seth Meyers was inexplicably left out in the cold for a second year in the row.
The full nomination list has us excited. Who'll take home the coveted statue in 2018? Tune in to the 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards with hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che September 17 on NBC to find out.