The Emmy Nominations: So Many Snubs, So Few Surprises

The nominations for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were announced this morning. It has taken most of the day to begin to wrap my head around them – sad, isn’t it?

I still haven’t, actually, and I don’t know if I will since, yet again, Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham and Veronica Mars’ Kristen Bell have gone criminally unrecognized.

I was pleasantly surprised more than a few times, though, like when I heard Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s Christopher Meloni’s name called, at long last. And, oh, I was quite happy when I found out that many of the big-name stars that made guest spots on the Ricky Gervais HBO show Extras were recognized.

You can find the complete of nominees here.

So here is my rant (and Michael Ausiello’s, and Matt Roush’s, and Kristin Veitch’s):

• Desperate Housewives may have suffered quite a sophomore slump, but Marcia Cross was stellar. And Eva Longoria deserved to be invited to the party as a first-time nominee.
• Guess the academy has lost its Lost love. Better to have had it once upon a time than never, right? Yeah, right – you tell that to Battlestar Galactica.
• Recognizing dead comedies (like Malcolm in the Middle, Out of Practice, or the mostly-phoned-in Will & Grace), with the exception of Arrested Development and The Comeback, is not funny.
• Where were any of the cast members of the surviving-and-thriving Scrubs? The show’s best season yet was included in the Best Comedy category, but I guess it acted itself.
• And finally, a question for the ages: Why do voters dislike The WB and UPN so much!? Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars are terrific shows, boasting some of the finest performances anywhere. They never recognized Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Gilmore Girls has one more year to go before it signs off and Veronica Mars needs all the support it can get.

On the other hand, Emmy voters got some things right:

• Lisa Kudrow overcame cancellation to score a deserved nomination for her dear fantastic portrayal of tragically funny Valerie “I don’t need to see that” Cherish in The Comeback.
• Kathy Griffin’s climb up the Hollywood ladder gets a little bit easier as her Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List netted an Outstanding Reality Program nomination.
• My Name Is Earl’s Jaime Pressly is officially a TV star.
• The Office and Steve Carell were singled out (but, sadly, not John Krasinski).
• 24 finally garnered some much-deserved attention in the supporting categories (for Gregory Itzin’s turn as the villainous President Logan and Jean Smart’s performance as the more-than-meets-the-eye First Lady).

The Emmys will be presented Aug. 27 in Los Angeles.

Photo: Amazon.com.