Live Blogging the Emmys

The Emmys are the biggest night of the year in TV. Here with all the scoop as the academy awards all the wrong people based on a pretentious system of hierarchy, is managing editor Kelly as she live blogs her way through the evening.

Obsession: Your Summer Abed Fix

In case, like most TV-loving people, you're terribly lonely and missing your favourite shows now that summer is upon us, Variety is here to save your day. Your best friend Abed is back, if only in print, to give you his predictions for this year's Emmy race. Here's the link to the hilarious article from the savant's point of view. But be wary of the bitter sweet reality that Abed lives in a world where Community isn't a TV show and therefore the absurd and unfair fact that it undeservedly won't be in the race is lost on him. Not lost on him? The fact that his beloved Cougar Town won't be there either.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037818/

Enjoy!

2010 Emmy Highlights

- Aaron Paul for the WIN!!! I think perhaps that this was the year Terry O'Quinn really deserved it but the Breaking Bad supporting actor is so brilliant so consistently that I'm incredibly glad he won. I've loved him for years- so yay!

- Tina Fey's dress. I love it when the queen of awkward is the most gorgeous person at the show.

- Jesse Tyler Ferguson cries when his screen partner Eric Stonestreet wins best supporting actor in a comedy. But will Neil Patrick Harris EVER win?!

- Jim Parsons wins best actor in a comedy. Hells Yes!

- The Amazing Race is unseated by Top Chef. The enjoyable but repetitive race that has won every year the category has existed had a good season but not nearly as good as the awesomeness that was the Voltaggio season of Top Chef. Finally a truly great reality show wins the category!

- Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler. They didn't win, but they were there! Which is in itself a step in the right direction (though I adamantly believe that Connie should have had it, she didn't even lose to front-runner Julianna Margulies or superstar Glenn Close!)

- Archie Panjabi wins for best supporting actress in a drama for The Good Wife. Who'da thunk?! I like her character but don't think that it's a tough enough part to play to deserve the award. I would have gone with Christina Hendricks.

- Jimmy's short but sweet musical intros to the categories of comedy, drama, reality, variety and miniseries were funny but not time-wasty and made good use of icons from each genre.

- George Clooney gives a lovely speech while accepting a humanitarian award. I really do love him.

- Mad Men wins best drama AGAIN. Ugh. Can we PLEASE try and branch out next year Emmy voters? There are other things out there.

- Modern Family wins best comedy. The nominations were disappointing (no Cougar Town?! no Community?! no How I Met Your Mother?!) but this was DEFINITELY the most deserving nominee.

BEST QUOTES OF THE NIGHT

"The island, it was mystical and in the end they died. I didn't understand it, but I tried" - host Jimmy Fallon (in a musical tribute to Lost to the tune of "Time of Your Life" by Green Day)

"Mel Gibson, I'm not gonna have a go at him, he's been through a lot. Not as much as the jews!" -presenter Ricky Gervais

“NBC asking the host of Late Night to come to LA to host a different show, what could possibly go wrong?” (Cameras cut to Conan) “Too soon?” - Jimmy Fallon

SURPRISE! The 2010 Emmy Nominees aren't Horrible

The announcement is done and while the whole shooting match is a little more pro-Glee than maybe it should be, Modern Family is over-represented, Community under-represented, the Academy Awards once again inexplicably nominated for some of the worst directing I've ever seen, Mad Men and 30 Rock each got more than 1 writing nomination (which I never consider fair), who cares, THESE ARE AMAZING NOMINATIONS!!!!

My TV favourite Stacey Tookey's up for choreo opposite super-deserving Mia Michaels (the addiction dance-which should win), Dancing with the Stars' best Derek Hough (not nominated for the right routine but still up for multiple dances) and Chelsie Hightower, and Adam Shankman's awesome Academy Awards dance routines. (click here for videos)

No love for Family Guy but superb performer H Jon Benjamin (Archer) is up alongside 3 Simpsons nominees (including Anne Hathaway?!).

