2010 Primetime Emmy Award nominations in comedy (and we honor those who were snubbed)

The 2010 Primetime Emmy Award nominations were announced on live TV (and also Ustream, because it's 2010 now, so even the TV people recognize that people are watching their TV online) this morning. Nomination announcer Sofia Vergara did get a nod herself in the supporting actress category for her work on ABC's Modern Family (itself a big winner already in its rookie season), while her fellow announcer Joel McHale did not get recognized for his work on NBC's Community (which got snubbed outright in its rookie season; really?!?).

Winners will be announced on NBC live in all American time zones on Aug. 29, 2010.

Outstanding Comedy Series: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Glee, Modern Family, Nurse Jackie, The Office, 30 Rock. Snubs: Parks and Recreation, which was by far the star of the NBC Thursday comedy block; The Big Bang Theory, which is the CBS comedy Americans have warmed up to, and critics also like; also mildly surprised, solely based on how the Emmys work, that they didn't recognize Party Down, because usually they recognize a show that critics love but got cancelled due to ratings. Speaking of which, Chuck fans, anyone? That show must still be a guilty pleasure. Notes: Curb benefitted from the Seinfeld "reunion," don't you think? I guess this means I need to watch Nurse Jackie??? At least we didn't see a nom here for Entourage, Two and a Half Men or Family Guy. Lessons learned?

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Larry David (Curb), Steve Carell (The Office), Tony Shaloub (Monk), Matthew Morrison (Glee), Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock). Notes: Baldwin won last year. Interesting to see Larry David get nominated for playing himself. And we won't have to talk about Monk in 2011.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Amy Poelher (Parks and Rec), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (New Adventures of Old Christine), Toni Collette (United States of Tara), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Lea Michele (Glee), Tina Fey (30 Rock). Notes: Collette won last year. Hooray for Poehler's nod.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), Chris Colfer (Glee), Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), Ty Burell (Modern Family), Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family), Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother)

WAIT. STOP. LET US NOW OFFER OUR FLASH-SIDEWAYS EMMY NOMINATIONS. We can stop with the all-caps, but we cannot stop without offering some words in honor of the beyond great work done in this past TV year by Nick Offerman on Parks and Recreation, Danny Pudi on Community, and if you're going to recognize everyone on Modern Family, how can you pass up Ed O'Neill? OK. Back to the list. Offerman made every scene of his a joy. Pudi was such a force that casting people for this year's shows were looking for the next "Abed." And whenever I saw Modern Family, I remembered laughing after O'Neill's lines more than any of the others.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Jane Lynch (Glee), Jane Krakowski (30 Rock), Kristen Wiig (SNL), Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Holland Taylor (Two and a Half Men). Notes: I think it's safe to presume that the women in this category not named Jane Lynch will not be preparing acceptance speeches because Jane Lynch will be delivering the acceptance speech when she wins.

Although it would have been nice to see Wanda Sykes here, too, for her role on New Adventures of Old Christine, or Vanessa Williams on Ugly Betty, which also might have gotten more love in past years from the Emmys since this was the last go-around for Betty. And I guess this means Emmy voters approve of Wiig really taking center stage on SNL?

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: Mike O'Malley (Glee), Fred Willard (Modern Family), Eli Wallach (Nurse Jackie), Jon Hamm (30 Rock), Will Arnett (30 Rock), Neil Patrick Harris (Glee)

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: Kristin Chenoweth (Glee), Tina Fey (SNL), Jane Lynch (Two and a Half Men), Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives), Betty White (SNL), Christine Baranski (The Big Bang Theory), Elaine Stritch (30 Rock). Notes: Two SNL hosts, and one of them is Betty White! Fun fact: The one SNL I saw as an audience member was Tina Fey's, so I helped (not really, but maybe). I wish I had seen Amy Sedaris honored here for her turn on New Adventures of Old Christine, because I saw her nail that episode.

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Real Time with Bill Maher, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Notes: No variety or music this year to muck it up. Also, people clapped for Team Coco! Do you think Letterman got snubbed?

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special: Bill Maher: But I'm Not Wrong; Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me; Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction; The Kennedy Center Honors; Hope For Haiti Now; The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert. Where can we start with the list of comedy specials in the past year that should be on this list, but aren't because the Emmy people didn't recognize the stand-up as an already super famous person??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!

Outstanding Animated Program: The Simpsons ("Once Upon a Time in Springfield"), The Ricky Gervais Show ("Knob at Night") and South Park ("200/201") are up against Alien Earths and Disney Prep & Landing. Notes: No Family Guy, nor even a Seth McFarlane program in the mix.

Outstanding Voice-Over Performance: Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson and Grandpa Simpson, The Simpsons), H. Jon Benjamin (Sterling Archer, Archer), Dave Foley (Wayne, Disney Prep & Landing), Hank Azaria (Apu, The Simpsons), Seth Green (Robot Chicken), Anne Hathaway (Princess Penelope, in an episode of The Simpsons).

