Emmy Nods: More is Better

Like the upcoming Oscars, this year's Emmy Awards also saw an increase in nominees-per-category (albeit smaller and far less publicized). Instead of the normal five nominees, this year went up to 6. And with the nominees announced yesterday, many categories saw as many as seven nominees. I had feared more nominees would mean the same snubbing of good shows, just more bad shows getting on instead. I knew How I Met Your Mother would again be ignored, only for something like Family Guy to take its place. Thankfully, I was only half right.

With more nominees in each category, this might be the happiest I've ever been with the Emmy nomination selections. Long-running Emmy favorites that nobody I know watches (Two and a Half Men, Boston Legal) finally (somewhat) cleared out in favor of shows I actually watch. There were still some glaring omissions, but overall it's a good crop. Let's hope the Oscars work out so well.

Best Comedy

As I said, I expected the worst in this category, especially since there's really very few good comedies on TV. But thankfully they got most of them on here, giving How I Met Your Mother its first well-deserved nomination, along with an even more surprising pick, Flight of the Conchords. 30 Rock and The Office of course were there, of course, and there was probably no stopping way way past its prime Entourage (why do they still like this show?) and slipping-in-quality Weeds, but I'd take both of those over thankfully missing Two and a Half Men. But Family Guy? I guess all Emmy voters are secretly 13-year-old boys.

Best Drama

Largely a repeat of last year's strong line-up, I have no real complaints here. Lost, Mad Men, Dexter, and Damages all made it on, so I'm happy. And I'm sure Big Love and Breaking Bad fans are happy to see their shows get some love too. Maybe if I was further into True Blood I'd care, or have any hopes Battlestar Galactica would be recognized for its fantastic final season, but I don't. 6th nominee was House, if there was any question of that.

Acting - Comedy

Some nice surprises in supporting actor comedy, where 30 Rock double-dipped with Tracy and Kenneth, and Jeremy Piven was surprisingly left off (though since he's the absolute only reason to watch the show, it makes you question that best comedy nod even more). With Piven out of the way, this has got to be NPH's year. Do you think he'll give the award to himself? Also yay that Kristin Chenowith made sure Pushing Daisies got something, but where was the rest of the cast?

Acting - Drama

These sections were a bit more of a mixed bag for me, as some nice picks were balanced out by some disappointing snubs. For instance, great to see Elisabeth Moss recognized for Mad Men, but where were January Jones (who really shined this season), Vincent Kartheiser, and Christina Hendricks? Always happy to see love for Michael Emerson's Ben from Lost, but how could they fail to nominate both Josh Holloway and Elizabeth Mitchell, who were really the heart of the season? And while this isn't the Emmys' fault, why was Jimmy Smits submitted as guest actor for Dexter when he was in every episode and had a way bigger part than most of the regulars?

Anyway, those are just my gut reactions (posting a day later than most of this was written). What about you? Did you think this could have been BSG's year? Mounting a campaign for Family Guy to win comedy? Or are you boycotting the show because they left off Chuck, Blair, and Hannah Montana (and yes, every one of them submitted themselves this year)? Let me know in the comments.