Despite American Horror Story’s 17 Emmy nominations, the critically-acclaimed FX show could go home empty handed this year for the stupidest of reasons: It’s a horror program.
The hit show beat out Game of Thrones, earning the most Emmy nominations of any program this year and the same number of nods as last year’s American Horror Story: Murder House.
But let’s not forget what happened to AHS last year. Despite 17 Emmy nominations, the show went home with just a best hairstyling award and best supporting actress.
That amounts to little more than a pretty new mantle piece for Jessica Lange .
But why? It’s all about the genre, says Tom O’Neil of Goldderby.com .
“It’s cursed by being in the horror genre,” the Hollywood awards show handicapper said. “Emmy voters, like Oscar voters, are horrified of the horror genre and tend to stay away.”
Let’s forget for a moment that anyone who has seen even a single episode of American Horror Story understands that the horror elements only aesthetically couch what is otherwise a powerful human drama. Other big name shows have also been awkwardly shortchanged lately.
Despite being a critical and awards season darling throughout its run, AMC’s Mad Men walked away completely empty-handed last year despite 17 Emmy nominations.
Game of Thrones is cross-genre epic hit, but it’s only expected to sweep the tech categories.
Still, Thrones might inch forward this year against opponents like Downtown Abbey and Homeland.
“For a show with a largely international cast that is shot far outside the confines of the U.S. (Ireland, Iceland, Bulgaria etc.), it took a little time for the creative community to wrap its arms around the epic fantasy,” wrote Variety’s Justin Kroll.
“It can win,” added O’Neil.
But if you’re a fan of shows like American Horror Story, just try not to be too surprised if it walks away with little-to-nothing. Any number of under-rated shows (Sons of Anarchy, anyone?) get passed over by the Emmys every year, and the ones that make it lose to other shows which are admittedly great, but a little greedy.
