The 2011 Emmys: Major Nominations!

The nominations for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards were released this morning and, after culling the major categories from the seventy-pages of nominations [can you imagine how long a TV special would be if it addressed every category? It would qualify for the movie or mini-series category!].

After last year’s remarkably astute nominations, things go back to normal this year, with some amazing programming ignored completely – like Fox’s Fringe, which was shut out [even in categories like visual effects]! The 63rd Primetime Emmy® Awards airs Sunday, September 18, live on FOX Television

The major noms and a few accompanying thoughts follow the jump.

Outstanding Comedy Series

The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
The Office
Parks And Recreation
30 Rock

Replace The Bang Theory with The Big C and either The Office or Parks and Recreation with Futurama and I’d be much happier. The Big Bang Theory is funnier since Mayim Bialik joined the show’s recurring cast, but it’s still not as good as either The Bic C or Futurama. The Office is two seasons past its prime and Parks and Recreation can be overly precious at times. At least one of them should not be here. And where the frak is United States of Tara?

Outstanding Drama Series

Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Game Of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men

No Fringe? No Justified? Really? Both shows were superior to Dexter and Friday Night Lights in every way! If I were a cynic, I’d say that something went on behind the scenes to prevent Fringe and Justified from being nominated – but at least Justified got a couple acting nods [see below]. Frigne was SHUT OUT! That’s just wrong!

Outstanding Miniseries Or Movie

Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Kennedys
Mildred Pierce
The Pillars Of The Earth
Too Big To Fail

Looks good to me – a bit of quality soap, some noir, some melodrama. I might not have included The Kennedys, but really, there wasn’t much else out there that even half as good.

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series

Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory
Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter, The Big Bang Theory
Matt LeBlanc as Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Louis C.K. as Louie, Louie
Steve Carell as Michael Scott, The Office
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock

Where’s Oliver Platt [The Big C]? He turned in consistently better performances than Johnny Galecki, or Steve Carell! Surely he could have filled one of their slots.

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, Boardwalk Empire
Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, Dexter
Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor, Friday Night Lights
Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, House
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, Justified
Jon Hamm as Don Draper, Mad Men

Oddly enough, I have no real complaint with this category – even though it would’ve been nice to see Joshua Jackson [Fringe] make the cut in place of, say, Michael C. Hall or Hugh Laurie – both of whom have done better work in earlier seasons of their respective shows.

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series

Laura Linney as Cathy Jamison, The Big C
Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn, Mike & Molly
Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton, Nurse Jackie
Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, Parks And Recreation
Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance, Raising Hope
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, 30 Rock

I’m sorry, but Edie Falco is right – she’s not funny, and neither is her show. Toni Collette should be on this list instead!

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series

Connie Britton as Tami Taylor, Friday Night Lights
Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife
Kathy Bates as Harriet "Harry" Korn, Harry’s Law
Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden, The Killing
Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson, Mad Men

Kathy Bates doesn’t belong here. There’s absolutely nothing special about her character and the series is awful. That she made the cut and the amazing Anna Torv [Fringe] did not is nothing less than highway robbery! Mariska Hargitay has done better work in earlier seasons, but this is her last on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, so she probably made the ballot for her time on the show as a whole. I can live with that, but would have preferred to see Sela Ward nominated for CSI: New York. She totally reinvigorated a series that went downhill almost from the middle of its first season.

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series

Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel, Glee
Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Modern Family
Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett, Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker, Modern Family
Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Modern Family
Jon Cryer as Alan Harper, Two and a Half Men

Even though Glee went off the tracks in season two, I can’t fault including Colfer [the series’ most consistent light, this year] here. And Modern Family deserves to have every one of these nominations. Replace Jon Cryer with Atticus Shaffer [Brick on The Middle] and this category would be improved immeasurably.

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones
Josh Charles as Will Gardner, The Good Wife
Alan Cumming as Eli Gold, The Good Wife
Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder, Justified
John Slattery as Roger Sterling, Mad Men
Andre Braugher as Owen, Men of a Certain Age

Leaving John Noble [Fringe] off this list is as good as saying ‘the fix is in.’ Unless, of course, Peter Dinklage doesn’t win. Still, Noble badly outclassed half this list [I’m looking at you John Slattery, Josh Charles and Andre Braugher], this season. At his point, I’m wondering who the producers of Fringe pissed off!

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series

Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester, Glee
Betty White as Elka Ostrosky, Hot in Cleveland
Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Modern Family
Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Modern Family
Kristen Wiig as Various characters, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney, 30 Rock

Betty White is good, but not that good. Phyllis Somerville [The Big C] would have been a much better choice.

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Edgar Ramirez as Carlos, Carlos
Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy, The Kennedys
Barry Pepper as Bobby Kennedy, The Kennedys
Idris Elba as John Luther, Luther
Laurence Fishburne as Thurgood Marshall, Thurgood
William Hurt as Henry ‘Hank’ Paulson, Too Big Too Fail

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Diane Lane as Patricia Loud, Cinema Verite

Elizabeth McGovern as Cora, Countess of Grantham, Downton Abbey

Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce, Mildred Pierce

Taraji P. Henson as Tiffany Rubin, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story

Jean Marsh as Rose Buck, Upstairs Downstairs

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Tom Wilkinson as Joe Kennedy, The Kennedys

Guy Pearce as Monty Beragon, Mildred Pierce

Brian F. O’Byrne as Bert Pierce, Mildred Pierce

Paul Giamatti as Ben Bernanke, Too Big To Fail

James Woods as Richard Fuld, Too Big To Fail

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series

Kelly Macdonald as Margaret Schroeder, Boardwalk Empire

Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma, The Good Wife

Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, The Good Wife

Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett, Justified

Michelle Forbes as Mitch Larsen, The Killing

Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris, Mad Men

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, Downton Abbey

Evan Rachel Wood as Veda Pierce, Mildred Pierce

Melissa Leo as Lucy Gessler, Mildred Pierce

Mare Winningham as Ida, Mildred Pierce

Eileen Atkins as Lady Maud Holland, Upstairs Downstairs

Outstanding Animated Program

The Cleveland Show

Futurama

Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III

The Simpsons

South Park

Outstanding Short-format Animated Program

Adventure Time

Disney Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa

Regular Show

Robot Chicken

SpongeBob SquarePants

Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series

How I Met Your Mother • Pamela Fryman, Directed by

Modern Family • Michael Alan Spiller, Directed by

Modern Family • Gail Mancuso, Directed by

Modern Family • Steve Levitan, Directed by

30 Rock • Beth McCarthy-Miller, Directed by

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series

Boardwalk Empire • Martin Scorsese, Directed by

Boardwalk Empire • Jeremy Podeswa, Directed by

The Borgias • Neil Jordan, Directed by

Game Of Thrones • Tim Van Patten, Directed by

The Killing • Patty Jenkins, Directed by

I’m thinking that Fringe’s Joe Chapple [for Lyseric Acid Diethylamide] could have taken the slot currently filled by Jeremy Podeswa, or the one filled by Patty Jenkins, and the category would be the better for it.

Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special

Carlos • Olivier Assayas, Directed by

Cinema Verite • Shari Springer Berman, Directed by; Robert Pulcini, Directed by

Downton Abbey (Masterpiece) • Brian Percival, Directed by

Mildred Pierce • Todd Haynes, Directed by

Too Big To Fail • Curtis Hanson, Directed by