Emmy Nominations Reaction! Plus New Shows Premiere and A Classic Returns

Well, there were certainly a few surprises this morning when the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced its 2006 Emmy nominations. Where were the Housewives, Emmy favorite James Spader, the excellent Hugh Laurie, Lost, any of my picks for best actress in a drama (with the exception of Kyra Sedgwick), Lauren Graham, Kristen Bell, Zach Braff, Everwood and a million other oversights?? Yes, today's announcement was all about who didn't get a nom, rather than who did. It seems that ABC's Grey's Anatomy not only overtook its lead-in Desperate Housewives in the ratings, but it also overtook it and fellow network sibling Lost in the nominations. Overall, Fox's 24 walked away with the most nominations with 12, followed by Anatomy with 11 and the now departed Will & Grace with 10. Newcomers My Name is Earl (5 nominations), How I Met Your Mother (2 nominations), The Closer (1 nomination) and Prison Break (1 nomination) all fared well. Even though neither Desperate Housewives nor Lost landed nominations in the big categories, both managed to collect 7 and 9 nominations, respectively. Meanwhile, comedies Two and a Half Men (7 nominations), The Office (5 nominations), Curb Your Enthusiasm (5 nominations), Arrested Development (4 nominations) and Scrubs (1 nomination) didn't walk away empty handed either. Perennial Emmy favorites The Sopranos (7 nominations), The West Wing (6 nominations) and The Amazing Race (5 nominations) cleaned up as well. On the network side, HBO once again topped the others with 95 total nominations, while ABC came out on top in the major networks with 64. CBS (47 noms), NBC (46 noms), Fox (41 noms) and The WB (4 noms) weren't far behind.

How did PassTheRemote.net favorites fare?
Not too well. Everwood, Veronica Mars and Cold Case wound up empty handed, while others were more fortunate. Scrubs ended up with 1 nom, The Amazing Race got 5 and Lost made out the best with 9. It seems that despite the system change to a panel vote over a member-wide vote, many things stayed the same.


Biggest Snubs
Wow! There are so many, I'm not sure where to begin. Lauren Graham, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Morris, Tichina Arnold, Sarah Chalke, Jenna Fischer, Jennifer Garner, Emily Van Camp, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, John C. McGinley, Tom Amandes, Zach Braff, Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, John Krasinski, Treat Williams, Marcia Cross, Veronica Mars, Everwood, Lost, Cold Case, My Name is Earl and Everybody Hates Chris.


Skin Crawling Nominations
Sometimes I think the nominations go to the most popular shows instead of those with the most quality. You guys know that I'm not the biggest fan of Grey's Anatomy, so this is going to sound biased, but how can it get a nom for best drama over Lost? And why does Two and a Half Men fare better than My Name is Earl or Everybody Hates Chris, which were both shut out of the best comedy category? It also seems that the Academy loves to reward film stars who turn to television. Witness Alfre Woodard's nom for best supporting actress in a drama comedy. Now, I'm not saying that she is undeserving, but her character was sorely underdeveloped and the storyline outrageous, so how can one even accurately judge her work? And how about Geena Davis, whose Commander In Chief seemed to be on top of the world until new direction sent it crashing down into the cancellation abyss. Again, Davis' work was fine, but the second half of the season had her adverting one disaster after another with little else going on. And hasn't Allison Janney won enough statues for her role as CJ Cregg? It sure would have been nice to see Kristen Bell or Kathryn Morris in that slot instead. Perhaps the biggest skin crawling nomination is the set of 10 that the Academy bestowed on the not-funny Will & Grace. And why nominate every cast member except Eric McCormack?


Shocking Inclusions
As I have stated before, the shock was more in who wasn't included than who was, so there weren't a lot of "shockers" this year. King of Queens' Kevin James' first nomination was a nice surprise as was Law & Order: SVU's Christopher Meloni, and I jumped for Joy when I heard My Name is Earl's Jaime Pressly get a nod for best supporting actress in a comedy. Even though I'm not a Grey's fan, I did smile when I saw Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson listed in the best supporting category. Both actresses turn in excellent performances. Perhaps the biggest surprise was seeing both Scrubs and The Office included in the best comedy category because both shows have failed to garner the respect they deserve.

Overall, it was an interesting morning. While there were plenty of great picks, there just seem to be so many just as deserving that are still missing. Will Lauren Graham and John C. McGinley ever break though?? I guess this is a question we'll have to wait until next year to ask again. Maybe then the answer will be yes. To see a list of all of this year's nominations, click HERE.


QUICK CUTS

*TV TONIGHT/THIS WEEKEND: CBS rolls out another season of Big Brother (8 p.m.), but this time the contestants are all made up of former "all-stars." Viewer-votes and producer-picks decided the 12 HouseGuests, but you'll have to tune in tonight to see who made the cut on Big Brother: All-Stars. On Friday, USA network rolls out the 5th season of Monk (9 p.m.), followed by the premiere of its latest detective comedy Psych (10 -11:30 p.m.). And finally, Showtime premieres its latest offering, Brotherhood, Sunday night at 10 p.m. Haven't heard about Brotherhood? Here's an excerpt from the official description (click on the banner in the side bar for more):

Amidst the weathered row houses and rust-barnacled tugboats framing the port city of Providence, Rhode Island, lies an Irish-American neighborhood known as “The Hill.” There, the old-world ways of street justice and loyalty still permeate through the tough blue-collar neighborhood. It is where the familial bonds of the Caffee brothers are constantly teetering above a moral abyss, something akin to the classic sibling fable of Cain and Abel.

It is this tradition that the new SHOWTIME original series, BROTHERHOOD follows. BROTHERHOOD tells the story of two brothers who sometimes share a twisted sense of moral compromise — both with their own skewed, idealistic visions of what makes the American dream. They live the lie that noble ends can sometimes only be accomplished through dubious means.

Tommy Caffee (JASON CLARKE) is a family man whose ambition and street smarts help him navigate the back-room dealings and underhanded tactics of Providence politics. He is a local politician out to protect “The Hill” and its interests by any means necessary. Tommy's complicated family and professional lives turn upside-down with the return of his gangster brother Mike (JASON ISAACS), who has come back to the neighborhood to regain control of its underworld activities.

*And finally, NBC will air the original pilot episode of the 80s hit Miami Vice later this month. The move is designed to drum up promotion for its corporate sibling's big screen remake of the classic show. During the retro broadcast, the network will include footage from the film starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, who will also host the event. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas and first aired in September of 1984. Look for the original pilot to air July 22nd on NBC and the movie to hit theaters July 28th.

To get more of today's biggest TV news and headlines, visit the TV News section at PassTheRemote.Net.

That's all for today. I'm off tomorrow due to last minute travel plans, but be sure to tune in on Monday. I'll be looking back a our first classic Everwood episode in the premiere of that show's Flashback Edition! Plus, all the latest television news!



To get more television coverage, including the network's new fall schedules and a complete archive of the best of Pass the Remote with a photo gallery featuring pictures from the set of Veronica Mars, click on over to PassTheRemote.net.