Well, this’ll put that whole “it’s an honor just to be nominated” thing to the test: Peter MacNicol, who received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy in recognition of his work on Veep, has since been disqualified from the honor. The Veep-worthy twist comes because the TV Academy has determined that MacNicol appeared in too many episodes of the HBO comedy’s eligible fifth season. According to Emmy rules for the category, performers must appear in less than 50 percent of the season’s episodes to qualify as a guest. MacNicol exceeded the limit by appearing in five out of ten. Apparently the erring nomination occurred because MacNicol did meet the threshold at the time of his submission, surpassing it afterwards. Making the matter more frustrating, The Hollywood Reporter points out that MacNicol technically did act only in the allotted four episodes, with ten seconds of archival footage of him then also being shown in the season’s ninth episode, “Kiss Your Sister.” The category now includes Tracy Morgan (Saturday Night Live), Larry David (Saturday Night Live), Bob Newhart (The Big Bang Theory), Bradley Whitford (Transparent), and Martin Mull (Veep). Bygones!
Update: Peter Scolari, who plays Hannah’s dad Tad Horvath on HBO’s Girls, will fill the empty space left after MacNicol’s nomination was vacated. This is Scolari’s fourth prime-time Emmy nod, and his first since 1989, when he was a supporting actor on Newhart.
