10 surprises & snubs of the Emmy nominations

Nominations for the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced Thursday morning, and as usual they were met with a mix of groans and glee from TV fans.

While some series got some much-deserved love (“Orange Is the New Black”!), other choices had us scratching our heads as Emmy voters opted for tired repeat nominees over some deserving contenders.

Here’s our list of the Emmy nominations’ biggest surprises and snubs.

Surprises

‘Game of Thrones’

Despite Emmy voters’ usual ignorance of genre fare, the HBO fantasy epic came away with the most nominations — 19 — of any program. Guess it’s hard to deny the show’s 18 million weekly viewers.

Ricky Gervais for ‘Derek’

Really? We’re fans of Gervais, but the dark comedy draws a fraction of the buzz of other Netflix series like “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black,” and for a comedy, isn’t that funny.

‘Silicon Valley’

Don’t say Emmy voters aren’t hip. The freshman HBO comedy — which is full of techie industry satire and dick jokes — took one of the coveted comedy series slots.

We’re just sad the late Christopher Evan Welch, who played eccentric billionaire Peter Gregory, didn’t get a nod for his excellent work on the show.

‘Key & Peele’ and ‘Inside Amy Schumer’

They may not have cracked the outstanding variety series category (that was always a long shot) but it was a pleasant surprise to see these two Comedy Central shows — some of the funniest on TV — get nominated for outstanding writing in a variety series.

‘Orange Is the New Black’

The ladies of Lichtfield received a lot of love from the Emmys, with nods for Taylor Schilling as lead actress in a comedy series, Kate Mulgrew for supporting actress, and taking three of the six guest actress slots for Uzo Aduba, Natasha Lyonne and Laverne Cox — on top of an outstanding comedy series nomination.

Snubs

‘The Americans’

The superb FX drama was shut out for the second year in a row with no drama series nod or recognition for its cast.

Particularly disappointing was the passing over of Matthew Rhys for lead actor in a category that rewarded tired veterans instead (we’re looking at you, Jeff Daniels).

Tatiana Maslany

In a criminal omission, the Emmys again failed to recognize the “Orphan Black” actress’ impressive work playing multiple clones — all with different personalities and accents — in the BBC America drama.

While last year she could still be called an unknown, the buzz for the show this year marks a glaring snub.

‘The Good Wife’

No doubt the drama series category is perhaps the most competitive, but it seems cruel to deny “The Good Wife” a nomination for what was arguably its best season yet — especially when stars Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles and Christine Baranski all received nods.

‘Masters of Sex’

Despite nominations for lead actress Lizzy Caplan and guest actors Allison Janney and Beau Bridges, the Showtime period piece — perhaps the best new show of last season — was snubbed from the outstanding drama series category. (We would have been happy to see it take the place of another period drama , the enjoyable but tired “Downton Abbey.”)

Oh, and also no love for star Michael Sheen.

James Spader

A drama series nod might have been a long shot for “The Blacklist” — even if it is the season’s top new drama — but Emmy voters showed their cable bias by not nominating Spader, who is that show and deserved recognition for his turn as the creepy fugitive Raymond “Red” Reddington.