The 2010 Emmy Nominations

Today the nominations for the 62nd Annual Emmy Awards was announced. As usual, today's nominations were a mixed bag. Oh, there were those shows which everyone expected to be nominated and truly deserve to be nominated. There were those that absolutely did not deserve nominations. And, sadly, there were those shows that deserved to be nominated but were for some reason snubbed.

This can be particularly demonstrated by looking at the Outstanding Comedy Series category. NBC's great new comedy Community was not nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series. For that matter, none of its actors were nominated in the actor and actress categories. Now, quite frankly, aside from 30 Rock, I think Community is easily the funniest comedy on television right now. While Community was not nominated, the chronically unfunny Curb Your Enthusiasm was nominated, and Larry David was nominated in the category of Best Actor in a Comedy Series. Quite frankly, to me this is a grave miscarriage of justice. Indeed, I think years from now television historians will be looking back at the 2010 Emmy Awards and wondering, "What were they thinking?!"

Of course, in some respects the various Drama categories are even worse. Two shows that absolutely should not have been nominated were nominated: The Good Wife and Friday Night Lights. Now I will admit. The Good Wife is a well executed show. And I will admit, Julianna Margulies does give a good performance in the lead role. That having been said, in the end the show is very derivative, with little to differentiate it from any number of legal dramas which have preceded it. As to Friday Night Lights, while critics seem to love this show for some reason, I do not see that it is any better than any number of teen dramas that air on The CW. Friday Night Lights should have been nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. Kyle Chandler should not have been nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series. I can think of any number of dramas and casts of dramas which deserved to be nominated more than Friday Night Lights, and I am now worried that next year I might see One Tree Hill nominated for Outstanding Drama Series!

I must say that I am somewhat more happy with the Outstanding  Variety, Comedy, or Music category. The all too short lived The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien received a nomination (take that, NBC!). I was shocked, however, that Saturday Night Live was nominated. Sadly, this was not one of the show's better seasons, with the exception of a few episodes (the one with Betty White was fantastic). I was also shocked that The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson was not nominated. Craig Ferguson is easily the funniest host on television, so much so that I can say he actually deserved to be nominated more than John Stewart or Stephen Colbert (both of whom are very funny guys themselves). At least I can be happy that the Academy of Arts and Sciences had the good sense not to nominate the incredibly unfunny Jay Leno...

While I have griped a good deal in this post, I must admit that for the most part I am happy with this year's nominations. Mad Men (easily the best show on television), 30 Rock, and The Office all received nominations this year (Mad Men received several). And many of my favourite actors, including Hugh Laurie, Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, and January Jones were all nominated. Now I can only hope that, even though it was nominated, Friday Night Lights won't somehow win in a category!