The Emmy nominations were announced this morning, and there were some truly out-of-the-box nominees.  Sarah Silverman for Lead Actress in a Comedy for her Comedy Central show?  Flight of the Conchords for Comedy Series and Jemaine Clement for Lead Actor?  Simon Baker from The Mentalist?  And Family Guy for Outstanding Comedy Series?  Yeah, these aren't your daddy's Emmys.

Complete List of Nominees >>

Emmy Fun Facts>>

DRAMA SERIES:
Big Love
Breaking Bad
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost
Mad Men

-It's great to see Grey's Anatomy missing from the list, and cable is truly dominating with 5/7 nominees.  However, no Shield?  No Rescue Me?  No In Treatment or True Blood?  And here's a fun fact about Big Love - this is the show's ONLY nomination.  How dumb is that?

COMEDY SERIES:
30 Rock
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
How I Met Your Mother
The Office
Weeds

-It's shocking to see an animated show in this line-up, and a second HBO show in the form of Flight of the Conchords.  Noticeably absent (and thankfully so) is Two and a Half Men, which got replaced with the far superior CBS comedy HIMYM.





DRAMA LEAD ACTOR:
Simon Baker, The Mentalist
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House

-Baker is the biggest shock on the Drama side, and while cable dominated, it's disappointing not to see Michael Chiklis from The Shield or Denis Leary from Rescue Me.  And yes, Kiefer Sutherland is missing, but the voters made it up to him by nominating him for Lead Actor in a TV Movie for 24: Redemption.

DRAMA LEAD ACTRESS:
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters
Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: SVU
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Glenn Close, Damages

-This is probably the most boring category, with Moss the only new face.

DRAMA SUPPORTING ACTOR:
William Shatner, Boston Legal
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal
Michael Emerson, Lost
John Slattery, Mad Men
William Hurt, Damages
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad

-It's a bit sad that, while Boston Legal was shut out of Series and Lead Actor, it gets two spots here from past winners Shatner and Clemenson.  But seeing the incredibly deserving Aaron Paul get in makes up for it.  However, no John Mahoney for In Treatment or Walton Goggins for The Shield (the single best performance of the past year) is inexcusable.

DRAMA SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Hope Davis, In Treatment
Rose Byrne, Damages
Cherry Jones, 24

-It's great to see 24's president here, though the Grey's ladies annoy me, as does the fact that the best supporting actress on In Treatment, Allison Pill, is absent.

COMEDY LEAD ACTOR:
Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Steve Carell, The Office
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men
Tony Shalhoub, Monk

-Why are Shalhoub and Sheen still on this list?  Oh well, Clement and especially Parsons are great additions, though if they wanted a guy from HBO, they should've picked Danny McBride from Eastbound and Down.

COMEDY LEAD ACTRESS:
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine

-It's hard to find fault with this list, especially the additions of Collette and the wildly funny Silverman.

COMEDY SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Rainn Wilson, The Office
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock
Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock

-I guess past winner Jeremy Piven came down with another case of Mercury poisoning, because he's not here.  That's good news, as is the tidal wave of 30 Rock love that got two of its men in.

COMEDY SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live

-Moving to the Comedy category is really paying off for SNL, with its two funny ladies getting nominated.


OTHER INTERESTING NOMINEES:

-SNL also got some love with Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg's "D*ck ina Box" follow-up "Mother Lover" getting a nomination for Best Song.  Timberlake is actually a double nominee as he's now an Emmy-nominated actor with a Guest Actor nomination for hosting SNL.  Tina Fey also got a Guest Actress nom for her SNL work as Sarah Palin.

-The Drama Directing category loves series finales.  The ends of Battlestar Galactica, Boston Legal and ER were all nominated, alongside the Damages season finale and an episode of Mad Men.

-The Writing categories are just absurdly uneven.  For Comedy, it's Flight of the Conchords vs. four episodes of 30 Rock.  And for Drama, it's the Lost season finale "The Cincident" vs. four episodes of Mad Men.

-The Reality Competition nominees are the same as last year (TAR, Idol, Project Runway, Top Chef and DWTS), but the Reality Host was shaken up.  Howi Mandel is out, so Seacrest, Bergeron, Probst and Klum are now joined by TAR's Phil Keoghan and Top Chef's Padma and Tom.

-Finally, in the single best nomination ever, Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog is up for Special Class Program Live-Action Short Form Entertainment.    Joss Whedon could finally win an Emmy!



-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of ATAS)