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5 (smaller) Emmy nominations worth cheering

A Netflix documentary series and a web-only promo are among the gems found in the less-talked-about categories.

Lin-Manuel Miranda (second from right) is nominated for hosting “Saturday Night Live.” Pictured with Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph of musical guest Twenty One Pilots and “SNL” cast member Aidy Bryant
Lin-Manuel Miranda (second from right) is nominated for hosting “Saturday Night Live.” Pictured with Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph of musical guest Twenty One Pilots and “SNL” cast member Aidy BryantRead moreROSALIND O'CONNOR/NBC
    by Ellen Gray
    Published 

It's great that NBC's manipulative-but-heartwarming This Is Us is an Emmy nominee for outstanding drama — the first broadcast show to be included since The Good Wife in 2011 — and that Saturday Night Live is heading into its 43rd season with 22 nominations.

Let's hear it for TV you don't have to pay extra to watch.

But when it comes to the Television Academy, sometimes it's the little things that make me happiest, including:

  1. The nomination for outstanding music and lyrics for the CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and its song, "We Tapped That A–." See it here (note adult content):

2. Netflix's The Keepers getting a nod for outstanding documentary or nonfiction series. Read more: Amateur sleuths are true crime's newest heroines.

3. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda's nomination for guest actor in a comedy for his joyful hosting of Saturday Night Live.

4. The six nominations for A&E's Born This Way, last year's winner for outstanding unstructured reality program. The show, from Bunim/Murray (The Real World) , follows the adventures of a group of young people with Down syndrome. And while it might make Hollywood feel good to be recognizing a show that gives reality programming a better name than, say, Bachelor in Paradise ever will, Born This Way manages to be entertaining while also including people with disabilities in a TV genre that's not going away anytime soon. Read more: Hanging with Jonathan Murray and his Born This Way cast.

5. A nomination for AMC's clever Better Call Saul promo, Los Pollos Hermanos Employee Training, heralding the return of Breaking Bad veteran Giancarlo Esposito as Gus Fring ("I like to think I see things in people," he says.) This, sadly, is up against Comedy Central's web extra, Hack Into Broad City, which features Wayne's own Abbi Jacobson, for outstanding short form comedy or drama series.