TVSquad

With seven separate nominations in the Guest Actor and Actress categories, it's hard to believe that any 30 Rock guest stars were left off this year's list. The men nearly swept the nominees list for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, earning four of the five available spots. The ladies made up half of the Guest Actress category; not bad!

Still, a few brilliant and hilarious performances were left out. You can't argue with nominations for Will Arnett and Elaine Stritch, but I'd swap one or two of the nominees with a few of my own favorites. Check out my list of overlooked 30 Rock guest stars after the jump. And yes, I left out Jerry Seinfeld. Emmy got that one right.

Yesterday we reported that Amy Poehler had been offered the lead on The Office spinoff (or not-spinoff, as the case may be). Today, Poehler herself is confirming the rumor. She tells the AP, "I can kind of confirm that I will be working in some capacity on that show," but goes on to say that "I don't really have any other details yet."

Poehler has been a castmember on Saturday Night Live since 2001and is currently the co-host of Weekend Update. She will remain on SNL through the fall, but with her baby due in October and now this new show, her role in the second half of the season is up in the air.

It's been a big week for Poehler, who in addition to the new job offer, also received an Emmy nomination this morning for outstanding actress in a comedy series for her work on SNL. Her husband, Will Arnett, also scored an Emmy nod, for his guest appearance on NBC's 30 Rock.

Need more Emmys scoop? Get reactions to the biggest Emmys snubs and surprises and see which celebrities sparkled on the Emmys red carpet last year.

9:23: Here are all of the nominations. Leave your comments below as to what should have been nominated but wasn't and the nominations that make you roll you eyes and say, "give me a break..."

9:22: I have a feeling James Spader is going to lose this year.

9:20: Battlestar Galactica fans will be happy to see a nom in the writing category.

9:18: So...no nomination for The Wire? That's going to make fans throw their TV sets through their windows (though TV sets are harder to lift nowadays...maybe they'll just kick them in). Still not sure why Jon Cryer is "supporting" and Charlie Sheen is "lead" on Two and a Half Men.

9:15: So I lied. Instead of reposting up here I just went back to the entries below (oh, the wonder of the internet!) and put show titles in, made them italic, made everything easier to read.

The Emmy nominations will be announced tomorrow morning at 8:30am, and I'll be live-blogging the announcement, so come back here at that time for all the news. Well, actually, you won't have to "come back here" if you never leave, right? So please keep TV Squad open in a separate window as you do the rest of your web surfing and keep hitting refresh for the latest news. Thank you.

I'm sure a lot of the usual suspects will be in the mix when they announce the nominees: Lost, House, Desperate Housewives, The Wire, Hugh Laurie, Boston Legal, etc. But there are several shows and actors that I'm really pulling for and should get nominations, if the world is fair. My list after the jump.

The Emmy Awards voting is different than it used to be (more steps in the voting process and a special panel watches episodes and votes after that), and last year the list of the semifinalists was leaked online before it was officially announced. Well, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences don't really want that to happen again, so they've decided to just announce the finalist list itself.

After the jump, the ten comedies and ten dramas that are semifinalists for the Emmy award this year. The list will be knocked down to five (more if there's a tie) once another round of voting is done. The nominees will be announced live on July 17, and we'll have coverage here at TV Squad.

Hey, they're not the TV Squad Awards, but the TCAs are pretty cool too, and the nominees have been announced.

There are a lot of the usual suspects on the list, of course (though that doesn't mean they're not worthy - they are), including 30 Rock, The Office, Friday Night Lights, and The Wire. It's also great to see Mad Men get so many nominations, including Program of the Year, Best Drama, Best New Show, and a Best Individual Achievement nom for star Jon Hamm. It's interesting to see that Mad Men will go up against another AMC show, Breaking Bad, in the Best New Show category.

Lost is well represented, as are John Adams, Flight of the Conchords, and PBS' The War miniseries. As for The Wire, it's not only up for drama and acting awards, it has also been nominated for the Heritage Award, along with M*A*S*H, Saturday Night Live, Sesame Street, and Roots. Interesting to see such a recent show up for a lifetime award next to classics. The awards will be presented on July 19.

Anything missing from these nominations?

OK, so this is just really cool. In an effort to drum up some buzz for their numerous Emmy nominated programs, NBC Universal is offering up free Emmy campaign buttons at their 2008 nomination website.

All you have to do is plug in your full name, street address, and e-mail and just like that, you got free buttons! 15 in all to be exact since you're allowed to check off as many as you want. Most of them have pretty funny campaign-esque sayings on them, similar to the 30 Rock button pictured at right.

Perhaps you like House (airs on FOX, but NBCU distributes it)? Then "Thank Hugh!" Or maybe you like The Office? Then get ready to "Believe in Steve." For those than can't wait for Sylar's return, don't forget to "Support our Heroes."

