Without most popular shows, actors, many categories up for grabs
Leading the Emmy race with the highest number of nominations is HBO with a total of 104. Approximately one-fifth of those nominations go to HBO's original miniseries "Mildred Pierce," including an Outstanding Miniseries or Movie nomination and an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie nomination for Kate Winslet.
The Outstanding Drama Series category is once again filled with shows that are inarguably considered the best: AMC's "Mad Men," Showtime's "Dexter" and HBO's "Boardwalk Empire." A newcomer in the category is HBO's "Game of Thrones," which may be the weakest link in the category. A more surprising entry is "Friday Night Lights," which probably wouldn't be in the category had AMC's "Breaking Bad" not been absent during the period of eligibility. While the current nominees are satisfying, it's disappointing to see such commended shows like AMC's "The Killing" and "The Walking Dead" get left in the dust.
In terms of the comedy categories, the race for Outstanding Comedy Series includes returning nominees ABC's "Modern Family" and NBC's "30 Rock." New additions into the category are critic favorite "Parks and Recreation" on NBC and CBS's insanely hilarious "The Big Bang Theory." Anyone eager for the surfacing of the popular "Community" on NBC and "Louie" on FX into this category will be disappointed, although the latter is nominated for other awards like Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.
FX is finally getting some well-deserved attention from the Emmys, with Timothy Olyphant ("Justified") earning a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Louis C.K. ("Louie") nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. FX has an excellent line of original programming, but their track record with the Emmys has been pretty uneven.
Speaking of the dramatic lead actor categories, it will be interesting to see who takes home the Emmy now that Bryan Cranston, who won three years straight for "Breaking Bad," is ineligible. The safest expectation for this category is for either Jon Hamm ("Mad Men") or Steve Buscemi ("Boardwalk Empire") to walk away with the win, but Timothy Olyphant has an equal chance of winning for his acclaimed performance in "Justified."
Among the comedy actors category, Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock"), Steve Carell ("The Office") and Jim Parsons ("The Big Bang Theory") are returning nominees. Last year, Parsons took the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, but this year's Emmys has him up against "The Big Bang Theory" co-star Johnny Galecki. However, the Emmy will most likely go to Carell as a sympathetic win due to the last season of "The Office" marking his departure from television.
In the Outstanding Lead Actress category, Mireille Enos gains the first nomination for her performance in "The Killing." Joining her in the category are Kathy Bates for NBC's mediocre "Harry's Law," marking her eighth nomination, and Elisabeth Moss, who was nominated last year in the supporting actress category, for "Mad Men." Their additions into the category mean that there is one great oversight: the absence of frequent nominee Kyra Sedgwick, who received the Emmy for her performance "The Closer" last year.
This year's Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category was especially disappointing, with the Academy refusing to recognize the talents of "Glee's" Lea Michelle. This year, she is left empty-handed due to the addition of Laura Linney for Showtime's "The Big C," Melissa McCarthy for CBS's "Mike & Molly" and Martha Plimpton for Fox's "Raising Hope."
If there is one thing that this year's Emmy race has proven, it's that this hasn't been a triumphant year for broadcast networks. In 2010, first-year broadcast shows like "Modern Family" received multiple nominations while this year lacked a comparable number of first-year hits.