The now iconic "Man Your Man Could Smell Like" Old Spice commercial is a shoe-in for the top honours in ads.

Glee will surely snatch up costumes, hair and makeup awards though I'm not sure why it's their Madonna episode up for costumes not their Gaga one.

If Michael Giacchino loses the Emmy for Lost's final episode something is SERIOUSLY wrong with this system.

The awesome Joel McHale is passed over but Larry David is nominated for Best Comedy Actor for playing himself. I am now confused.

Neil Patrick Harris HAS to win this year for Barney's tumultuous season over annoying former winner Jon Cryer, 3 Modern Family guys (Ty Burrell- yes!, Jesse Tyler Fergusen and Eric Stonestreet are loveable but not brilliant) and (one of the biggest but understandable surprises, Chris Colfer for Glee).

I want Aaron Paul to finally win but think maybe a super deserving Terry O'Quinn should for his spectacular turn in Lost's final season. I don't think Michael Emerson should be up though, season 6 gave him nothing to do.

Matthew Fox is up this year. That's not unexpected but it is atypical. I'm all for it though. But he shouldn't win, not against the superstar regulars in this category (every one of whom is outrageously good- Michael C Hall, Bryan Cranston, Jon Hamm and Hugh Laurie).

YAY for Amy Poehler and yay for finally passing over Mary Louise Parker, who is lovely, but not on Weeds.

Can someone please explain to me why January Jones keeps getting nominated? If you transplanted her exact performance onto a less lauded show it would be getting jeers, not nominations.

Rose Byrne isn't good enough to merit her supporting actress nomination for Damages but Christina Hendricks is certainly good enough for hers for Mad Men. Though I'm rooting for The Good Wife's Archie Panjabi.

SUPER EXCITED for Mike O'Malley, the absolute BEST thing about Glee, nominated for guest star. Annoyed to see that their other guest nominees (namely Neil Patrick Harris and Kristin Chenoweth) are people who are awesome on their own and lacking on Glee instead of Idina Menzel who was actually awesome specifically in the show. Or, I don't know, someone who wasn't on Glee, like Rosie O'Donnell's spectacular Drop Dead Diva turn? But Lifetime love is not something the Emmys feel. YAY BETTY WHITE, the obvious winner for her SNL hosting gig but glad to see Mary Kay Place nominated for Big Love guest starring too.

The reality host category, which will forever be selected by people who clearly do not watch reality TV, is standard but wrong with their inclusion of annoying Tom Bergeron and (charming but largely absent) Phil Koeghan and exclusion of Padma Lakshmi and Chris Harrison. But Jeff Probst is a shoe-in for another win (deservingly so after 2 solid seasons this year) so it's alright.

The reality program category is similarly weird with random things like Antiques Roadshow, hoping Jamie Oliver will win this one. The competition category is standard and should go to Survivor for an outstanding year instead of (undefeated winner) The Amazing Race.  Or maybe Top Chef, the Votaggio brothers pushing their season in to reality TV "best of" history.

Best comedy nominees are uninspired yet happily back to a normal number this year (Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, Nurse Jackie, Glee, Modern Family and The Office).

Best dramas are much better with 2 normally-would-be-pretentiously-excluded network shows (The Good Wife, Lost) taking on superstar cable shows (Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Dexter, True Blood). Here's looking for a Breaking Bad upset but expecting either a typical Mad Men win or a nod to Lost for its last season in recognition of its 6 year contribution.

The inclusion of Wanda Sykes' "I'ma Be Me" HBO special makes me happy.

Glee and Modern Family's existence pushed 30 Rock's writing nomination count down to a more tolerable 2 (though still somewhat unfair and not entirely deserved- I love the show but it's not the be all and end all). Glee's up for its Pilot, not a great outing in my opinion, but The Office is nominated for their best episode in years, Jim and Pam's wedding, so I'm hoping for a (completely impossible) upset. My money's on Modern Family here.

