Emmy Nominations Are Here: Gleek Fever and Friday Night Lights Breakthrough

Starting now. The beautiful Sofia Vergara from Modern Family will be announcing. How great is she on that show as the "coal digger" Gloria? How many film stars will be nominated for small screen work, today? We shall see.

Drama

Series Breaking Bad | Dexter | The Good Wife | Lost | Mad Men | True Blood

• Trivia note: True Blood is the only nominated series (in either drama or comedy) without acting nominations. Who do you think is most deserving from that show?
  

Lead Actress January Jones, Mad Men | Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights | Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer | Glenn Close, Damages | Juliana Marguiles, The Good Wife | Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

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

• Dream come true: Friday Night Lights finally got lead acting nominations. Never mind that they've deserved them for years and that neither Britton nor Chandler ever coast like some Emmy regulars seem to. This is great news.
  

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

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

• I am beyond happy that the Mad Men Holy (Female) Trinity all made it in because they are all so different and so deserving. I'm happy to see Archie Panjabi's name (I don't like the show but I think she's a fine actress) and I'm still chuckling that Rose Byrne is a "supporting" actress in Damages' PATTY VS. ELLEN duet each year. It is, as they say, to laugh. Shouldn't this then be in the comedy category?

Comedy

Series Curb Your Enthusiasm | Glee | Modern Family | Nurse Jackie | The Office | 30 Rock

• Trivia Note: Glee is the Emmy series leader with 19 nominations (including one for my beloved Kristin Chenoweth as "April"). Mad Men trails with 17.
  

Lead Actress Lea Michelle, Glee | Julia Dreyfuss, The New Adventures of Old Christine | Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie | Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreations | Tina Fey, 30 Rock | Toni Collette, The United States of Tara

Lead Actor Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory | Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm | Matthew Morrison, Glee | Tony Shalhoub, Monk | Steve Carrell, The Office | Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

• The usual suspects with only Glee power duo really breaking up the standard fields. (Note the absence of Courtney Cox for Cougar Town and the new snubs for Ugly Betty and Weeds) A lot of Big Bang Theory fans (I know a few but I haven't seen the series) are probably excited this morning as this wasn't a sure thing, correct?
  

Supporting Actress Julia Bowen, Modern Family | Sofia Vergara, Modern Family | Jane Lynch, Glee | Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live | Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock | Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men

Burrel & Bowen = the best acted married couple on television?
(Now that the Mr & Mrs Don Draper have split)

Supporting Actor Chris Colfer, Glee | Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother | Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family | Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family | Ty Burrell, Modern Family | Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men

• Great day for Modern Family, easily the best sitcom on network television (that I've seen). The supporting actor comedy category is also a big win for Team Gay with three gay characters nominated and even totally out actors in the mix and not all of them in gay roles. I guess this means they all split the votes and Jon Cryer wins againzzzzz. As for the women I suspect Jane Lynch has it in the bag but allow me to shed a tear, or a drop of blood rather for Krakowski who had that incredible "rage stroke" on 30Rock this year. She's so genius funny.
  

Other Items of Interest

Blurring the lines: Oscar winners Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, Susan Sarandon, Judi Dench, Al Pacino, Sissy Spacek and Shirley Jones (just discussed from Elmer Gantry) were all Emmy nominated in miniseries, guest or telefilm categories. Other big screen regulars like Joan Allen, Claire Danes, Michael Sheen and Dennis Quaid were all nominated in miniseries, guest or telefilm categories. Are any of them working their way to a "triple crown"? Pacino already has one, doesn't he? Anyone else?

• P.S. Anne Hathaway is an Emmy Nominee, too. EGOT here she comes in... 20, 25 years?
  

Overkill!: Big category nominees like NPH, Jon Hamm, Jane Lynch, Tina Fey and Christine Baranski were also nominated in "guest actor" categories which means when they like you... they really really... oh never mind. The Emmys are always such a snoozzze.

Martyrdom Award: Taking one for a great series! Zach Gilford's incredible performance in the Friday Night Lights episode "The Son", (previously discussed) the one that arguably got the series sudden new Emmy attention was not nominated. The episode however did score in the Writing category.

Full List of Nominees?
Most sites don't cover all 1,231 categories even when they say they do, so you'll have to download it from the Emmy site. It's only there where I discovered the undiscussed Anne Hathaway thing and that Mad Men, The Tudors and Glee are competing for Best Costume Design... with The Good Wife and 30 Rock. Hmmm. Glee's nomination is from the Madonna episode. I want Mad Men to win. The nomination comes from that amazing episode "Souvenir" where January Jones gets all dolled up in Italy. YUM.