Supporting Actress, Comedy Series

“Game of Thrones” and “Veep” are among the top contenders for the 68th Primetime Emmy nominations.

Ellie Kemper of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, Julia Louis-Dreyfus of “Veep”, Laurie Metcalf of “Getting On”, Tracee Ellis Ross of “Black-ish”, Amy Schumer of “Inside Amy Schumer”, and Lily Tomlin of “Grace and Frankie” are nominated for best actress in a comedy series.

The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, a TV mini-series exploring racial tensions that strained the criminal justice system 20 years before the Black Lives Matter movement, dominated the Primetime Emmy nominations Thursday along with HBO’s medieval fantasy Game of Thrones. It is facing off with The Americans, Better Call Saul, Downton Abbey, Homeland, House of Cards and Mr Robot in the best drama category.

In its first four seasons, American Horror Story did extremely well at the Emmys, scoring 17 nominations each for Murder House, Asylum and Coven and then 19 nominations for Freak Show.

Shoutouts for Fox include Lyon family matriarch Taraji P. Henson for Empire and funnyman Will Forte for Last Man on Earth.

The Americans received its first-ever nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, as well as first-ever lead actor nominations for Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys. Although the Emmys can’t claim the steroid effect that an Oscar can have on a film’s box-office performance, the premiere TV award draws attention to shows trying to stand out in a packed media world. Meanwhile, directors Jack Bender, who directed “The Door” episode, is slated to go against Miguel Sapochnik, who directed the “Battle of the Bastards” episode, for the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series award.

Several hotly tipped shows missed out on widely-expected nods, however, including “The Good Wife”, which was shut out of best show honors, and Netflix s prison comedy drama “Orange is the New Black” which failed to pick up a single nomination.

NBC also secured two digital nominations for “Jay Leno’s Garage” in Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series and “Saturday Night Live Interactive Experience” in Outstanding Interactive Program. Ansari, who also landed a lead actor and a directing nomination, has been outspoken this year, lobbing criticisms at CBS for the network’s lack of diversity and at Trump for his negative comments about Mexicans and Muslims.

Gooding and Vance will compete with Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon B. Johnson in “All The Way”, Benedict Cumberbatch in “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (Masterpiece)”, Idris Elba in “Luther” and Tom Hiddleston in “The Night Manager”.

United States talk show host Jimmy Kimmel will present the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on September 18.

Speaking as he completed a Star Trek mural in Clerkenwell in London, he said: “I wasn’t expecting that”.