USA Network dominated during the early aughts with their comedy series Monk (18 nominations, eight wins), and then with 2007 miniseries The Starter Wife (10 noms, one win) and 2013 Political Animals (five noms, one win). However, today the cable network and Universal Cable Productions earned their first Drama Series nomination with its cyber thriller series Mr. Robot

In total, the show landed six noms including a first Emmy nom for leading actor Rami Malek , who plays Elliot Alderson, a hacker who suffers from dissociative identity disorder.

Unfortunately, TV Academy voters overlooked Mr. Robot himself, Christian Slater, who plays the hacker mentor father to Elliot. Slater walked away with a best supporting TV drama actor win at the Golden Globes where the show, created by Sam Esmail , also landed a drama win while Malek was nominated.

USA’s Emmy noms for Mr. Robot are hard -arned. Never in recent memory has an awards campaign been so long. Ever since the series ended its run last September, the actors and Esmail have been on a nonstop promo tour that led into the fall SAG/Globes season, and they haven’t let up through last night’s two-part Season 2 premiere, which hit a series low of 1.04M total viewers and a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49 . On Sunday, USA leaked part one online.

While USA has built its viewership with bubblegum, breezy shows like Suits and Royal Pains, Mr. Robot marked a departure into more cinematic, auteurish fare. Esmail originally conceived Mr. Robot as a movie, but turned it into a series. It promptly created a fan following with its Kubrickian suspense and Fight Club storyline flipping. USA is supporting Esmail’s vision and let him direct all of the Season 2 episodes.

Today, Esmail said in a statement, “The entire team at Mr. Robot is thrilled with our nominations this morning. Today is officially shoot day 80 for season two and we couldn’t be happier to hear the news from set. We are humbled and honored to be in the company of such innovative, groundbreaking storytelling. On behalf of the cast and crew who continue to work tirelessly to make this show, as well as USA Network and Universal Cable Productions, thank you to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.”

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Other Emmy noms earned today by Mr. Robot include outstanding writing (Esmail), original dramatic score (Mac Quayle), casting (Susie Farris, Beth Bowling and Kim Miscia) and sound mixing for a one hour series comedy or drama (John W. Cook, Bill Freesh, Timothia Sellers, Andrew Morgado).