The Good Wife and Lost's finale similarly pared Mad Men down to 2 (same story as 30 Rock for me) but I think the 60s still have this category tied up. Which is sad, because the fourth nominee is from the best show on TV possibly ever...

most importantly, after 4 seasons of being overlooked, the best 2 actors on TV are getting what they deserve: CONNIE BRITTON AND KYLE CHANDLER ARE NOMINATED FOR FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!!!!!!! The show's fan-centric campaign must have done the trick this year because the underrated/perfect show is also up for a well-deserved writing award. THANK YOU, finally, EMMY VOTERS.

Overall, a surprising and wonderful list this year. Thank you for finally not being 100% predictable and pretentious this year Emmys, I love you again.

Kelly and Tim Watch The Emmys

and here is what they thought:

The PreShow:
- Carrie Ann Inaba is dumber than we thought she was. Boo.
- Chris Harrison is still pretty awesome though.
- Chandra Wilson looks amazing! What a pretty dress.
- John Krasinski= love.
- Love also for Kaley Cuoco, YunJin Kim and Kathy Griffin (among others)
- How awkward; a rushed threesome interview with perhaps the most prestigious women on the whole red carpet: Glenn Close, Holly Hunter and Marcia Gay Harden

The Host:
- There may have been cheering and chanting as Neil Patrick Harris took the stage, and not just at the Nokia Theatre in Hollywood.
- Love, Love, Love, Love, Love
- Dear Hugh Jackman, THAT'S how you do a song/dance opening number. You just got served.
- Slightly lame jokes made awesome by self-deprecating humour: good save.
- Loses the Emmy inexplicably to the guy from Pretty in Pink. The world of people who don't understand why Two and a Half Men is still on the air weeps as NPH keeps his cool.
- Many a presenter and winner congratulate NPH on being an awesome host (including super-host Jon Stewart as well as always classy Jeff Probst who failed epically as one of last year's hosts) .
- A little disappointed with the lack of magic tricks but super excited to see Dr. Horrible interrupt the accountants talking about the voting process.
- He truly is the coolest man on earth (in that he is so cool that all the uncool things he does suddenly become cool because he does them): see this week's Entertainment Weekly for proof.

The Production:
- The show was divided into 5 sections of awards: comedy, reality, miniseries/movie, variety and drama (with the awards for best comedy and best drama being given out at the end). It worked, it was an interesting way to honour each genre and allowed for a montage at the beginning of each section (who doesn't love a good montage?!). My TV votes YAY on the new format.
- Pretty moving video panels, a stellar orchestra to play TV theme music, a couple tech slip-ups here and there (mostly mic issues): an altogether well run show.
- The comedy montage was amazing... but left out Weeds completely.
- The drama montage spent too much time with Grey's Anatomy, barely acknowledged Brothers & Sisters and Friday Night Lights and completely skipped the CW's existence.
- In Memoriam was beautiful: Sarah McLachlan sang "I Will Remember You" as one of the most poignantly high death tolls in recent TV history reeled by (Bea Arthur, Patrick Swayze, Ed McMahon, Larry Gelbert, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and the voice of Snoopy, topped off with TV icon Walter Cronkite)

The Presenters:
- Some were random (do we really need to hear from the Jennifer Love Hewitt and Blake Lively?)
- Some talked too much (Ricky Gervais, Bob Newhart)
- Some were well matched (past and present TV vampires Stephen Moyer and David Boreanaz, the delightful cast of Big Bang Theory, the NPH cheering section aka HIMYM cast)
- Some were mismatched (Kate Walsh stood a full head above tiny Chandra Wilson in her heels)
- Most were inconsequential but non-offensive and nice to see even if they weren't nominees

