MovieChat Forums > Uzo Aduba Discussion > The categories she's won emmys for don't...

The categories she's won emmys for don't make any sense.

posted 9 years ago by skane110-1
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How the hell did she go from winning an emmy for "best guest actress in a comedy" to winning for "best supporting actress in a drama"? She's always been a big character on OITNB so, how was she a guest star? and I think most people would say that the show is a comedy, right? I know that there's definitely drama on the show but, I don't think it's enough to call it a drama, it's definitely way more of a comedy.

I'm not saying that Uzo didn't deserve her awards, she totally does, I just don't get how they chose the categories that she was nominated in. I also think it's weird how the other members of the cast have been nominated in the comedy category like Taylor Schilling and Kate Mulgrew have both been nominated in the past for best lead actress in a comedy and best supporting actress in a comedy, respectively so, why did Uzo suddenly get nominated in the drama category? It's just weird.

[–] Sabsi_123 8 years ago

Well, the whole change from competing as a comedy series to drama was due to newly introduced Emmy rules for the 2014/15 season. The rules state that all shows running approx. 60 min are automatically classified as "drama". Shows of that length then can apply to a switch from "drama" to "comedy" if they consider their overall set-up to be more of a comedy than a drama. OITNB applied as comedy in 2014 and was accepted, after the rule changes they were classified as "drama" and actually appealed that classification wanting to compete again as comedy, but lost that appeal. Therefore, the classification as "drama" at the 2015 awards.

In regards to the switch from guest performer to supporting, this is also due to rule changes in 2015. Probably mainly due to the "Guest Performer" categories getting out of hand for quite a while. Often shows put their performers (which clearly were regular supporting characters) in the guest performer race, for a better distribution (and eventual possible nominations) of as many performers as possible. Being classified as a guest performer was once regulated by on-screen credits and employment contracts, and that was being misused by many shows (inlcuding OINTB, because, as you said, Crazy Eyes was definitely NOT a "guest" character, neither was Natasha Lyonne's character; and they were definitly no less important to the show than Kate Mulgrew, who was competing as supporting actress). The whole credits/contract issue was changed in 2015 and now a performer can only run as guest performer when he/she appears in less than 50% of a show's season. Since this does not apply to Aduba, she was officially "supporting" in 2015.

For more info, you can also check this page: http://www.emmys.com/sites/default/files/Downloads/2015-whats-new-v1.pdf