Why Was Netflix’s ‘Orange Is The New Black’ Snubbed By The Emmys?

Netflix should be very, very happy about this year’s Emmy nominations. The streaming service dominated practically every category and saw House of Cards, Master of None, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Making a Murderer, Chef’s Table, and Bloodline nab nominations in major categories. However not everything is fine and dandy in Netflix land. You see, Orange Is The New Black was almost completely shut out. The comedy-turned-drama (we’ll get to that) only got one measly nomination for Outstanding Casting. How did Orange Is The New Black wind up in Emmy jail?

Let’s back up and go back to 2014. That’s the year that the show’s brilliant first season received a whopping 12 Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding Comedy Series. Back in 2014, Netflix was the new kid on the block and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was still figuring out how to treat shows on streaming. The new format opened up opportunities to bend genres and try new things. Since the hour-long Orange Is The New Black billed itself as a comedy, the Emmys put it against shows like Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, and Louie. Needless to say, the show’s vibrant ensemble cast and ground-breaking stories were impressive compared to the multi-cams and traditional sitcoms flooding the airwaves. The show won three Emmys that year — two in creative arts and one for Uzo Aduba.

Then, the Emmys decided to change the rules.

Last year, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences changed the rules so that all hour-long programs were considered dramas and all half-hour long programs were comedies. They did allow shows to contest their categorization ahead of submitting for nominations. For example, the CW’s two hour-long comedies Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend successfully won their bids to be considered alongside their 30-minute long spiritual friends. Orange Is The New Black did not convince the Academy that they were a comedy series, so it was now shunted into competition against such heavyweights as Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Mad Men, and Homeland. Now what made Orange Is The New Black seem so special – its poignant, nuanced writing, its spectacular dramatic performances, and its technical polish — didn’t really seem so unique. The show only received four nominations for its second season and Uzo Aduba still won, this time for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

Now we’re up to this year and the Orange Is The New Black shut out. So what happened? Well, we think two things:

• Uzo Aduba probably lost her spot in the Best Supporting Actress category to either UnREAL‘s Constance Zimmer, The Affair‘s Maura Tierney, or Game of Thrones‘ Maisie Williams. All three are first time nominees in their categories, but all three have something to recommend them. Zimmer has been riding a wave of hip critical buzz, Tierney deservedly won the Golden Globe in the same category for her breathtaking work this year, and Williams is part of an Awards show juggernaut celebrating its most successful season.
• Orange Is The New Black was accidentally the architect for its own demise. Think about it: When Netflix released Orange Is The New Black, it was only their fifth Original program ever. Since then, they’ve released 9 more dramas and 11 more comedies. So Orange Is The New Black was one of the programs that helped push Netflix and streaming culture into the realm of respectable TV. After its success, you saw a glut of programing greenlit by other streaming platforms, premium cable providers, and scrappy cable channels that pushed the limits of what TV could be. We have an abundance of prestige TV to choose from today. Orange Is The New Black has more competition than ever before because it helped usher in this new age of TV — and now they are suffering for creating such a vibrant television landscape.

Of course, it could just be that the Emmy voters weren’t as impressed with Season Three, but then, we’d be willing to bet those same voters were binge-watching Season Four last month.

[Watch Orange Is The New Black on Netflix]

[Photo: Getty Images]