The Winners:
- Kristin Chenoweth as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy! Let's call her the dark horse winner of the night. No one, including she, saw it coming, which made the victory all the sweeter. A nice final tribute to Pushing Daisies, as a crying Kristin capped off her excellent second/final season with a charming and funny speech in which she requested to appear on Mad Men now that she's unemployed.
- Jon Cryer beats Neil Patrick Harris to the Comedy Supporting Actor trophy. BOO. With Jeremy Piven left out this was supposed to be the year NPH finally got what he deserves.
- My TV favourite Jim Parsons loses out to a deserving (if predictable) Alec Baldwin but Toni Collette takes Tina's trophy in an exciting win as Best Actress in a Comedy for the superb United States of Tara (then confuses people with a show reference in her speech).
- 30 Rock takes the writing Emmy for their best episode of the year "Reunion" but The Office takes the directing statue home.
- Reality awards go to predictable but deserving repeat winners Jeff Probst and The Amazing Race. Sure they're great but I think it's time for Top Chef and Project Runway to get some credit.
- Nothing interesting happens in Miniseries/Movies (obviously): Grey Gardens wins the big prize alongside Little Dorrit; Ian McKellen looses out but Jessica Lange takes a win.
- Variety's big prizes go to The Daily Show (writing and best series), a fate we can live with happily, while the only small prize we cared about (original song) went to the least deserving nominee: the Oscars opening number. Sorry Justin, you'll have to settle for just one win this year.
- Aaron Paul is robbed by a boring Michael Emerson who wins for the second time in 4 years.
- Mad Men's winning writer is wearing what could be our favourite dress of the night, and is adorable in general.
- Best actor and actress in a drama go to last year's winners Glenn Close and Bryan Cranston (both good, but where is the Michael C Hall love? The Emmys are so predictable...)
- ... and they stay predictable long enough for shoe-ins 30 Rock and Mad Men to win best series.

Overall, a standard night filled with met high expectations (thank you Neil Patrick Harris), some good changes (formatting), some annoying familiarity (30 Rock and Mad Men, really?!?) and some wonderful surprises (Kristin, Toni).

Need Another Reason to Wath The Emmys on Sunday?

There's already all the amazing nominees, the wonderful host, the fact that this guy will be there, and the promise of a night filled with everything TV- but now there's more.

So You Think You Can Dance superstar (and Emmy-nominated) choreographers Tabitha and Napoleon D'Umo are bringing their trademark style to the Emmy stage. Two of the dancers already announced to be taking part in the number celebrating dance reality TV are Dancing with the Stars' formerly engaged pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff. That probably means ballroom and hip hop are going to collide once more (as they did when Tab&Nap teamed up with a fellow Emmy nominee, latin choreographer Dmitry Chaplin, for a group number on SYTYCD). Who knows, maybe we'll get a little contemporary and jazz mixed in there too- we can dream!

The 2009 Emmy Nominees

The 61^st Primetime Emmy Award Nominations were announced this morning (by the amazing team of Chandra “Bailey” Wilson and Jim “Sheldon” Parsons, who both acted suitably humble when their own names were called). The complete list of nominations is available online at emmy.tv. The following are what I consider to be the highlights and curiosities of the list (my ideal winners are in red).

