Emmy reactions

Another year, another list of Emmy nominees. I've got a lot to say, so I'm just going to get started. (If you need to catch up, check out the full list or just the key categories.)

As usual, "It's Not TV It's HBO" scored by far the most of any network with 93 nominations (even if that's 31 less than last season). CBS followed with 59.

The most nominated programs were a thoroughly mediocre HBO original movie that tried to be cool (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers) and a very good HBO original movie that was old fashioned but worked well (Warm Springs). Both earned 16 nominations, only one short of the most nominated TV movie of all time (1977's Eleanor and Franklin, about the Roosevelts, who are also the focus of Warm Springs).

Right behind them were two comedies. The 15 nominations for Desperate Housewives couldn't have surprised anyone (but where are Eva Longoria and Nicolette Sheridan? Do Emmy voters disapprove of their promiscuous ways?). Somehow Will & Grace, yes tired old Will & Grace, got more nominations than it ever has before and tied Housewives' 15.

Maybe the 15 noms for Housewives and Will, the 13 noms for Everybody Loves Raymond's final season (which ties its previous Emmy high) and the 11 noms for Arrested Development (four more than last season) are actually a reflection of the weak state of television comedy. More nominations went to fewer shows, because there are fewer shows to even consider. (For the record: Friends spinoff Joey? Zero nominations.)

Oddly the drama competition, which in recent years has seen heavy hitters like NYPD Blue, ER, Six Feet Under and The West Wing score 20-plus noms, didn't have a breakaway contender. Lost took the most with 12 but the show's ensemble cast only managed two nominations (an expected one for Terry O'Quinn and the pleasantly surprising one for Naveen Andrews) and that kept its overall tally in check.

Other surprises/notable noms:

HBO's The Wire scored its first nomination ever, in the drama writing category. TV critics adore this show but it's never made a dent with the Emmys. Now it has, and the disconnect between the critical praise and Emmy attention is even weirder for it.

Showtime's Huff landed seven nominations, two more than Six Feet Under which the Showtime show is a rather pale imitation of. It's understandable that the excellent performances of Oliver Platt and Blythe Danner were recognized, and other categories (like opening titles and theme music) make sense as well. Why exactly underwhelming series star Hank Azaria was included (at the expense of people like Denis Leary, Michael C. Hall and Michael Chiklis) is a baffling question. I guess it's worth noting that Azaria is something of an Emmy favorite having won four previous awards (three alone for his Simpsons voice work).

Speaking of Blythe Danner, the Emmys crowned her TV's unofficial MVP of last season. She scored three noms covering all possible TV acting bases. In addition to supporting actress in a drama series for Huff, she was nominated for her guest work on comedy Will & Grace and as a lead actress in the TV movie Back When We Were Grownups. I wouldn't necessarily peg her as the frontrunner in any of those categories but I wouldn't count her out in any of them either. Her best shot may actually be for Huff. (Incidentally, Holland Taylor received a nomination for her supporting work on Two and a Half Men, a role which Danner played in the show's original pilot.)

Danner's work on Huff is in direct competition with C.C.H. Pounder from The Shield, one of this year's best surprise nominations. After four seasons it looked like Pounder's work might go overlooked for good but she joins Glenn Close, who scored an expected lead actress nom, in representing the outstanding FX drama in this year's awards after it was unfairly shut out completely last year.

Also in drama supporting actress, Sandra Oh scored one of the few nominations for bewildering midseason success Grey's Anatomy. The show bores me to tears so I can't speak to her work on it, but I'm curious if feeble minded Emmy voters got their outstanding Asian actresses all mixed up and thought they were voting for Lost's Korean standout Sunjin Kim instead.

Or maybe not, since they insisted on nominating both Stockard Channing and Tyne Daly in the category as they have every year since 2000. Completely overlooked? Any of the supporting actresses of Deadwood.

By the way, how exactly did Deadwood only score one acting nomination? This should've been a breakthrough year for the show but instead it only managed to match last season's 11 nominations despite turning up in the higher profile categories best drama series and best drama actor. I don't see that as a very good sign of support for the show and it looks like the drama trophy is Lost's to lose (unless voters get sentimental and finally give it to 24 in their grand tradition of awarding shows late).

Not all of this year's omissions were unwelcome. I think Allison Janney is a very talented actress but five nominations, and four wins, for her work on The West Wing is more than enough. The fact that Medium star Patricia Arquette is in the lead actress category and Janney isn't is slightly unsettling but at least there's some new blood.

On the comedy side HBO had its first season without a comedy series nominee since before the days of Larry Sanders. It's nice to see the network's Entourage wasn't included by default, and also that CBS' Two and a Half Men still has to prove itself by some other standard than Nielsen ratings.

The wildcard nominee turned out to be Scrubs. I've never been a fan of the quirky NBC comedy but it's been a critical favorite for four seasons now, so it's hard to begrudge the show its first ever comedy series nomination.

Besides the omissions of Longoria and Sheridan (in their "places" were Malcolm in the Middle's five-time loser Jane Kaczmarek and Two and a Half Men's other supporting actress, Conchetta Farrell), there were no surprises in the comedy acting categories. But, even if it was expected, it's great to see Jessica Walter and Jason Bateman actually get nominations for Arrested Development.

Beyond the big categories, it's nice to see:
-two nominations for BBC America's The Office Christmas Special, including the big TV-movie category!
-Ossie Davis nominated for his powerful guest work on The L Word (but where are guest actresses Lena Olin of Alias and Vanessa Redgrave of Nip/Tuck?)
-Saturday Night Live nearly shut out; its one nomination this year, for technical direction, is its lowest tally since 1998
-Mark Burnett's beloved Contender knocked out of the Reality Competition category by lightweight Project Runway (ha!)
-five good nominees in the Variety/Music/Comedy Series category: Da Ali G Show, The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Show with David Letterman and Real Time with Bill Maher

But even when the Emmys make good choices there are still those nominations that are so baffling, stupid and downright ugly that it hurts your brain to even think about them.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was only nominated for one Emmy this year, its lowest tally since 1992. And that should be a good thing. But that one nomination went to Jay Leno himself for "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music" program. He's the only host besides Jon Stewart nominated in the category. Yes, the worst talkshow host on all of television has been deemed an "outstanding" contender by Emmy voters.

Hooray for Emmys.