Story highlights
- The Emmy nominations were Thursday
- "Game of Thrones" earned 23 nominations
(CNN)Nominations for the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were announced Thursday morning, as "Black-ish" star Anthony Anderson and "Gilmore Girls" star Lauren Graham announced 12 categories.
"The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" proved to be more than just a pop culture obsession, scoring Emmy noms for stars Cuba Gooding Jr. and Courtney B. Vance in the outstanding actor in a miniseries category, Sarah Paulson for lead actress and for best limited series.
All told the fictionalized version of the famous case scored 22 Emmy nominations, but failed to top HBO's "Game of Thrones," which came in with 23.
The choices for outstanding drama series looked familiar with "Game of Thrones," "Better Call Saul," "Downton Abbey," "Homeland," "House of Cards" and "Mr. Robot" while fans were thrilled with this year's inclusion of "The Americans."
Kyle Chandler, Rami Malek, Bob Odenkirk, Matthew Rhys, Liev Schreiber and Kevin Spacey received nominations for outstanding actor in a drama series while Claire Danes, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson, Tatiana Maslany, Keri Russell and Robin Wright will vie for lead actress.
This year's announcer Anderson was especially effusive as his name was called as a nominee for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series along with Aziz Ansari, Will Forte, William H. Macy, Thomas Middleditch and Jeffrey Tambor.
"Hi mama," Anderson yelled."I know you are watching!"
His show "Black-ish" was also nomimated in the outstanding comedy series category, joining "Master of None," "Modern Family," "Silicon Valley," "Transparent," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" and "Veep."
Some expected faces failed to make the cut.
Julianna Margulies was a sentimental favorite to be nominated for her portrayal of Alicia Florrick on "The Good Wife" given that the series. She was not nominated, despite winning twice before in the lead actress category.
Likewise previous winner Uzo Aduba was shut out for her role in Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black."
"The Daily Show," which swept the Emmys for years when Jon Stewart was at the helm, was not nominated for outstanding talk show.
And "UnREAL," Lifetime's loosely-veiled drama about what goes on behind the scenes of a reality dating show like "The Bachelor," did not seal its praise from fans and critics alike with a nomination; nor did The CW finally crack the Emmy-sphere despite much buzz about its quirky comedy "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," whose star and creator, Rachel Bloom, won a Golden Globe last awards season.
CNN received 9 nominations, including 5 for "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown."
This year is the 70th anniversary of the Television Academy, which has had a history of nominating some of the same series and actors year after year (hello "Modern Family"). The full list of Emmy nominations can be found at Emmys.com.
The Emmy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will air on ABC September 18.
