Primetime Emmy Nominations 2009: The Celebrated & The Snubbed

First I'll give you the good news.  Because this year the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences decided to open up the top Emmy categories to six nominations instead of five, several deserving nominees sneaked in when they might otherwise have been overlooked.

The bad news, several of my favorites were passed over in favor of nominees that I consider extremely questionable.

A total of 22 nominations went to 30 Rock and Mad Men got the most drama nominations with 16.

Here are the top categories:

Best Drama

Lost

Damages

Dexter

House

Breaking Bad

Mad Men

Best Comedy

Entourage

Family Guy 

Flight of the Conchords

How I Met Your Mother

The Office

Weeds

30 Rock

Best Actress in a Drama

Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters, ABC

Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer, TNT

Glenn Close, Damages, FX

Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order:  Special Victims Unit, NBC

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men, AMC

Holly Hunter, Saving Grace, TNT

Best Actor in a Drama

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad, AMC

Michael C. Hall, Dexter, Showtime

Hugh Laurie, House, Fox

Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment, HBO

Jon Hamm, Mad Men, AMC

Simon Baker, The Mentalist, CBS

Best Actress in a Comedy

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine, CBS

Christina Applegate, Samantha Who, ABC

Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program, Comedy Central

Tina Fey, 30 Rock, NBC

Toni Collette, United States of Tara, Showtime

Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds, Showtime

Best Actor in a Comedy

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory, CBS

Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords, HBO

Tony Shalhoub, Monk, USA

Steve Carell, The Office, NBC

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock, NBC

Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men, CBS

As with every list of Emmy nominations, there are the good, the bad and the "what were they thinking" categories, among others.  Here are mine:

The Good:

• Damages and Lost for Best Drama.  Damages was a better show during its first season and probably won't win but I'm glad the show was recognized.  Lost was incredibly good and probably would have been deep sixed by all those "I don't understand what's going on," Academy voters if there had only been five Best Drama slots.

• The steely eyed president in 24, Cherry Jones nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

• The feisty Ellen Parsons in Damages, Rose Byrne for Best Supporting Actress.

• The always wonderful Miranda Bailey in Grey's Anatomy, Chandra Wilson for Best Supporting Actress.

• The perfectly evil Benjamin Linus in Lost, Michael Emerson for Best Supporting Actor.

• The adorable Simon Baker for Best Actor in the surprise CBS hit, The Mentalist.

• Toni Collette as Best Actress in a Comedy for The United States of Tara.

• Kevin Kline as Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Cyrano de Bergerac.  Love Kevin Kline.

• Justin Timberlake for Best Music and Lyrics for the song for the hysterical Saturday Night Live short video, Motherlover. 

• The marvelous CCH Pounder as Best Guest Actress in a Drama for The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency.

• A Best Guest Actor nomination for the fabulous Jimmy Smits as Dexter's new best friend, Miguel Prado in Dexter.

The Bad:

• No Best Drama for True Blood.  Where the heck is True Blood!?   No Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, or Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton, or Nelsan Ellis as the delightfully wicked Lafayette.  They did get a Best Main Title Design nomination though for their truly excellent and creepy main titles.

• No Best Drama for The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and nothing for star Jill Scott.

• No Best Comedy for Desperate Housewives.  Housewives redeemed themselves this year with their five year flash forward but evidently the Academy members weren't impressed.

• No Josh Holloway for Best Supporting Actor in Lost.  Did the Academy voters see that season finale!?

• No acting nods for Battlestar Galactica. I didn't really expect any top nominations for BSG, but hey, I can dream can't I?

The "What Were They Thinking?"

• William Hurt in Damages?  I think not.  Good old Bill got this nomination on his movie cache alone because his performance in Damages left a lot to be desired.  Rent Body Heat if you want to see Bill Hurt at his best.  

• Mariska Hargitay, Tony Shalhoub, Sarah Silverman and Family Guy?  Come on guys.  Enough is enough.

• And thank God this is the last year we have to see William Shatner take up a Best Supporting Actor slot for Boston Legal.

The Smooth Switcheroo

• 24 and Kiefer Sutherland not being nominated in the Best Drama or Acting categories but the 24 TV movie, 24: Redemption being nominated for Best Miniseries or Movie and Sutherland for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.

Overall, I'm not too disappointed with this year's nominations.  I think the extra nominee slots made room for popular network shows, while still honoring some of the great shows on pay cable. It makes me think the Oscar folks might have it right after all.

What do you think of this year's nominees? 

The Emmy Awards will be hosted this year by Neil Patrick Harris and will air on CBS on Sunday September 20th.

