Tatiana Maslany, who plays Sarah Manning (and Alison, Cosima, Helena, Rachel, etc.) on BBCA's "Orphan Black," was not nominated for an Emmy award this morning. Before hearing from the critics why this pretty much invalidates the Best Actress category this year, take a look:
The Toronto Sun leads the prosecution:
Emmy Award voters must have broken their clickers.
Had they been able to change the channel every once in a while, they might have run across a Canadian actress named Tatiana Maslany and a show called Orphan Black.
Jokes about broken clickers aside, maybe this actually is a U.S. channel problem.
In Canada, Orphan Black airs on Space, which has a far higher profile in our country, comparatively speaking, than Orphan Black's U.S. network, BBC America, does in the States.
And it also must be noted that Maslany's category – lead actress in a drama – was particularly competitive this year. Keri Russell of The Americans and Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men didn't make the cut, either.
Still, this sucks, Canada.
American critics are disappointed too. Insider daily Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman thinks this shows bigger problems in ATAS:
This is not one of those years when Emmy voters get forgiveness on their oversights simply because they seemed to be progressive in a few categories. That's because the rubber-stamping seemed especially gratuitous and the Big Mistakes seemed more prominent and damning.
Tasked with celebrating and rewarding the achievements from within its own industry, Emmy voters continue to come off as half-involved, behind-the-times clock watchers instead of guardians. It's as if the admittedly daunting task of actively sampling the ever-changing content of their own makes them crumble before even making an effort.
I mean, even by the low bar of Emmy standards, 2014 is a real omnishambles.
If you're paying attention at all, Tatiana Maslany from BBC America's Orphan Black is not a dark horse contender anymore. She should have been a slam dunk, not a snub for the second year running. Overlooking The Americans and The Good Wife as best drama is almost startling. In a world where Downton Abbey is going to get a slot, add Masters Of Sex and The Walking Dead to that list.
Part of the yearly problem with the Emmys is the institutional habit of returning an ungodly percentage of past winners into the nomination ranks despite downturns in series quality or superior acting performances from competitors.
And here are just a few things my friends are saying on Facebook:
- Tatiana Maslany was not nominated for an Emmy. ALL AWARDS ARE NOW INVALID TO THE END OF TIME.
- WHY IS TATIANA MASLANY NOT ON THIS LIST? Stupid ATAS.
- I love tofu, esp tofu tacos!
(That last one may not have been, strictly speaking, on point...)
Of course, the Emmys haven't influenced my TV viewing since...well, ever, so I'm not really sure it matters. But what a stupid omission.