To have a say in who wins on the biggest night in TV, you need to have a job in TV.
Only members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences vote on the Primetime Emmys, which is why prestige shows with relatively tiny audiences always seem to win (ahem, Mad Men.)
Other formats, like at the lightweight People's Choice Awards, MTV Movie Awards and a few others, use fan voting to pick winners. But the problem there is that superfans engage in organized ballot-box stuffing, which is why relatively crummy shows and movies with rabid fanbases always seem to win (ahem, Twilight.)
Just for fun, Mashable asked our friends at the social listening and analytics firm Fizziology to eavesdrop on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms for a few days to find out who people across all fandoms ultimately want to win at the Emmys. Last week, Fizziology looked at more than 100,000 social comments about the Emmys, analyzing organic conversation (comments and opinions from real people, not press stories).
And the results are ... a little more polished than you might think.
And the (people's) winners are …
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/breaking.bad_.finale.png" caption="A scene from the finale of "Breaking Bad."" credit="AMC" alt="breaking.bad.finale"]
Drama series
Breaking Bad
Lead Drama Actress
Julianna Marguiles, The Good Wife
Lead Drama Actor
Tie: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad; and Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
Drama Supporting Actress
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Drama Supporting Actor
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
Comedy Series
Orange is the New Black
Comedy Lead Actress
Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black
Comedy Lead Actor
Ricky Gervais, Derek
Comedy Supporting Actress
Allison Janney, Mom
Comedy Supporting Actor
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Miniseries or TV Movie
Fargo
Miniseries or TV Movie Lead Actress
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Coven
Miniseries or TV Movie Lead Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
And Finally, Those Snubs
The two actors who received the most "should have been nominated" mentions were:
Rick Hoffman, Suits
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black