[IMG:L]The nominations for the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were announced Thursday morning, and even though the amount of nominees was expanded in the major categories, there were still snubs and surprises …
Best Drama Series
Nominees: Big Love, Breaking Bad, Damages, Dexter, House, Lost, Mad Men
No real surprises here among the nominees — just among the non-nominees. Battlestar Galactica’s die-hard fans are likely frakkin’ outraged that their show didn’t get any Emmy love for its final season, but The Shield’s final-season snub is downright criminal (the swan-song seasons of ER and Boston Legal were also shut out, but rightfully so). Other notable exclusions: In Treatment, Rescue Me, True Blood, Grey’s Anatomy … basically any drama series with a two-word title.
KEEP READING: Best Comedy Series
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Best Comedy Series
Nominees: Entourage, Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, 30 Rock, Weeds
Some bold — and pretty great — choices by the Academy in this most coveted category. Family Guy is the nominee that immediately sticks out like, well, an animated series in the Best Comedy category — because it hasn’t happened since 1961 when The Flintstones was nominated (that’s right, nothing for The Simpsons ever). First-ever series noms for Conchords (for what was likely its last season) and the usually overlooked HIMYM were uncharacteristically superb selections by voters. Thankfully, they helped weed out perennial, conservative nominees like Ugly Betty, Two and a Half Men and Desperate Housewives. The continued snubbery of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia begs the question: What’s it gonna take?!
KEEP READING: Best Lead Actor in a Drama
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Best Lead Actor in a Drama
Nominees: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad; Michael C. Hall, Dexter; Hugh Laurie, House; Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment; Jon Hamm, Mad Men; Simon Baker, The Mentalist
Last year’s nominees were pretty much guaranteed to be this year’s nominees, and the fact that Baker replaced James Spader as the sixth nominee wasn’t surprising, since voters just love it when foreigners play Americans (and perhaps it doesn’t hurt that The Mentalist is a massive hit). The exclusion of Spader and his monotonous, overrated performance proved there might be Emmy justice after all — that is, unless your name is Kyle Chandler, Michael Chiklis, Denis Leary, Bill Paxton or Kiefer Sutherland, who sat out last year’s Emmys as 24 fell victim to the Writers’ Strike.
KEEP READING: Best Lead Actor in a Comedy
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Best Lead Actor in a Comedy
Nominees: Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords; Tony Shalhoub, Monk; Steve Carell, The Office; Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock; Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men; Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
The usual sitcom heavyweights heard their names called Thursday morning, with two surprising exceptions: Parsons’ inclusion wasn’t too shocking, seeing as he announced the nominations — along with Grey’s Anatomy star and fellow nominee Chandra Wilson — and that usually means a nod is in store, but Clement’s was (he’s the non-heartthrob Conchord). It was nice to see the Academy acknowledge that (a.) he’s hilarious and (b.) that’s a tough, more-than-meets-the-eye role to pull off. Danny McBride deserved a nod for his riotous, manic performance on Eastbound & Down, but his day will come — because there has to come a time when Tony Shalhoub’s set-in-stone nomination becomes vacant (seven straight years for him!). Also absent were Zach Braff and David Duchovny, both widely thought to be contenders.
KEEP READING: Best Lead Actress in a Drama
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Best Lead Actress in a Drama
Nominees: Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU; Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer; Glenn Close, Damages; Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men; Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters; Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Mad Men’s Moss joined Emmy’s reigning drama queens, and deservedly so — plus, how could the most critically acclaimed show on TV, maybe ever, not have a female representative? (The series’ other leading lady, January Jones, essentially had a 50-50 shot here; she lost and Moss won.) Among the actresses presumably eliminated by Moss: the HBO trio of Anna Paquin, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Jill Scott, Lost’s Evangelin,e Lilly, and cult favorite Mary McDonnell, for Battlestar.
KEEP READING: Best Lead Actress in a Comedy
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Best Lead Actress in a Comedy
Nominees: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine; Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?; Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program; Tina Fey, 30 Rock; Toni Collette, The United States of Tara; Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Not that we don’t watch and love her show, but … Sarah Silverman?! Maybe when voters left off James Spader for once, they just decided to go all-out progressive with their picks. (Tina, do everyone a favor: When you win, let Silverman deliver a speech on your behalf.) To that end, America Ferrara was finally out, and Collette was deservedly in for her four-characters-in-one performance on Showtime’s multiple-personality dramedy. Amy Poehler is probably a little disappointed about not joining her friend Fey in the category, but when a show is as bad as Parks and Recreation, the quality of your performance becomes moot. Ditto Desperate Housewives’ foursome of lead actresses.
MORE: Get last year’s winners!