• Seth MacFarlane, Seth Green, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer and Dan Castellaneta get nominations for voice-over performance for Family Guy, Robot Chicken and The Simpsons.
• Outstanding Animated Program nominations go to American Dad, Robot Chicken, The Simpsons and South Park but no Family Guy.
• The Art Direction Award should go to Damages but it’s not even nominated in that category, neither is Dexter, another high art direction achiever. Instead, Bones, Heroes, Mad Men, Pushing Daisies, True Blood and The Tudors get the nom for the more challenging single-camera style while multi-camera art direction becomes one of How I Met Your Mother’s few nominations.
• Outstanding Casting nominations go to Californication, The Office, 30 Rock, United States of Tara, Weeds, Damages, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, True Blood and The Tudors. 30 Rock books the best guest stars, United States of Tara established a perfect new ensemble this season and Friday Night Lights is brilliantly handling the gradual transition from an old cast to a new one- it’s a tough call.
• Choreography nominations go to that terrible musical tribute at the Oscars, a random Dancing with the Stars number that was choreographed by the lovely Hough siblings and a staggering 4 nominations for the choreographic showcase that is So You Think You Can Dance: Tabatha & Napoleon’s “Bleeding Love”, Mia’s door routine, Tyce’s Adam and Eve contemporary and an unmemorable tango from ballroom genius Dmitry.
• Cinematography- same question as Art Direction: where are Damages and Dexter? I’ll pick Weeds and Breaking Bad for the wins though.
• Outstanding Commercial- I’m rooting for the genius of the Hulu “we’re aliens” marketing team on this one. Though I prefer the Seth MacFarlane version, the superbowl ad with Alec Baldwin got the nomination.
• Costume nominations go to Mad Men, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Pushing Daisies, The Tudors and Ugly Betty. Ok, I’m just going to say it, I want Gossip Girl on this list next year! And what about So You Think You Can Dance? They cover more genres of dress than anything else in a single week.
• Directing: 3 nominations for 30 Rock and one each for Entourage, Flight of the Conchords and The Office, making me wonder what’s so impressive about those series over other sitcoms directing-wise? On the other side of the genre coin, Damages finally gets a aesthetic nomination, Battlestar Galactica picks up a rare nod, Boston Legal and ER get recognized for the direction of their swan songs and Mad Men makes the cut yet again (are they nominated for everything?)
• Is it too much to hope that How I Met Your Mother might pick up a trophy for editing if it’s up against 30 Rock and 3 Office episodes?
• I will never completely understand why Outstanding Hairstyling is a category, especially when some of the nominees have a pretty “shampoo and blow dry”- looking style (*cough* Desperate Housewives *cough*). But period and genre pieces like Mad Men, The Tudors and Pushing Daisies I suppose would present some styling challenges. Multi-Camera Series nominees make a bit more sense (Dancing with the Stars, MADtv and SNL- they have to do crazy things with limited time) but what’s with Two and a Half Men? Aren’t they all men? Again, where’s So You Think You Can Dance on this one?
• Outstanding Main Title Design- the field is getting pretty thin on this one since everyone’s opting out of a good old fashioned credit sequence these days. Luckily, Lie to Me, Storymakers, Taking Chances, True Blood and United States of Tara recognize the value of an iconic opener (the fact that I’ve never heard of some of them gives this view less credence).
• As for Outstanding Makeup, I say give it to Grey’s Anatomy for the bloodiness/hot people in need of eyeliner combo. Obviously the prosthetics and non-prosthetics categories for made-for-TV movies will go to Grey’s Gardens and their aging makeup. Though YAY on the inclusions of SYTYCD and SNL.
• Justin Timberlake hits it big in the Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics category for his “I Love Sports” number at the ESPYS and for “Motherlover” on SNL. Hugh Jackman at the Oscars (overrated), A Colbert Christmas, A Muppets Christmas and Flight of the Conchords are his competition.
• Getting down to the interesting stuff, Lead Comedy Actor nominees are Jim Parsons (YAY), Jermaine Clement (seriously? Ok, he’s great), Tony Shalhoub (GO AWAY MONK!), Steve Carell (in his best season in years), Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men is NOT funny) and Alec Baldwin (30 Rock is).
