At the ungodly hour of 5:40am PT this morning, all of small-screen Hollywood awoke in anticipation of Kyra Sedgwick and Jon Cryer reading their names off the list of this years 59th Annual Emmy nominees.

For some it wasn't much of a surprise (right Kyra?), but for many, it was a pleasant early wake up call. Nearly 60 percent of this year's Emmy nominees were from new series, or hadn't been nominated before, but that still didn't mean there weren't a few surprises … including one big one.

DRAMA

Series: The Sopranos, Heroes, House, Grey's Anatomy, Boston Legal

No big surprise that The Sopranos dominates this area of the Emmys, taking in a whopping 15 nominations. What is a surprise is Boston Legal? Really? I guess the joke was on everyone who didn't expect this David E. Kelley show to make a big showing at the Emmys. It scooped up big nominations for Series, Actor (past champ James Spader), and Supporting Actor (for the one and only William Shatner). This show could place itself in the Reality Series category and still manage a few big nominations. Even though this show is an obvious industry favorite, to place it in the Drama Series category over the likes of Friday Night Lights, Rescue Me, The Wire or Lostis still leaving plenty of folks scratching their heads.  This was also Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’s one chance to make it back for good next season - after coming off a highly pre-buzzed but little watched freshman year – but there was no such luck, meaning Matthew Perry will have to look for a new gig, though he did pick up a nomination for Lead Actor in a TV Movie for his work in The Ron Clark Story.

Actor/Actress: Not too many shockers in either of these categories, well, maybe one: How did Michael C. Hall miss out on a nomination for the Showtime series Dexter?! Again, I throw the love for Boston Legal in the mix. Yes, James Spader is a fine actor, but not many have received the critical praise that Hall has for playing the titular serial killer on Dexter this year.

Side note: Probably no surprise to anyone is that the Gilmore Girls' final shot, and little curveball to the Academy – placing itself in the Drama categories instead of Comedy – didn't quite work. Poor Lauren Graham.


COMEDY

Series: The Office, 30 Rock, Two and a Half Men, Entourage, Ugly Betty

Ugly was beautiful in the Comedy field, taking in a leading 11 Emmy nominations for laughers. What wasn't pretty was the lack of love for poor My Name is Earl. It looks like he'll have to be content with his lottery winnings and good deeds, and just move on. Luckily (and deservingly) Jaime Pressly is holding down the Emmy fort. The big surprise is the former Emmy love for Scrubs (coming off two consecutive Comedy Series nominations) has been transferred over to Entourage. Yes, it was mildly expected to pick up a Series nomination, but to pick up Series, Directing, and two Supporting Actor nominations (last year's champ Jeremy Piven, and Kevin Dillon) is quite a feat for the little-big HBO show that could. The omission of Desperate Housewives is no shock at all, and something it looks like fans will have to get used to.

Actor/Actress: How Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen gets nominated for un-funny cue-card reading is beyond me, but, I digress. And really, what does Jason Lee have to do to not continue to get snubbed? Not too many surprises here other than probably the supporting actor category where Kevin Dillon made the cut over Office favorite John Krasinski. But maybe Pam's nomination made up for that, you think?


BIGGEST SURPRISE

SIX! No, not Blossom's BFF, but rather the number of categories featuring six nominees! On the Comedy side we have six nominees in the Supporting Actress and Directing Categories. On the Drama side we have six nominees in the Lead Actress, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, and Guest Actor Categories, as well as seven Nominees in the Directing category. It seems those 50/50, popular/panel voters just couldn't make up their minds on who they wanted in. Let's all hope they can make up their minds on the right person to hand the Emmy gold to, though, something tells me that may be too much to ask.


-Ralph Galvan, BuddyTV Contributing Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)