TV’s night of nights, the 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards, will take place on Monday, September 15, at the Peacock Theatre in LA.
The prestigious awards, not to be confused with the Daytime Emmy Awards that will take place a month later, celebrate excellence in US national primetime television.
They are to TV what the Oscars and Golden Globes are to cinema, and just like those awards, are sometimes controversial, especially when stars or their shows are overlooked either for nominations of an award itself.
Let’s take a look at some of the most controversial decisions in Emmy’s history.
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Courteney Cox – Friends
Often considered one of the best and most watched comedies of all time, Friends is still popular today, thanks to its seemingly endless reruns.
The show premiered in 1994 and made superstars of its then largely unknown ensemble cast – Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow.
Of the six, it was Cox who was best known when the show first aired, having appeared in a string of roles, including 18 episodes of the anthem show Family Ties.
Her Friends’ character Monica Geller was also much-loved.
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But while the rest of her castmates received Emmy nominations for their roles during the show’s 10-series run, Cox missed out.
When asked by Howard Stern in 2021 on Stern’s SiriusXM show how she felt about the snub she admitted “it always hurt my feelings”.
“When every single cast member was nominated but me, it definitely hurt my feelings. I was happy for everybody, and then when it was finally like, ‘Oh, I’m the only one?’ It hurt,” she said.
Both Aniston and Kudrow won Emmys during their time on the show.
Steve Carell – The Office
Steve Carell’s role in the US version of The Office often receives praise, but while his portrayal of Michael Scott earned him plenty of fans, it never actually nabbed him an Emmy.
Carell, who was part of the cast of the anthem show from 2005 to 2011 and again in 2013, was nominated in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series every year from 2006 to 2011, but never once won the gong.
He was also listed as a producer when the show was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2011 but lost to Modern Family.
Carell’s co-star, Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight Schrute on the show, later tweeted, “The world of TV should be ashamed of itself that Steve Carell never won an Emmy for Michael Gary Scott”.
Another co-star, Creed Bratton, said as recently as last year it was a ‘travesty’ that Carell was denied an Emmy.
Modern Family
Modern Family received its fair share of Emmy nods during its 11-season run but it was its lack of nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 2018 awards that got people talking.
At the time, the show had been nominated for and won the category five times, from 2010 to 2014, and was also nominated between 2015 and 2017.
Modern Family finished its 11-season run in 2020, having never been nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series again.
Ed O’Neill – Modern Family
Back in 2010, Modern Family was on a high, having been nominated for 14 Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series, which it won.
But while O’Neill’s co-stars Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara all received personal nominations that year, the actor who played the gruff patriarch of the Pritchett family missed out.
Among those who were disappointed by the omission was series creator Steve Levitan, who told E! News, “I don’t want to say he got robbed. He makes it look so effortless that perhaps he got overlooked.”
O’Neill eventually went on to receive nominations in 2011, 2012 and 2013, but came home empty handed.
Married… with Children
Married… with Children ran for 11 seasons from 1987 and made huge stars of its cast including Ed O’Neill, who played Ed Bundy, Katey Sagal as his long suffering wife Peggy, and Christina Applegate and David Faustino, who played their children, Kelly and Bud.
But despite being one of the most popular and long-running sitcoms on TV, it never won a single Emmy.
In fact, it only received two nominations, for outstanding lighting direction, and lost both times.
It was the longest-running show to never win a single Emmy until this honour was taken by Baywatch.
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Angela Lansbury – Murder, She Wrote
British born actress Angela Lansbury enjoyed a decades’-long career starting in Hollywood movies and in the theatre before appearing in the long-running TV crime series Murder, She Wrote from 1984 to 1996.
Lansbury played meddling writer Jessica Fletcher, who fancied herself as somewhat of a murder-solving detective during the show’s 12-year run.
But despite being nominated for an Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama Series a record 12 consecutive times, she never took home the gong.
In fact, Lansbury was nominated for Emmys a further six times, but came away empty-handed.
Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld – Seinfeld
It was dubbed a “show about nothing”, but it became the most watched comedy on American TV.
Yet despite its success, two of the biggest stars of Seinfeld, which ran from 1989 to 1998, never won an Emmy for their acting.
While Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine, and Michael Richards, as the eccentric Kramer, won Best Supporting Actor or Actress in a Comedy gongs, Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza never took home an award.
He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy seven years running (1992-1998), and lost three times to co-star Richards in 1993, 1994, and 1990.
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Meanwhile, Jerry Seinfeld, who played the titular character, was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series five times but never won.
He did however pick up an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and was also nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series.
Sons of Anarchy
The crime drama Sons of Anarchy ran for seven seasons from 2008 to 2014 and followed the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in California.
The cast included Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman and Katey Sagal, who was best known for playing Peggy in Married… with Children.
But despite receiving critical praise and becoming the most watched drama on TV, with almost 5 million viewers per episode, it was repeatedly snubbed at the Emmys, receiving no acting or outstanding series nominations, although it was recognised for its beat, stunt coordination and makeup.
While Hunnam claimed not to “give a s—” about the Emmys, the show’s creator Kurt Sutter once admitted to suffering “emotional and spiritual depletion” when the show was overlooked each year.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm might be one of the longest-running comedies on TV, with 12 seasons under its belt, but like its creator Larry David’s other show, Seinfeld, it is among the most snubbed when it comes to Emmys.
The comedy starred David as a fictionalised version of himself: a semi-retired television writer and producer, and was known for unpacking the minutiae of life.
But while the show was well received by fans, it only ever won two Emmys, for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Single-DSLR Picture Editing.
And while David received seven nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and the show was nominated 11 times for Outstanding Comedy Series, it came away empty handed each time, the latter setting a record for the most nominations without a win.
While David skipped last year’s Emmys and has refused to be drawn into the snub, Casey Bloys, of the show’s streaming service HBO, did weigh in.
“I’ve said before, Emmys aren’t everything, the work stands on its own, but I’d say, along the 12 seasons, maybe we missed as an industry acknowledging Curb.”
Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan.
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