Which Network Received the Most Emmy Nominations? The Answer Might Surprise You

The Emmys celebrate achievement in television, and the nominees for the 72nd edition of the awards show were filled with surprises, snubs, and a lot of love for Netflix. Frozen star Josh Gad, Orphan Black actress Tatiana Maslany, and Orange Is the New Black alum Laverne Cox announced the nominations for the 2020 show on July 28. 

We're currently living in a new Golden Era of Television, which has also been dubbed as "Peak TV," meaning that the competition at awards' shows is stiffer than ever before. While the winners won't be announced until Jimmy Kimmel hosts in September, the nominations are already creating quite the stir online. 

Which network or streaming platform received the most nominations for the 2020 Emmy Awards?

After leading the charge for the most Oscar nominations in 2020, Netflix has once again proven that it is the future of entertainment with the #1 spot for Emmy nods.

The streaming platform smashed HBO's 2019 record of 137 nods (the premium cable channel's big hitters, Game of Thrones and Veep, ended that year).

The Netflix original series' Dead to Me, Ozark, Hollywood, and The Crown received multiple nominations each, while the streaming service also earned celebration for its comedy specials, reality shows, and documentaries. 

In the Television Movie category, Netflix filled four out of the five spots. The platform also dominated the Structured and Unstructured Reality TV categories (yes, Love Is Blind was nominated for Structured, while Cheer landed in Unstructured).

The show that received the most nominations was the HBO limited series Watchmen. The Regina King-led superhero series got 26 designations. 

The billionaire family business drama Succession also heavily contributed to HBO's total, proving that the premium cable network wasn't wholly reliant on Game of Thrones. 

Nearly all of the series' main actors, including Brian Cox, Sarah Snook, Matthew MacFadyen, Nicholas Braun, Kieran Culkin, and Jeremy Strong, were nominated. 

Zendaya received her first Emmy nom for Euphoria, and both Big Little Lies and Westworld pulled in for multiple categories.

Like in previous years, This Is Us had a strong showing on the nominations' list, especially in the acting categories. Sterling K. Brown, Phylicia Rashad, and Ron Cephas Jones are up for acting awards. 

But, the show was notably left off the Best Drama category, for the first time since it debuted in 2016. 

For its final season (again), Will & Grace got a few directing and editing nods.

The last season of The Good Place got four acting nominations for Ted Danson, Maya Rudolph, William Jackson Harper, and D'Arcy Carden. 

SNL had the most nominations for the network, with 15.

As far as basic cable networks go, NBC had the greatest showing. The 2020 nominations are further showing that premium networks and streaming services are the way of the future. 

Black-ish stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross got acting nods for the network. Dancing with the Stars, The Little Mermaid Live, The Oscars, and Shark Tank were the reality programs that did well in the nominations. The final season of Modern Family got three nominations, including an emotional posthumous nod for late actor Fred Willard.

Pose and American Horror Story were once again victorious in securing praise for TV shows. The limited series Mrs. America received 10 nominations, including acting ones for Cate Blanchett, Uzo Aduba, Margo Martindale, and Tracey Ullman. 

Out of the 30 nods that Amazon Prime received, 20 of them were for its smash hit The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Actors Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, and Tony Shalhoub were nominated for acting. The Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne series, Carnival Row, was nominated for its costumes, and Tales From the Loop received two nods as well. 

The other series' that received one nomination each were Modern Love, The Boys, Homecoming, Jack Ryan, and the Savage X Fenty Show. None of those were for acting. 

Once again, Ramy received love in the acting categories, as titular star Ramy Youssef is up for Lead Actor, while Mahershala Ali is nominated in the Supporting Actor category. 

Little Fires Everywhere, which starred Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington (she is up for Lead Actress in a Miniseries), was put in the Limited Series category.

The Handmaid's Tale received less nominations than it did in the past. Samira Wiley, Alexis Bledel, and Bradley Whitford are up for acting awards, and it was nominated for Best Drama. 

One of the surprises on the list was Paul Mescal, who a contender for Lead Actor in a Miniseries for his work on Normal People. 

The network didn't receive any acting nods, but reality programs and awards shows helped bring up the total nominations. Survivor, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and the Tony Awards were strong contenders for 2020. 

The streaming platform only launched in November of 2019, but it's already received its first Emmy nominations. The Star Wars series, The Mandalorian got 15 nominations for Disney+, including one for Best Drama.

The other categories include Outstanding Short Form Animation for Forky Asks a Question: What is Love? and ones for hair and makeup.

Like Disney+, Apple TV only made its grand debut in 2019, but it has already made its mark. Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell, were put up for their work on The Morning Show. The documentary Beastie Boys Story had the second most nominations for the platform, and Defending Jacob, Home, Central Park, and The Elephant Queen all were listed as well.

After years of getting fan praise, the sixth and final season of Schitt's Creek has earned the network 15 out of its 16 nominations. The entire Rose family was nominated for acting, including Annie Murphy, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, and Dan Levy.

The cult comedy also got recognized for writing, directing, casting, hair, makeup, and sound mixing. 

One Day at a Time received one nod. 

The only scripted series' to get nominations for Fox were animated ones Bob's Burgers and The Simpsons. The network got the most love for its presentation of Super Bowl LIV, and it also received acclaim for The Masked Singer, So You Think You Can Dance, and Lego Masters. 

The network can thank Killing Eve for eight of its 10 total nominations. Once again, both Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer are in the Lead Actress category, and the show was nominated for Best Drama. 

Though it seemed like nobody had downloaded Quibi, the short-form video app has actually received the same amount of nominations as BBC America. Let that sink in for a minute. 

Stephen James, Jasmine Cephas Jones, and Laurence Fishburne's work on #FreeRayshawn earned them spots in acting categories. Other actors from Quibi who are nominated are Anna Kendrick for Dummy, Kaitlin Olson from Flipped, Christoph Waltz from Most Dangerous Game, Corey Hawkins from Survive, and Kerri Kenney-Silver from Reno 911.

Considering how many shows had to go on a filming hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Emmys might be the last people see of some of their favorite shows for a while. 

The 72nd Emmy Awards is scheduled to air on Sunday, September 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.