The 12 Most Intriguing 2013 Emmy Ballot Decisions

ARE YOU READY THE EMMYS? Yeah, me neither, but if you’re ever going to feel optimistic about the ceremony that’s given Jon Cryer approximately 391 trophies over the past decade, now’s as good a time as any. That’s because the Nominating Ballots have been posted online, so you can pray/sacrifice your youngest son that Nick Offerman will be nominated. As will Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany. And Archer. Anyone on Archer will do.

Here’s a look at but a few of the more interesting decisions from the Emmy ballots that went out yesterday. Remember, we won’t know who actually made the final cut until July 18th, so there’s hope for Bob’s Burgers yet.

1. American Dad! wisely submitted “Blood Crieth Unto Heaven,” a.k.a. The Patrick Stewart ACTING episode, for “Outstanding Animated Program,” while Bob’s Burgers and South Park believe “O.T.: The Outside Toilet” and “Raising the Bar,” respectively, give them their best chance at winning the award.

2. No Archer in the animated categories, but the FX series does appear in Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for “Fugue and Riffs,” alongside Arrested Development (“Blockheads”), Community (“Basic Human Anatomy,” “Heroic Origins,” “Intro To Felt Surrogacy”), Happy Endings (“Cazsh Dummy Spillionaires”), It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (“Charlie’s Mom Has Cancer,” “Frank’s Back In Business,” “Reynolds vs. Reynolds: The Cereal Defense,” “The Gang Dines Out,” “The Gang Gets Analyzed”), The League (“The Breastalyzer”), Louie (“Daddy’s Girlfriend: Part 1”), New Girl (“Cooler,” and a bunch of other episodes that aren’t “Cooler”), The Office (“Finale” and “Livin’ the Dream”), Parks and Recreation (“Bailout,” “Halloween Surprise,” “Leslie and Ben,” “Ron and Diane,” “Two Parties”), 30 Rock (“Hogcock,” “Last Lunch”), and about six episodes of Veep.

3. As for Outstanding Writing for a Drama: The Americans (“Pilot,” “Gregory,” “Only You,” “Safe House”), nine episodes of Boardwalk Empire, seven episodes of Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey (“Episode 4”), Game of Thrones (“The Rains of Castamere”), four episodes of Hannibal, six episodes of Homeland, ten episodes of Justified, eight episodes of Mad Men (including the very recent “The Crash”), Orphan Black (“Natural Selection”), Rectify (“Always There”), six episodes of Sons of Anarchy, and nine episodes of The Walking Dead.

4. American Horror Story: Asylum once again appears in the miniseries categories.

5. All the comedies you expect to be nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series — Archer, Arrested Development, Louie, Parks and Recreation, etc. — are there, with one mini-exception: no Eastbound & Down. No Drama surprises.

6. Some quick hits: Parks and Recreation‘s Adam Scott and Rob Lowe for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series, while Nick Offerman’s in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category.

7. Jake Johnson is considered Lead Actor on New Girl, while Max Greenfield and Lamorne Morris are Supporting.

8. Portia de Rossi and Jason Bateman are in the Lead categories for Arrested Development, while Will Arnett, Michael Cera, and David Cross submitted for Supporting (as did Charlie Day, who will never even get nominated, which is a goddamn national tragedy on the scale of Steve Carell never winning for The Office).

9. Sadly, Tatiana Maslany didn’t get six nominations for playing six different clones on Orphan Black — she’s just there once, for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series. Also appearing in that category: Elisabeth Moss, though not Jessica Paré (she’s Supporting) for their work on Mad Men. Probably means she’s dead.

10. There are about a million notable Guest Performer potential nominees, but I’d like to highlight David Lynch for Louie and John Slattery (and about 10 others) for Arrested Development, as well as Guillermo del Toro’s brief It’s Always Sunny performance. As for SNL: Louis C.K., Kevin Hart, Bruno Mars, Martin Short, Justin Timberlake, Melissa McCarthy, and Kristen Wiig were apparently considered the season’s “best” hosts.

11. Don’t worry, everyone: “Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor…Liz & Dick” for Outstanding Lead Actress In a Miniseries or a Movie, competing against Top of the Lake‘s Moss.

12. Only eight Game of Thrones actors were submitted — Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey, Natalie Dormer, and Sibel Kekilli, who plays Shae — and they’re all in the Supporting categories, which comes as a pretty big surprise. No love for Charles Dance.

(Via Emmys)

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