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series: The Office (Niagara, Greg Daniels and Mindy Kaling); 30 Rock (Anna Howard Shaw Day, Matt Hubbard) and (Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter, Tina Fey and Kay Cannon); Glee (Pilot Director's Cut, Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan); Modern Family (Pilot, Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd)

Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series: Glee (Robert J. Ulrich, CSA, Casting Director; Eric Dawson, CSA, Casting Director; Jim Carnahan, New York Casting Director); Modern Family (Jeff Greenberg, CSA); Nurse Jackie (Julie Tucker, CSA; Ross Meyerson, CSA) 30 Rock (Jennifer McNamara-Schroff); United States of Tara (Cami Patton, CSA; Jennifer Lare, CSA)

Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Colbert Report (#5076, in Iraq: Barry Julien, Head Writer; Stephen Colbert, Writer; Allison Silverman, Writer; Tom Purcell, Writer; Rich Dahm, Writer; Michael Brumm, Writer; Rob Dubbin, Writer; Opus Moreschi, Writer; Peter Gwinn, Writer; Jay Katsir, Writer; Frank Lesser, Writer; Glenn Eichler, Writer; Peter Grosz, Writer; Meredith Scardino, Writer; Max Werner, Writer; Eric Drysdale, Writer); 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Episode #15040: Steve Bodow, Head Writer; Rory Albanese, Writer; Kevin Bleyer, Writer; Rich Blomquist, Writer; Tim Carvell, Writer; Wyatt Cenac, Writer; Hallie Haglund, Writer; JR Havlan, Writer; David Javerbaum, Writer; Elliott Kalan, Writer; Josh Lieb, Writer; Sam Means, Writer; Jo Miller, Writer; John Oliver, Writer; Daniel Radosh, Writer; Jason Ross, Writer; Jon Stewart, Writer); 

The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien (Episode #146: Conan O'Brien, Writer; Chris Albers, Writer; Jose Arroyo, Writer; Deon Cole, Writer; Josh Comers, Writer; Dan Cronin, Writer; Kevin Dorff, Writer; Andres Du Bouchet, Writer; Michael Gordon, Writer; Berkley Johnson, Writer; Brian Kiley, Writer; Rob Kutner, Writer; Todd Levin, Writer; Brian McCann, Writer; Guy Nicolucci, Writer; Matt O'Brien, Writer; Andy Richter, Writer; Brian Stack, Writer; Andrew Weinberg, Writer); 

Saturday Night Live (Host: Betty White, with Doug Abeles, Writer; James Anderson, Writer; Alex Baze, Writer; Jillian Bell, Writer; Hannibal Buress, Writer; Jessica Conrad, Writer; James Downey, Writer; Steve Higgins, Writer; Colin Jost, Writer; Erik Kenward, Writer; Jessi Klein, Writer; Rob Klein, Writer; John Lutz, Writer; Seth Meyers, Writer; Lorne Michaels, Writer; John Mulaney, Writer; Christine Nangle, Writer; Michael Patrick O'Brien, Writer; Paula Pell, Writer; Ryan Perez, Writer; Simon Rich, Writer; Marika Sawyer, Writer; Akiva Schaffer, Writer; John Solomon, Writer; Emily Spivey, Writer; Kent Sublette, Writer; Jorma Taccone, Writer; Bryan Tucker, Writer); 

Real Time With Bill Maher (#721- With Rachel Maddow, Niall Ferguson, Joe Queenan And Michael Ware; Adam Felber, Writer; Matt Gunn, Writer; Brian Jacobsmeyer, Writer; Jay Jaroch, Writer; Chris Kelly, Writer; Bill Maher, Writer; Billy Martin, Writer; Jonathan Schmock, Writer; Danny Vermont, Writer; Scott Carter, Writer). Notes: I'm sure someone is crunching the numbers on how many female writers there are in this list, while the rest of you are merely anticipating what funny videos each of these shows will produce for the Emmys telecast, and still others will note that Team Coco got a nod here, too, for its finale.

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series: Nurse Jackie (Pilot, Allen Coulter); 30 Rock (I Do Do, Don Scardino); Glee (Pilot Director's Cut, Ryan Murphy); Glee (Wheels, Paris Barclay); Modern Family (Pilot, Jason Winer)

Outstanding Picture Editing for a Comedy Series: Modern Family (Pilot, Ryan Case); Curb Your Enthusiasm (The Table Read, Roger Nygard and Jonathan Corn) and (The Bare Midriff, Steve Rasch); 30 Rock (Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001, Ken Eluto); Modern Family (Family Portrait, Jonathan Maxwell Schwartz)

Outstanding Short-Form Animated Program: Chowder, Robot Chicken, Disney Kick Buttkowski: Suburban Daredevil, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Uncle Grandpa, Adventure Time. Notes: What about short-form live-action? I guess Adult Swim's non-animated programs don't have a category, so that's a big snub.

Outstanding Short-Form Picture Editing: Jimmy Kimmel Live's "The Late Night Wars" episode and "The Handsome Men's Club" segment, Jimmy Fallon's "6-Bee" tribute to Glee, are up against the John Hughes Tribute and the "Horror" tribute at the Academy Awards, and the "Dream" sequence from American Idol.

Outstanding Special Class Program: The Daily Show's "Ask a Correspondent: The Meaning of Life" and 30 Rock's Webisodes are in this class, up against the Academy Awards, Tony Awards, the Winter Olympic opening ceremonies, an HBO First Look at Avatar, and a Lost special on The Dharma Initiative. Interesting about this: Usually the Academy Awards and the Tony Awards would have been in the Variety, Music and Comedy category against the late-night shows. Hmmm.

Outstanding Nonfiction Special: Is this the documentary category? I guess…EPIX gets a nod for airing Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story, which is grouped in with the two-hour SNL special, Saturday Night Live in the 2000s, as well as The Simpson's 20th Anniversary Special, HBO docs on Barack Obama and the late Edward "Teddy" Kennedy, and a TCM look at Johnny Mercer. (Thanks to a reader for reminding me about this category!)

Also, last but not least, a shoutout to my friends over at the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon blog for getting a nomination in the Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media — Non-Fiction.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

View all posts by Sean L. McCarthy →

3 thoughts on “2010 Primetime Emmy Award nominations in comedy (and we honor those who were snubbed)

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