Anyone who watches Girls knows that the show has only gotten better with age with Seasons 4 and 5 providing some of the most gut-wrenching and gut-busting moments of the entire series. Unfortunately, awards shows haven't been recognizing Girls in its later seasons with Girls receiving no Emmy nominations in 2016 for any of the awards that will be handed out on Sunday, Sept. 18. While fans shouldn't be too surprised since Girls has been losing Emmys steam over the last couple of years, I can still be outraged at those blasted Emmys for not recognizing one of the smartest shows on television. But rather than get all Hannah Horvath about it and act out in a very ill-advised way, let's analyze why Girls wasn't nominated for the 2016 Emmys.
Unlike the Golden Globes, which showered Girls with wins in its first season, the series hasn't received the same kind of love from the Emmys. OK, "showered" actually means two wins at the Globes in 2013, but they were two big ones, especially since that awards show also honors movies. That year, Girls won Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy and creator and star Lena Dunham won Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy. So even though Girls has more Emmy nominations than Golden Globes nominations, it has had more buzzy success at the Globes. After 2013, the Globes nominated Girls and Dunham for those same two awards again in 2014 and 2015 — but left Dunham and the show off the nominee list in 2016 for Season 4.
Season 4 didn't getting much love from the Emmys either since Girls and Dunham were not nominated in 2015. Thankfully, Emmy voters did acknowledge the tremendous and batsh*t work done by Adam Driver (he earned his third nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series) and Gaby Hoffmann (she was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series), but the lead actress and the season as a whole got squat.
Unfortunately, this trend has continued with Girls Season 5 getting only one Emmy nomination in 2016 in the category of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Peter Scolari deservedly won the Emmy on Sept. 10 for his role a Hannah's dad Tad Horvath, who came out as gay in Season 4 and was still figuring out life as an openly gay man in Season 5. With Scolari's win, Girls has only won two Emmys out of its 15 nominations. Two out of 15!! I need to get myself to a Spring Queening retreat ASAP to deal with all of my negative emotions about this.
The other Emmy win Girls snagged was in 2012, when the series won the less than glamorous Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series. As for the times it was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, it should really be super unsurprising which show it lost to, if you know Emmy history at all. Girls was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2012 and 2013 for Seasons 1 and 2 and predictably lost to the perennial Emmy winner Modern Family, which was finally knocked off its Outstanding Comedy throne in 2015 by Veep after winning five times in a row.
Speaking of that other Emmy-favorite show, Veep, Dunham used to get some Emmy recognition since she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012, 2013, and 2014. But she lost all three times to another perennial winner — Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus. While Girls is one of my favorite shows, I can't deny the comedic genius that is Louis-Dreyfus, so even if her consistently winning makes for a boring awards show, I understand why Emmy voters keep choosing her and she'll probably win again in 2016, which I guess is cool as Dunham wasn't even nominated.
Since Season 6 of Girls will be the show's last, I'm hoping that the Emmys will once again acknowledge the series with decent nominations like they did with its earlier seasons. Although I'm doubtful that Girls will ever win that big award of Outstanding Comedy Series with the Emmys truly favoring more traditional comedic fare, Girls fans have grown with the series and won't freak out it, right? Cause if Hannah has taught us anything about striving to become mature women, it's that having meltdowns like her will get you nowhere.
Images: Craig Blankenhorn/HBO; Giphy (3)
