Emmy Glee! Broadcast Series Score Big in Nominations – and "Friday Night Lights" Finally Feels Some Love - Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

And you thought voting members of the Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences only had eyes for cableAll that changed last week with the announcement of the nominees for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards Not since the heyday of Frasier The West Wing and Will ampamp Grace have the broadcast networks made such a grand showing especially in the Drama and Comedy Series categories For the first time in a long time CBS NBC ABC and Fox all have much to celebrateConsider all this broadcast love Nineteen nominations for Fox39s Glee including series39 leads Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele supporting players Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer and guest stars Neil Patrick Harris Mike O39Malley and Kristin Chenoweth fourteen for ABC39s Modern Family including five of its adult stars all in supporting categories and guest actor Fred Willard and nine for CBS39 The Good Wife including frontrunner Julianna Margulies supporting actresses Christine Baranski and Archie Panjabi and guest actors Alan Cumming and Dylan Baker That39s a lot of Emmy attention for three broadcast freshmenMeanwhile NBC39s 30 Rock remained an Academy favorite with fifteen nominations including previous winners Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin supporting actress Jane Krakowski and guest actors Jon Hamm Will Arnett and Elaine Stritch ABC39s Lost receivedtwelve nominations for its fearless final season including Outstanding Drama Series which it won in its freshman year a firstever nomination for series star Matthew Fox nominations for previous winners Terry O39Quinn and Michael Emerson and one for guest actress Elizabeth Mitchell Several stars from lessrecognized broadcast series were also nominated including the criminally overdue Hugh Laurie of Fox39 House previous winner Mariska Hargitay and guest actress AnnMargret of NBC39s Law ampamp Order Special Victims Unit previous winner Julia LouisDreyfus of CBS39 The New Adventures of Old Christine Jim Parsons of CBS39 The Big Bang Theory Amy Poehler of NBC39s Parks and Recreation previous winner Steve Carell of NBC39s The Office and previous winner Jon Cryer of CBS39 Two and a Half Men along with his costar Holland Taylor The broadcasters didn39t do so bad in the reality arena either with nine nominations for ABC39s Dancing with the Stars seven for CBS39 annual Emmy champ The Amazing Race and six for Fox39s American IdolAnd then there39s the Academy39s biggest broadcast love of all Firstever nominations for Friday Night Lights stars Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton in the Lead Actor and Actress categories This is also satellite love since Lights is coproduced and telecast by DirecTV and NBC I can39t imagine what Academy members saw in Chandler and Britton39s consistently extraordinary work during the fourth season of this show that they missed during the first three but I39m not complainingOf course all of these broadcast shows and performers are up against formidable competition in their categories from such cable powerhouses as AMC39s Mad Men and Breaking Bad FX39s Damages Showtime39s Nurse Jackie and Dexter and HBO39s Curb Your Enthusiasm It39s a credit to television overall that there are no certain victories for any of them But if it is as quottheyquot say an honor simply to be nominated then the broadcast business must be feeling pretty swell right nowAs always there are significant oversights and curious omissions in most categories amp8211 the kind that would incite critical outrage had the Academy not gotten so much right this time around The WTF Moment of the Year is the omission of CBS39 riotously funny and enormously popular The Big Bang Theory from the nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series It belongs there in place of either The Office or 30 Rock The WTF runnerup is the Academy39s failure to nominate the awesome Zach Gilford for his performance in The Son the most emotionally supercharged episode of Friday Night Lights or arguably any drama series during the nomination period The Academy did acknowledge The Son with a nomination for writer Rolin Jones so it39s clear members were paying attention making the Gilford gaff all the more puzzlingI would also have liked to see the superb Damages in the running for Outstanding Drama Series Further I think HBO39s hefty and ambitious Treme was more deserving of a nod in that category than its campy supernatural funfest True Blood Matthew Fox39s nomination for Lost was a pleasant surprise but it came at the expense of Timothy Olyphant39s uniquely ingratiating performance in FX39s Justified Speaking of Lost I thought Josh Holloway was more deserving of special recognition during the show39s last season than Terry O39Quinn or Michael EmersonI39m truly sorry that the Academy didn39t see fit to acknowledge the gutsy lead performance by Katey Sagal in FX39s Sons of Anarchy or the surprising comedic sparkle series star Courteney Cox brought to ABC39s Cougar Town There should have been room for John Noble of Fox39s Fringe among the nominees for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series I would have gone with Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson of ABC39s Grey39s Anatomy over Christine Baranski and Archie Panjabi of The Good Wife for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and yet I39m not unhappy to see Baranski and Panjabi there and I39m thrilled to see Sharon Gless of USA Network39s Burn Notice and Christina Hendricks of Mad Men on that list I39m rooting for GlessThere should have been room for Nurse Jackie39s supporting superstars Peter Facinelli and Eve Best in their categories as well But again there is too much to be happy about among the nominations overall so there will be zero tolerance for sour grapes this summer amp8211 at least until the awards are handed out on August 29

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Emmy Glee! Broadcast Series Score Big in Nominations – and "Friday Night Lights" Finally Feels Some Love - Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

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Ed Martin

Empowering Women in Media: Insights from Industry Leaders (Video) - By E.B. Moss

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