The 62nd Primetime Emmys: Hot, Fresh, and Not That New

The Primetime Emmy Awards are trying everything they can think of to get you to tune in.

In case your September looks a little full (you know…with the return of Sunday Night Football and all), no worries! This year’s Emmys are scheduled to air August 29^th on NBC—nearly a whole month earlier than “usual.” And just in case you were worried about making it to work on time the morning after because of never ending thank-you speeches (sans a ‘Ye-like component)—no worries! The 62^nd Primetime Emmys will air live telecasts in all time zones. Really don’t know what a DP does? No worries! The Emmys pre-game will take care of that to get you invested in the crews just as much as the cast. And while you’re contemplating another excuse, no worries! The Academy appears to have watched some of the shows normal people watch this year, too.

Or at least they finally got tired of hearing we-the-lowly-eyeballs’ mouths.

Believe it or not, NBC’s critically successful 30 Rock, The Office, and Monk may actually be given a run for their statuettes this year. Glee (FOX), Modern Family (ABC),  and Nurse Jackie (HBO) are the newbie shaker uppers in the outstanding comedy category. Outstanding drama isn’t seeing too much competition, but The Good Wife, starring Julianna Margulies on CBS, is touting a solid 9 nominations.

Interesting thing about these newcomers, though: None of the contenders for the top awards are all that new to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Edie Falco, star of Nurse Jackie, and Margulies already have a set of wings. Modern Family co-creators, Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd have been here and done primetime, too. While Glee proves to be the greenest kid on the block, even Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy have made repeat touchdowns on the Emmys red carpet via their cable hit, Nip/Tuck, winning Best Makeup in 2004. (Ok. So maybe you don’t bother to mention you won makeup on the cover of your DVD sets, but you get the point…)

The Primetime Emmys, the Guilds (SAG, WGA, DGA), and the Golden Globes are a few of the award granters who bother to fancy television and we who consume the medium. Given that each organization’s respective voting bodies are comprised of working entertainment professionals and their peers, it certainly helps if your favorite television shows have already made the rounds of the most coveted industry awards’ inner circles.

But as the 62^nd Primetime Emmy Awards look for some love for their own broadcast, shows people do watch and scripted newness they might care to watch if green-lighted are, arguably, fleeting among the nominations. Judge for yourself!

In the meantime, I’m hoping for the day when handing out accolades to quality television isn’t dependent on the Industry’s pre-sorted batch of recyclables.

But until then: GO, GLEE!

Here are the contenders for the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards:

Best Comedy Series: Curb Your Enthusiasm; Glee; Modern Family; Nurse Jackie; The Office; 30 Rock

Best Actor, Comedy: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory; Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Matthew Morrison, Glee; Tony Shalhoub, Monk; Steve Carell, The Office; Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Best Actress, Comedy: Lea Michele, Glee; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, New Adventures of Old Christine; Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie; Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation; Tina Fey, 30 Rock; Toni Collette, United States of Tara

Supporting Actor, Comedy: 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

Analysis: Blame it all on my own cynicism, but I love a well-scripted jerk. So Neil Patrick Harris, and as you’ll see in a moment, Jane Lynch, can have my nonexistent vote over and over again for being [not-exactly-a-doughnut] holes par excellence.

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

Analysis: Sue Sylvester changes lives with her snark. That being said, I need to see Jane Lynch clench the supporting actress award, and I need Kristen Wiig to be better categorized. She definitely deserves an Emmy–especially coming from an SNL generation whose casting gets more and more skewed toward (not-so-funny…*cough, ahem) testosterone every few years. However, don’t we categorize SNL as ‘variety’? Yeah. Thought so! Go ahead. Create the category! Wait. That’s right, you can’t because, what’s that you say? There aren’t enough women in variety television. Oh.

