Emmy Nominations: The Year of ‘Glee’

The 2010 Primetime Emmy Award nominations were announced yesterday morning. ‘Glee’ and ‘The Pacific’ led the pack with 19 nominations and 24 nominations respectively. I’m sure both programs will bring home a lot of those trophies. Follow us after the break for a rundown of the major categories, plus some commentary.

So, here are the nominees for the big categories:

Outstanding Drama Series

‘Breaking Bad’
‘Dexter’
‘The Good Wife’
‘Lost’
‘Mad Men’
‘True Blood’

There’s not a bad show in that bunch. I couldn’t begrudge any of them for taking home the top prize. I’d personally like to see ‘Lost’ win, but I have a feeling that lingering viewer ill-will about the finale will probably prevent that from happening. I doubt it will be ‘True Blood’ either, since its first season was much better than the second, and it didn’t win then. I’m guessing that ‘Mad Men’ will take it again, but that’s just a shot in the dark.

Outstanding Comedy Series

’30 Rock’
‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
‘Glee’
‘Modern Family’
‘Nurse Jackie’
‘The Office’

There’s no doubt that ‘Glee’ will rock this category. And it deserves to. The show had a heck of a premiere season. It’s fresh, smart, unlike anything else currently on television, and entertaining as all get out.

‘Modern Family’ was another breakout success this year, but I don’t think it can stop the ‘Glee’ juggernaut. Nor will ‘Curb’, even though that had a pretty good season too. (Loved that ‘Seinfeld’ reunion storyline.)

‘The Office’ and ’30 Rock’ both had off seasons and shouldn’t have even been nominated here. I don’t know enough about ‘Nurse Jackie’ to comment on that one. (I’ve only seen one episode; it was pretty good.)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Kyle Chandler, ‘Friday Night Lights’
Bryan Cranston, ‘Breaking Bad’
Matthew Fox, ‘Lost’
Michael C. Hall, ‘Dexter’
Jon Hamm, ‘Mad Men’
Hugh Laurie, ‘House’

Haven’t most of these actors already been nominated and/or won this award a bunch of times already? Don’t get me wrong, Hugh Laurie is great in in ‘House’, but it bothers me to see the same names over and over again, year after year.

I’d love for Kyle Chandler to take this, but that’ll never happen. I’m guessing that Laurie will win for the 17th time.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Connie Britton, ‘Friday Night Lights’
Glenn Close, ‘Damages’
Mariska Hargitay, ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’
January Jones, ‘Mad Men’
Julianna Margulies, ‘The Good Wife’
Kyra Sedgwick, ‘The Closer’

Much as with my complaint about the actors above, Glenn Close and Mariska Hargitay are just such obvious nominations in this category. Please give this one to either Connie Britton or Julianna Marguilies, please. Thank you.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Alec Baldwin, ’30 Rock’
Steve Carell, ‘The Office’
Larry David, ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
Matthew Morrison, ‘Glee’
Jim Parsons, ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Tony Shalhoub, ‘Monk’

Hmmm… The big question here is whether Alec Baldwin take home his 82nd consecutive trophy for ’30 Rock’, or whether ‘Glee’ will be such a sweep in this year’s awards that anyone associated with the show will automatically win their category?

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comeday Series

Toni Collette, ‘United States of Tara’
Edie Falco, ‘Nurse Jackie’
Tina Fey, ’30 Rock’
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’
Lea Michele, ‘Glee’
Amy Poehler, ‘Parks and Recreation’

I love Amy Poehler in ‘Parks and Rec’, and that show’s second season was a big improvement over the first. The actress has a lot of friends and support in the industry. I’m predicting she’ll take it. Lea Michele could be a dark horse spoiler, though.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Andre Braugher, ‘Men of a Certain Age’
Michael Emerson, ‘Lost’
Terry O’Quinn, ‘Lost’
Aaron Paul, ‘Breaking Bad’
Martin Short, ‘Damages’
John Slattery, ‘Mad Men’

Michael Emerson created one of the most compelling villains in TV history on ‘Lost’, but he won last year, and probably won’t again. Beyond that, I have no clue where this category is going.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Christine Baranski, ‘The Good Wife’
Rose Byrne, ‘Damages’
Sharon Gless, ‘Burn Notice’
Christina Hendricks, ‘Mad Men’
Elisabeth Moss, ‘Mad Men’
Archie Panjabi, ‘The Good Wife’

How is Rose Byrne a “supporting actress” on ‘Damages’? Yes, I know that Glenn Close is the bigger name, but Byrne is the damn lead character with the most screen time in the show.

Anyway, Magic 8 Ball says Christine Baranski will take this one as a token show of support for ‘The Good Wife’, which probably won’t win any other category.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Ty Burrell, ‘Modern Family’
Chris Colfer, ‘Glee’
Jon Cryer, ‘Two And A Half Men’
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, ‘Modern Family’
Neil Patrick Harris, ‘How I Met Your Mother’
Eric Stonestreet, ‘Modern Family’

This is all about Eric Stonestreet. He’s hilarious on ‘Modern Family’. No one else should even be in contention here.

I mean, I love NPH on ‘HIMYM’, but that show kind of fell to crap this past season, and his character was one of its biggest casualties. He shouldn’t have even been nominated this time.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Julie Bowen, ‘Modern Family’
Jane Krakowski, ’30 Rock’
Jane Lynch, ‘Glee’
Holland Taylor, ‘Two and A Half Men’
Sofia Vergara, ‘Modern Family’
Kristen Wiig, ‘Saturday Night Live’

Jane Lynch. Jane Lynch. Jane Lynch. Jane Lynch. There isn’t even any debate here.