Related Links

Ingrid Diaz at Grey's Anatomy News:  Grey's Anatomy 2009 Nominations

The Futon Critic:  Bravo Earns A Record Breaking 12 Nominations

My TV Awards:  The Supporting Women

Best Drama

Lost

Damages

Dexter

House

Breaking Bad

Mad Men

Best Comedy

Entourage

Family Guy 

Flight of the Conchords

How I Met Your Mother

The Office

Weeds

30 Rock

Best Actress in a Drama

Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters, ABC

Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer, TNT

Glenn Close, Damages, FX

Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order:  Special Victims Unit, NBC

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men, AMC

Holly Hunter, Saving Grace, TNT

Best Actor in a Drama

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad, AMC

Michael C. Hall, Dexter, Showtime

Hugh Laurie, House, Fox

Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment, HBO

Jon Hamm, Mad Men, AMC

Simon Baker, The Mentalist, CBS

Best Actress in a Comedy

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine, CBS

Christina Applegate, Samantha Who, ABC

Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program, Comedy Central

Tina Fey, 30 Rock, NBC

Toni Collette, United States of Tara, Showtime

Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds, Showtime

Best Actor in a Comedy

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory, CBS

Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords, HBO

Tony Shalhoub, Monk, USA

Steve Carell, The Office, NBC

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock, NBC

Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men, CBS

As with every list of Emmy nominations, there are the good, the bad and the "what were they thinking" categories, among others.  Here are mine:

The Good:

• Damages and Lost for Best Drama.  Damages was a better show during its first season and probably won't win but I'm glad the show was recognized.  Lost was incredibly good and probably would have been deep sixed by all those "I don't understand what's going on," Academy voters if there had only been five Best Drama slots.

• The steely eyed president in 24, Cherry Jones nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

• The feisty Ellen Parsons in Damages, Rose Byrne for Best Supporting Actress.

• The always wonderful Miranda Bailey in Grey's Anatomy, Chandra Wilson for Best Supporting Actress.

• The perfectly evil Benjamin Linus in Lost, Michael Emerson for Best Supporting Actor.

• The adorable Simon Baker for Best Actor in the surprise CBS hit, The Mentalist.

• Toni Collette as Best Actress in a Comedy for The United States of Tara.

• Kevin Kline as Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Cyrano de Bergerac.  Love Kevin Kline.

• Justin Timberlake for Best Music and Lyrics for the song for the hysterical Saturday Night Live short video, Motherlover. 

• The marvelous CCH Pounder as Best Guest Actress in a Drama for The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency.

• A Best Guest Actor nomination for the fabulous Jimmy Smits as Dexter's new best friend, Miguel Prado in Dexter.

The Bad:

• No Best Drama for True Blood.  Where the heck is True Blood!?   No Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, or Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton, or Nelsan Ellis as the delightfully wicked Lafayette.  They did get a Best Main Title Design nomination though for their truly excellent and creepy main titles.

• No Best Drama for The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and nothing for star Jill Scott.

• No Best Comedy for Desperate Housewives.  Housewives redeemed themselves this year with their five year flash forward but evidently the Academy members weren't impressed.

• No Josh Holloway for Best Supporting Actor in Lost.  Did the Academy voters see that season finale!?

• No acting nods for Battlestar Galactica. I didn't really expect any top nominations for BSG, but hey, I can dream can't I?

The "What Were They Thinking?"

• William Hurt in Damages?  I think not.  Good old Bill got this nomination on his movie cache alone because his performance in Damages left a lot to be desired.  Rent Body Heat if you want to see Bill Hurt at his best.  

• Mariska Hargitay, Tony Shalhoub, Sarah Silverman and Family Guy?  Come on guys.  Enough is enough.

• And thank God this is the last year we have to see William Shatner take up a Best Supporting Actor slot for Boston Legal.

The Smooth Switcheroo

• 24 and Kiefer Sutherland not being nominated in the Best Drama or Acting categories but the 24 TV movie, 24: Redemption being nominated for Best Miniseries or Movie and Sutherland for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.

Overall, I'm not too disappointed with this year's nominations.  I think the extra nominee slots made room for popular network shows, while still honoring some of the great shows on pay cable. It makes me think the Oscar folks might have it right after all.

What do you think of this year's nominees? 

The Emmy Awards will be hosted this year by Neil Patrick Harris and will air on CBS on Sunday September 20th.

Related Links

Ingrid Diaz at Grey's Anatomy News:  Grey's Anatomy 2009 Nominations

The Futon Critic:  Bravo Earns A Record Breaking 12 Nominations

My TV Awards:  The Supporting Women