Emmy Surprises and Snubs

Jaimie Trueblood/CBS Melissa McCarthy in a scene from “Mike and Molly.”

While much of the chatter about the Emmy nominations will involve Netflix and its 14 total nods - including slightly unexpected nominations for Jason Bateman of “Arrested Development” as lead actor in a comedy and Robin Wright of “House of Cards” for lead actress in a drama - the real surprises, in a mostly unsurprising list, lay elsewhere.

In the lead actress categories, some names were notable for their absence. Julianna Margulies, a three-time nominee and one-time winner for CBS's “Good Wife,” was left out, even though the drama-actress list went seven deep. The broadcast networks were represented, as expected, by Connie Britton of “Nashville” and Kerry Washington of “Scandal,” both on ABC. If anyone forced Ms. Margulies out, it was probably Ms. Wright or Vera Farmiga of A&E's relatively obscure “Bates Motel.”

On the comedy side, another recent winner, Melissa McCarthy of “Mike and Molly” (CBS) was absent despite her increasingly high profile in both television and film. The new face in the category belonged to Laura Dern, for her work in the canceled succès d'estime “Enlightened” on HBO.

The lead actor nominees were mostly unsurprising, with the possible exception of Jeff Daniels in Aaron Sorkin's much maligned HBO series, “The Newsroom.” Mr. Daniels's presence may have come at the expense of Matthew Rhys in “The Americans” (FX), while Mr. Bateman's nomination on the comedy side highlighted the absence of last year's winner, Jon Cryer of “Two and a Half Men.” (CBS, home to that show, led the broadcast networks last year with 60 nominations and this year tied NBC for the lead with 53.

The selections for best drama were expected and nearly a repeat of last year's group, with “House of Cards” replacing HBO's “Boardwalk Empire.” The same was true, but more so, in the comedy series category, where five nominees repeated and FX's “Louie” - finally getting a series nomination in its third season - replaced “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which has been on hiatus since 2011.