A lot is made of the overwhelming number of great leading roles for women on cable, but if the official Emmy ballots are any indication, women are still a minority when it comes to starring TV roles.  On the official ballot sent to Emmy voters, there are 70 contenders for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, but only 48 for the Lead Actress category.

But the numbers don't help the major networks.  Despite the fact that more than 60 percent of the potential nominees come from the five major networks, it's the cable guys and gals who take the lead at the Emmys.

See More:
Drama Series Predictions>>

The ballots are out, the race is on, and soon we will know which lucky shows and actors will be nominated for this year's Emmy Awards.  This year the main categories have been expanded to six nominees due to the increasing volume of shows produced.  The official Emmy ballot for Outstanding Drama Series lists 76 eligible shows, but that includes everything from last year's winner, Mad Men, to "no chance in Hell: submissions like The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

So who is actually in the hunt?  Last year proved that cable networks have finally broken through as it was the first time a cable network other than HBO scored a nomination in this category.

The end of May means it's time to start campaigning for the Emmy Awards.  Many shows have already started hitting voters with giant For Your Consideration DVD sets to get the coveted nominations.  This season, however, there's a lot of gamesmanship going on for category placements as actors are moving from Lead to Supporting or vice versa in order to improve their chances at a nomination.

The biggest change is coming from Grey's Anatomy, where McDreamy himself Patrick Dempsey is dropping down to the Supporting Actor race after failing to get nominated as a Lead Actor for four years.  While some might criticize the move as blatantly mislabeling himself in order to score a nomination, it's actually a bigger indictment on the show itself.

BuddyTV writers John Kubicek and Oscar Dahl discuss the 2008 Emmys.

Ah...sweet, undeserved victory.  The 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place on ABC last night, and I destroyed my colleague John Kubicek in our Emmy prediction competition.  Perhaps “destroyed” isn't the right word, considering I only beat him by one category, but the victory is there nonetheless.  Kubicek purports himself to be something of an awards' show savant, a master predictor, though he didn't really show it last night.  This morning, Kubicek and I decided to sit down and discuss the events of the previous night.  How did our Emmy predictions go, what were our biggest surprises, what were the hits, what were the misses, are among the topics discussed below. 

Below, you can find the full mp3 of our extended 2008 Emmys discussion. 

The 60th Annual Emmy Awards were held tonight. Below you will find a complete list of all the winners from tonight's ceremony.  The Drama side was dominated by first-year shows like Mad Men and Damages, each picking up two Emmys.  Comedy was ruled by 30 Rock, winning four Emmys, including ones for Series and its two leads, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.  The night also had quite a few surprises early on, like Jean Smart for Samantha Who?, Diane Wiest for In Treatment and Zeljko Ivanek winning for Damages, as well as Bryan Cranston winning for Breaking Bad.

In other categories, HBO dominated with its TV movie Recount and miniseries John Adams, The Colbert Report won its first-ever Emmy, and Jeff Probst took home the inaugural Emmy for Reality Host.

Also Read:
Emmy Awards, Live Thoughts

I’ve got Emmy fever, and the only prescription is three hours of TV awards show excellence. Not as catchy as Christopher Walken, but today is the 60th Annual Emmy Awards, and I’ll be here throughout the ceremony providing updates on the winners, losers, fashions, and attempts at comedy.

Tom O’Neil at TheEnvelope.com is hosting an Emmy competition that pits journalists against fans, and I participated as a journalist, so you can check it out to see my official predictions in the major categories airing tonight. Sadly, this means my reputation is at stake, so I might lose all Emmy credibility if I don’t win.

Also Read:
Complete List of Emmy Winners