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Shirley Jones, ‘The Cleaner’
Ann Margret, ‘Law and Order: SVU’
Elizabeth Mitchell, ‘Lost’
Mary Kay Place, ‘Big Love’
Sissy Spacek, ‘Big Love’
Lily Tomlin, ‘Damages’

Errr… ummm… I don’t know… Lily Tomlin, maybe?

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Dylan Baker, ‘The Good Wife’
Beau Bridges, ‘The Closer’
Alan Cumming, ‘The Good Wife’
Ted Danson, ‘Damages’
Gregory Itzin, ’24’
John Lithgow, ‘Dexter’
Robert Morse, ‘Mad Men’

I don’t get Showtime, and thus don’t watch ‘Dexter’, but all I’ve heard from anyone who does is how great John Lithgow was on it.

Gregory Itzin is an awfully juicy villain, though. He was one of the few redeeming things about this past season of ’24’.

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Christine Baranski, ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Kristin Chenoweth, ‘Glee’
Tina Fey, ‘Saturday Night Live’
Katherine Joosten, ‘Desperate Housewives’
Jane Lynch, ‘Two and a Half Men’
Elaine Stritch, ’30 Rock’
Betty White, ‘Saturday Night Live’

Betty White. That’s obvious. Is ‘Desperate Housewives’ really considered a comedy?

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Will Arnett, ’30 Rock’
Jon Hamm, ’30 Rock’
Neil Patrick Harris, ‘Glee’
Mike O’Malley, ‘Glee’
Eli Wallach, ‘Nurse Jackie’
Fred Willard, ‘Modern Family’

I’d like to see Mike O’Malley win this one. His character on ‘Glee’ just makes me feel all warm and mushy.

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series

‘The Colbert Report’
‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’
‘Real Time with Bill Maher’
‘Saturday Night Live’
‘Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien’

We all know this is going to Conan, right? Of course we do. Suck it, Leno!

Outstanding Miniseries

‘The Pacific’
‘Return to Cranford’

Only two nominees, really? Gee, I wonder which one will win. Will it be the hugely expensive, massively promoted HBO miniseries that leads the nominations this year? Or will it be that other thing that nobody’s ever heard of, much less seen? It’s from PBS, isn’t it? Is PBS even still a real network anymore?

That should do it for the award categories that people actually, you know, care about. But that’s certainly not the whole list. The Emmys give out approximately 8,000 separate awards each year. If you absolutely need to know who was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Craft Services for a Comedy on a Network with the Letter “C” in the Name, be sure to visit the official web site for a complete list.

The awards ceremony will air on August 29th.

6 comments

  1. Mrs. Z

    I’m with you that The Good Wife should win in the supporting actress category but not for Christine Baranski. Seriously, I think you the Magic 8 ball is broken. If you actually watched the show you would know that Archie Panjabi’s Kalinda is one of the most interesting characters on television. She totally deserves the statue. Although I wouldn’t count out the women of Mad Men, especially Christina Hendricks.

    • Mrs. Z forgets that not everyone who votes for these awards actually watches the shows either. Not more than the one episode that’s been submitted by the network for their consideration, anyway.

      Everyone knows who Christine Baranski is and likes her. I bet that 90% of the voters who see the name “Archie Panjabi” on the ballot for Best Supporting Actress will assume that a man was accidentally slipped into that category by mistake. Hence, no votes for her.

      That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. 🙂

  2. Jim Parsons will win Best Actor Comedy Series, surely. Big Bang is very hot right now, 30 Rock and The Office have both stagnated badly, Curb Your Enthusiasm’s time has passed, and no one would really notice if Matthew Morrison disappeared from Glee altogether. And has anyone ever actually watched Monk? Judging by the ads it’s the only thing Tony Shaloub has ever been uninteresting in.

    Also, Burrell > Stonestreet.

  3. mh

    Hugh Laurie has never won an Emmy. He’s been nominated every year, but he has never won. Bryan Cranston has won the past two years for BREAKING BAD.

    DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES has been entered in the comedy categories every year of its existence. It was nominated for Best Comedy Series the first year but didn’t win. In fact, Katherine Joosten has won this guest comedy actress award before for her role on the show.

    I would be shocked if John Lithgow doesn’t win the Emmy for his chilling performance on DEXTER, and it was Michael C. Hall’s best season, too, so the Emmy could also be in his future. He’s won the other two major TV related awards thus far this season, the Golden Globe and the SAG Award for his work.

  4. besch64

    Michael Emerson is the best actor on television, but Ben Linus just wasn’t handled with the same care as he has been in past season. Emerson is the best of them, but he wasn’t given an opportunity to prove it this year. He shouldn’t win it.

    On the other hand, Terry O’Quinn has to win Best Supporting Actor in a Drama. He HAS to. I have never seen somebody play two separate characters with such subtle differences, and absolutely kill both of them. There were moments in this season where Lost wasn’t up to its usual caliber, but TOQ was this show’s constant.

    As for guest actor, Gregory Itzin was fucking fantastic. I haven’t yet watched this season of Dexter, so I haven’t seen for myself what John Lithgow has done there, although I heard it was great. But I just can’t imagine anybody being as great as Itzin was. The home stretch of 24 was really pretty awful, but Itzin was infinitely awesome to watch. Especially when Jack attacked his car escort.

    I expect Breaking Bad to win best drama. I haven’t seen a single solitary moment of this show, but apparently the third season was almost perfect. And I’ve heard from reliable sources that one of the episodes this year might legitimately be the best episode of television in history.

    I’m a huge Lost guy, but I’m not even sure it deserves to win Best Drama. On the other hand, The End deserves to win every single-episode category there is.

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