• In possibly the toughest category this year, super-geniuses Bryan Cranston, Michael C Hall, Hugh Laurie, Gabriel Byrne, Jon Hamm and Simon Baker will battle it out for the Top Lead Actor in a Drama spot. (Anyone else noticing the conspicuous absence of former winner James Spader after Boston Legal’s final season?!)
• While I don’t usually care about Miniseries or Movie nominations, the theatre geek in me loves the fact that Kevin Kline and Ian McKellen’s “Great Performances” of Cyrano de Bergerac and King Lear got nominations.
• The Lead Comedy Actress category is another tough one with seriously funny ladies Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Christina Applegate, Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman (seriously? Awesome!), Mary Louise Parker and Toni Collette as this year’s nominees.
• Once again, this year’s Lead Dramatic Actress nominees are not at all interesting. I don’t watch it myself but isn't there a Battlestar Galactica actress to put on this list? Or how about Elizabeth Mitchell and Evangeline Lily? Or the entire female cast of Big Love. Or CONNIE BRITTON for crying out loud! Instead, the pretentious Emmys chose to honour the predictable choices Sally Field, Kyra Sedgwick, Glenn Close, Mariska Hargitay, Elisabeth Moss and Holly Hunter; all good actresses, but I would argue not all the best on TV.
• I really think this is Neil Patrick Harris’ year to finally (not only host) but win the Emmy for Oustanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. I say this because he’s up against a pretty random crew (that doesn't include Jeremy Piven): Kevin Dillon, Rainn Wilson, Tracy Morgan, Jack McBrayer (really? Come on!) and Jon Cryer. WHERE IS MICHAEL URIE’S NOMINATION!?! COME ON PEOPLE!
• But here is where we celebrate: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama. First of all, can I get a “hell yeah!” on behalf of the freaking fantastic Aaron Paul and his nomination for Breaking Bad! Then let’s feel the love for Christian Clemenson (as well as a sort of nostalgic fondness for his co-star William Shatner as their series comes to an end). Finally, the category is topped off by solid performers like William Hurt, Michael Emerson and John Slattery. My only issue would be the heartbreaking lack of Michael Rhys, Justin Chambers and Enver Gjokaj on this list.
• Supporting Comedy Actress honours Amy Poehler (sure the Palin rap was pretty great but she did less than half a season, I think maybe this is a little ridiculous). But it also honours Kristin Wiig, who (in Poehler’s absence) has been holding her own brilliantly as the only female member of the principle cast of SNL. Adorable Kristin Chenoweth who had a particularly great season, Jane Krakowski who had a pretty typical season, Vanessa Williams (likewise) and the brilliant Elizabeth Perkins round out the bunch. Here’s where I put forward the idea that maybe it’s about time to create a category for the likes of Poehler and Wiig (as well as their male counterparts and their MADtv rivals) instead of throwing them in with the supporting actresses and taking away nominations from deserving primetime gals like Portia de Rossi, Jennifer Esposito, Cobie Smulders, Rosemarie Dewitt and Angela Kinsey.
• Supporting Dramatic Actress has lots of love for Grey’s Anatomy (Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson- even though it was very clearly a Katherine Heigl season) as well as In Treatment (Hope Davis and Dianne Wiest). Rose Byrne and Cherry Jones bring up the back of an uninteresting group (that ridiculously doesn’t contain any Walker siblings, Leighton Meester, Dichen Lachman, Amanda Seyfried, Louanne Stephens, Grace Zabriskie or Adrienne Palicki).
• Guest Actor in a Comedy: YAY for Beau Bridges, SUPER YAY for Justin Timberlake, YAY for Jon Hamm and Alan Alda, a slightly excited but still sincere YAY for Steve Martin. An annoyed grunt over 3/5 nominations all being 30 Rock.
• The Guest Actor in a Drama category is boring but I love Michael J Fox enough to mention that he was nominated for Rescue Me, even though I never saw his performance.
• Guest Actress in a Comedy: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? NO AMY RYAN? THAT’S CRAP! I like Christine Baranski, I like Betty White, I like Jennifer Aniston, Elaine Stritch is always funny and Gena Rowlands is there too. Obviously Tina Fey is going to win for her Palin impersonation but she shouldn’t (even though I love her) because this trophy belongs to the un-nominated Amy Ryan!