Guest Actor, Comedy: Mike O’Malley, Glee; Neil Patrick Harris, Glee; Fred Willard, Modern Family; Eli Wallach, Nurse Jackie; Jon Hamm, 30 Rock; Will Arnett, 30 Rock

Guest Actress, Comedy:Christine Baranski, The Big Bang Theory; Kathryn Joosten, Desperate Housewives; Kristin Chenoweth, Glee; Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live; Betty White, Saturday Night Live; Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock; Jane Lynch, Two and a Half Men

Analysis: Betty White will win. Remember I said so.

Best Drama Series: Breaking Bad; Dexter; The Good Wife; Lost; Mad Men; True Blood

Best Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad; Michael C. Hall, Dexter; Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights; Hugh Laurie, House; Matthew Fox, Lost; Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Best Actress, Drama: Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer; Glenn Close, Damages; Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights; Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife; Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU; January Jones, Mad Men

Best Supporting Actor, Drama: 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

Best Supporting Actress, Drama: 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

Analysis: Alas! Is that…(rubs eyes) a woman of color?! WHOO! GO, ARCHIE! I didn’t forget about you, Modern Family! Nor you, Men of a Certain Age! I simply neglected to realize until this far down in my list, just how scarce your melanin is, on this, the SIXTY-SECOND occasion of this awards series.

Guest Actor, Drama: Beau Bridges, The Closer; Ted Danson, Damages; John Lithgow, Dexter; Alan Cumming, The Good Wife; Dylan Baker, The Good Wife; Robert Morse, Mad Men; Gregory Itzin, 24

Guest Actress, Drama: Mary Kay Place, Big Love; Sissy Spacek, Big Love; Shirley Jones, The Cleaner; Lily Tomlin, Damages; Ann-Margret, Law & Order: SVU; Elizabeth Mitchell, Lost

Reality Competition Program: The Amazing Race; American Idol; Dancing with the Stars; Project Runway; Top Chef

Reality Show Host: Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race; Ryan Seacrest, American Idol; Tom Bergeron, Dancing with the Stars; Heidi Klum, Project Runway; Jeff Probst, Survivor

Variety, Music, or Comedy Series: The Colbert Report; The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; Real Time with Bill Maher; Saturday Night Live; The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien

Analysis: Let’s be serious. Of the years Conan has been on television, the Emmy statistics don’t count him as an eligible “variety show” until this year. O’Brien, I hope you’re practicing all those parting shots to the networks that played you for crazy.

Variety, Music, or Comedy Special: Bill Maher ‘But I’m Not Wrong’; Hope for Haiti Now; The Kennedy Center Honors; Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction; The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert; Wanda Sykes: I’ma Be Me

Miniseries: The Pacific; Return to Cranford

Made for TV Movie: Endgame; Georgia O’Keeffe; Moonshot; The Special Relationship; Temple Grandin; You Don’t Know Jack

Actor in a Miniseries or Movie: Jeff Bridges, A Dog Year; Sir Ian McKellen, The Prisoner; Michael Sheen, The Special Relationship; Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship; Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack

Analysis: Probably sounds lame, but I don’t have HBO. And it’s a shame, too. I might just have seen all this, clearly, quality television I’ve been missing out on. Thank you, Emmys, for telling me who I should be watching!

Actress in a Miniseries or Movie: Maggie Smith, Capturing Mary; Joan Allen, Georgia O’Keeffe; Dame Judi Dench, Return to Cranford; Hope Davis, The Special Relationship; Claire Danes, Temple Grandin

Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie: Michael Gambon, Emma; Patrick Stewart, Hamlet (Great Performances); Jonathan Pryce, Return to Cranford; David Strathairn, Temple Grandin; John Goodman, You Don’t Know Jack

Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie: Kathy Bates, Alice; Julia Ormond, Temple Grandin; Catherine O’Hara, Temple Grandin; Brenda Vaccaro, You Don’t Know Jack; Susan Sarandon, You Don’t Know Jack

The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards will air on Sunday, August 29 at 8/7c on NBC.

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Photographs courtesy of Fox, ABC, CBS, and Showtime.