The Emmys love Louis C.K.
Louis C.K. this year earned more Emmy nominations for an individual in a single year than anyone before him with nine — covering his FX series (Louie), his HBO special (Oh My God) and his hosting stint on SNL — and honoring him as an actor, writer, director, editor and guest actor.
Tina Fey didn’t do half bad herself, though, with seven nominations — six for 30 Rock and one for co-hosting the Golden Globes.
One of Fey’s 30 Rock categories: Writing the lyrics to the “Rural Juror” song that Jane Krakowski (as Jenna Maroney) sang to close out the series finale.
The most nominated comedy in 2013 (with 13 nominations) is 30 Rock, which aired its series finale in 2012. It hasn’t won an Emmy since 2009, despite 41 nominations from 2010-2012.
The only thing the Emmys love more than Louis C.K. and 30 Rock these days is Saturday Night Live. SNL has earned 171 nominations over its 38 seasons, more than any other series. SNL also manages to earn award consideration as both a VARIETY series (on the whole, and for technical categories) and a COMEDY series (for the actors and actresses). Four hosts from the 38th season earned nominations: C.K., Justin Timberlake, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig.
Portlandia, an IFC comedy based on sketches and vignettes, is considered a VARIETY series; Louie, an FX comedy based on vignettes, is considered a COMEDY series.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, first eligible for an Emmy in 2006, only earned its first Emmy nomination this year. It’s for Outstanding Stunt Coordination.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who won lead actress Emmy last year for her role on HBO’s Veep, earned her 14th acting nomination in comedy this year (Veep, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Seinfeld).
The Neighbors, a rookie sitcom on ABC about aliens living among us in New Jersey, is up for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the song, “More Or Less The Kind Of Thing You May Or May Not Possibly See On Broadway.” Its composer, Alan Menken, already has won a Grammy, Oscar and Tony. EGOT alert!
File this under circumstantial evidence that webseries are as much TV as TV is TV:
Arrested Development, available only on Netflix for its fourth season of episodes, received three nominations.
The category, Outstanding Special Class — Short-Form Live-Action Entertainment Programs, makes room for Super Bowl halftime programming, webseries such as Funny or Die’s “Between Two Ferns” (with Zach Galifianakis) and TV series that started out as webseries (Childrens Hospital, now on Adult Swim; and Burning Love, from Yahoo! to E!).
Similarly, the Outstanding Special Class — Short-Form Nonfiction Programs category nominated Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee” webseries, putting it up against bonus content from sources as disparate as 30 Rock, The Office, Jay Leno’s Garage, Top Chef, and “Remembering 9/11” for the History Channel. Never forget.
And for completists looking for who got recognized and who got snubbed…
The following comedy programs received individual or series nominations this year:
Adventure Time, Arrested Development, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, Between Two Ferns, The Big Bang Theory, Bob’s Burgers, Burning Love, Childrens Hospital, Clarence, The Colbert Report, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Conan, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Enlightened, Episodes, The Exes, Family Guy, Girls, Glee, Hot in Cleveland, House of Lies, How I Met Your Mother, iCarly, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Key & Peele, Kung Fu Panda, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Late Show with David Letterman, The Looney Tunes Show, Louie, Louis C.K.: Oh My God, Mel Brooks Strikes Back!, Mike & Molly, Modern Family, The Neighbors, Night of Too Many Stars, Nurse Jackie, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, Real Time with Bill Maher, Regular Show, Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic, Robot Chicken, Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, South Park, 30 Rock, Two And A Half Men, 2 Broke Girls, Veep, Workaholics