• Guest Actress in a Drama is Law & Order mania with 3 nominations: Ellen Burstyn, Brenda Blethyn and Carol Burnett (who I’d put my money on to win). CCH Pounder is there too but I’m rooting for Sharon Lawrence’s stirring performance as Izzie’s mom on Grey’s Anatomy.
• They may have improved on last year with the additions of Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi and (not really a host) Tom Colicchio, but the Emmys have gotten the Reality Host category wrong again by including dull Tom Bergeron and omni-absent Phil Keoghan alongside decent hosts Ryan Seacrest, Jeff Probst and Heidi Klum while ignoring the best host on TV, Cat Deeley.
• Outstanding Comedy Series: THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED TO FAMILY GUY! Apparently it transcended it’s genre to get a nomination for best comedy instead of best animated series. Entourage, The Office, 30 Rock and Weeds show up again in this category, alongside suprising dark horse Flight of the Conchords and FINALLY a nomination for the uber-deserving How I Met Your Mother. Sadly, no United States of Tara or Better off Ted.
• Outstanding Drama hits it right on the head with Big Love, Breaking Bad, Damages, Dexter, House, Lost and Mad Men. My only gripe would be the complete exclusion of genre shows like Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse as well as the traditional snubbing of the genius of Friday Night Lights.
• Variety, Music or Comedy Series sees rewards going to the few shows that haven’t changed hosts this year (Letterman, Colbert Report, Daily Show and Real Time) as well as SNL, which is sure to win for their fall election coverage and receive a pardon for that mediocre second half.
• Some random “special class” category decides to honour Battlestar and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, among others. I decide I like the “special class” category, even if I don’t understand it.
• There’s a Children’s Program Category? Great, another awards show that can guarantee Miley Cyrus’ attendance.
• Since when is Antiques Roadshow considered an Outstanding Reality Program? For that matter, since when is Dirty Jobs, Dog Whisperer, MythBusters or Intervention? Yay for Kathy Griffin though!
• Reality Competition once again goes for wide appeal (Amazing Race, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars) and niche trendiness (Project Runway, Top Chef), completely missing the show that caters to both (So You Think You Can Dance)
• Visual Effects nominations go to otherwise ignored series like Battlestar Galactica, Fringe, Heroes, Ghost Whisperer and Sanctuary. My advice to producers of genre TV: take your kicks where you can get ‘em.
• Stunt Co-ordination is a category? GO CHUCK! I get Burn Notice, Chuck, Criminal Minds and 24, but why is My Name is Earl nominated for this?
• Writing for a Comedy is ridiculous! No way Flight of the Conchords gets nominated alongside FOUR 30 Rock episodes. That’s ridiculous. Especially since “Reunion”, “Apollo, Apollo”, “Mamma Mia” and “Kidney, Now!” weren’t even written by the Emmys’ beloved Tina. What about all the other fantastically written comedy shows out there? What about United States of Tara that’s written by Oscar winning scribe Diablo Cody? Or the underappreciated but heavily-quoted How I Met Your Mother guys? Time to share the love. 30 Rock is good but it’s not the only good thing out there.
• WHAT THE HECK! The same thing happened with drama (an even bigger issue!) Lost gets one nomination (thankfully, it’s for an episode that was actually written by the showrunners) and all the other nominations are for Mad Men (4 in total). Big Love was freaking amazing this year! What about Damages’ intricate suspense building or Brothers & Sisters’ incomparable character development? I’m not even going to get started on the hundreds of things that the Friday Night Lights writers do right every week.
• Variety, Music or Comedy writing saves it with their standard nominations for The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Late Show with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live. As much as I love my daily dose of Jon Stewart, I’m going to have to go with my beloved Seth Meyers on this one and give it to him (SNL head writer) and his gigantic team of satirists.

Congratulations! You made it to the end of the commentary. Post in the comments section to tell us what you think of the Emmy nominees and snubbings.