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When the Emmy Award nominations were announced in July, the reaction varied from polite applause to astonishment. You see, in this, “The Golden Age of Television,” the Emmy system had become notorious for being very slow to recognize new and deeply serious television. And that changed.

There is a lot of great TV being made and aired across multiple platforms in our era and, in fairness, recognizing all of the excellence is a challenge. Heck, even finding it across all the channels and streaming services is a challenge. But the Emmy Awards appeared too slow and narrow-minded for so long.

With recognition this year of Mr. Robot, after just one season on the air, and multiple nominations going at last to The Americans, the Emmys suddenly seemed more in line with actual current television.

Snubs abounded, of course, but a giant step forward was made.

Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys star in The Americans. The show has at last attracted multiple Emmy Award nominations.

The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards (Sunday, ABC, CTV, 8 p.m.) is now a more attractive and anticipated award show. It should be fun, funny and a true celebration of greatness, with hotly contested categories.

A big-number summary tells a story. HBO has 94 nominations, while it got 126 last year. FX has 56 nominations, up from 38 in 2015 and Netflix has 54, an increase from 34 last year. Most of the major broadcast networks – NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox – stayed at around the same level as in 2015.

The host is Jimmy Kimmel, which adds to the frisson. When he last hosted in 2012, he was smart and biting and the broadcast got excellent ratings. Kimmel is a guy who genuinely likes good TV. He’s not a late-night host who relies on notes from a producer to interview a TV star.

In a pre-Emmys interview with TV critic Tim Goodman, he said, “I really do love TV shows and that’s why I think about you and your job a lot, because I can barely keep up. I know it’s not supposed to cause you stress but I’m stressed about the fact that I am three episodes behind in Mr. Robot right now.”

Rami Malek is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Mr. Robot.

Kimmel also said he pays attention to what others like: “Really, people at dinner are talking about two things: They’re talking about Donald Trump and they are talking about what they are watching on Netflix. Those seem to be the only conversations that are being had.”

In the most prestigious category, Outstanding Drama Series, the nominees are The Americans, Better Call Saul, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Homeland, House of Cards and Mr. Robot. That’s the climactic battle, coming late on Sunday’s broadcast.

The award should go to The Americans or Mr. Robot. Both are examples of TV drama’s ability to startle – both seem on the surface to have the structure and method of genre TV. The Americans is about Russian spies living in Washington in the 1980s. Mr. Robot is about a paranoid millennial working in cybersecurity.

The Americans, a show about Russian spies living in Washington in the 1980s, has been nominated for Outstanding Drama Series.

But The Americans is about deception at the deepest level. Deception in family, work and community. It’s about adherence to a cause when the cause is obviously redundant. It has had episodes of painfully raw despair, while always retaining its thriller element.

Mr. Robot is a complex and twisted rumination on the perils of living in a connected society; an assertion that the 1 per cent better beware the anger of the 99 per cent. And it plays games with the traditional reliable narrative of most TV thrillers. It is seriously sophisticated storytelling.

In this great era the category of Outstanding Limited Series also has enormous clout and significance, a testament to the vigour of the form in TV right now.

The nominees are American Crime, Fargo, Roots, The Night Manager and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. The three strongest and deserving of the award are Fargo, American Crime and The People v. O.J. Simpson. One can look at Roots with admiration but also wonder why anyone needed to remake the original classic. The Night Manager was superbly made, but is light in substance.

The People v. O.J. Simpson has accumulated the second-most nominations of any program at the Emmys.

American Crime, a rare instance of a network, ABC, giving time, money and space to a drama of grave import, was thrillingly good this year. Fargo, too, transcends boundaries to reach an urbanity that is astounding. The People v. O.J. Simpson has accumulated the second most nominations of any program at the Emmys – only one less than Game of Thrones. It was vital, mind-blowing TV, but some saw it as too broad in scope, style and acting.

The acting categories also set up intriguing contests. In Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, the nominees are Kyle Chandler (Bloodline), Rami Malek (Mr. Robot), Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), Matthew Rhys (The Americans), Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) and Kevin Spacey (House of Cards).

A lot will depend on how successfully Netflix lobbies for Spacey. While House of Cards didn’t have a great season, Spacey has never won an Emmy, and he’s zero for three with House of Cards. Both Rhys and Malek are, mind you, more deserving.

In Lead Actress, the nominees are Claire Danes (Homeland), Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder), Taraji P. Henson (Empire), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Keri Russell (The Americans) and Robin Wright (House of Cards). The category is open and there’s an outside chance Canadian Maslany will win. Mind you, BBC America, which airs Orphan Black in the United States, doesn’t have a great record in persuading Emmy voters to acknowledge its slate.

A point about the Emmys need hardly be noted: If you look at the acting categories – unlike the Academy Awards, the best of TV does not have a problem with diversity.

It’s about quality and, this year, hopefully the freshness of new shows will be recognized.

Certainly, it’s likely to be funny. Kimmel is brave in terms of his often acid approach to the industry. And some other wags are scheduled to present, including Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. The red carpet and frock-opera coverage starts at 6 p.m. on E! Canada. Enjoy.