The only one I don't like? The Law & Order: Criminal Intent button. "D'Onofrio/Noth - Vote Both." Vote... both?? What? Does that even rhyme?

MTV is hooking up with That '70s Show's Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) to develop a scripted comedy that takes a look at celebrity worship. The series, titled Baby Dolls, which will be filmed in documentary style, is told from the point of view of "a naive and jaded personal assistant to a young actress." Naive and jaded? So this person has a lack of experience, judgment or knowledge about the world but is hardworking and completely worn out by all the energy he or she puts into the job? Sounds like a job for Kenneth the Page from 30 Rock!

Or I guess Valderrama could play the role himself. He certainly played the role of "naive" to a T in That '70s Show and hasn't been doing much TV work outside of getting Punk'd by fellow '70s co-star Ashton Kutcher from time to time. Doesn't he know that there's a legion of Fez-natics out here just waiting for him to grace our screens again. Hell, keep it the same character ... Fez twenty years later working as a personal assistanta. "Would you like me to powder your breasts with my nose?"

NBC has issued a press release with the premiere dates for all their fall shows. This way, you know when to set your DVR.

The full press release includes descriptions for each of the shows. New shows are in all caps.

Heroes will be the first scripted show to return with a two-hour premiere on September 22nd. The first new scripted show will be Knight Rider on September 24th (although I don't know if you could count it as new since they already broadcast the two-hour pilot).

Complete schedule after the jump.

Now that the upfronts have been presented, it's time to start handicapping the ratings (although Jeff Zucker doesn't think Nielsens matter that much anymore). Nevertheless, some are looking at next fall's schedule and predicting a big-time battle royale on Thursday night at 8 o'clock. Which reality show will emerge at the Nielsen number one -- CBS's Survivor or Fox's The Moment of Truth? According to Hollywood Reporter, Fox is taking aim at CBS. When asked at the upfront about positioning The Moment of Truth -- and Hell's Kitchen right behind it -- on that night was a strategic move, the executive was diplomatic at first. He said Fox isn't looking for a battle; they're doing their own thing. But then said of Survivor, "Look, it's eroding. It's an older show. Its eventually going to give up and were trying to accelerate that."

Hmm, sounds like fighting words to me. The Moment of Truth and Hell's Kitchen are two of Fox's three premiere reality shows, behind only American Idol in the ratings. Anyway you slice it, Thursday night is going to be a night to drive TV fans crazy. While Fox and CBS are leading with reality shows to start the night, ABC will offer Emmy winner and critic's darling, Ugly Betty, NBC will serve up its Emmy winner(s) and critic's faves, My Name Is Earl and 30 Rock, and the CW will bring back the venerable fan fave, Smallville. And that's not even considering what the rest of the networks have planned.

• ESPN has NBA Playoffs all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Ugly Betty, then new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Lost.
• CBS has a new Survivor at 8, followed by new episodes of CSI and Without A Trace.
• NBC has a new My Name Is Earl at 8, then the season (series?) finale of Scrubs, a new episode of The Office, the season finale of 30 Rock, and a new ER.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, followed by a new Don't Forget The Lyrics.
• The CW has a new Smallville at 8, then a new Supernatural.
• There's a new Overhaulin' on TLC at 8, then new episodes of American Chopper and Miami Ink.
• Also at 8: AMC has the original Planet of the Apes.
• At 8:30, Cartoon Network has a new Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, followed by a new George of the Jungle.
• At 9, HGTV has a new Divine Design.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new 'Lil Bush.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Polls/contests like this always make me a little nervous. I just know that they are going to leave out one of my favorite characters, and it just ticks me off.

The folks over at RedEye in Chicago are holding their 2nd annual Best Character on TV poll. They give you a list of characters to go up against one another (in different "regions") and you vote for the one you like the best. It's tournament-style, so characters will be eliminated as the weeks go by until we're left with a winner. This is the first round of the voting, and it ends this Friday, May 9, so get those votes in now.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Is Katee Sackhoff about to join CSI?
• Daryn Kagan visited CNN for the first time since getting canned after 12 years and it was...odd (especially the second video).
• What the heck was going on at the Ellen show the other day?
• Get ready for more commercials on TV network sites.
• Earl Pomerantz tells a secret about a Mary Tyler Moore Show script he wrote.
• How would you like to star in the new music video that Zach Braff is directing?
• Ratings for The Office hit a season low the other night, and 30 Rock's weren't that great either.
• Check out the storyboards for the second season of Mad Men.

• TNT has NBA Playoffs all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Ugly Betty, then new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Lost.
• CBS has a new Survivor at 8, followed by new episodes of CSI and Without A Trace.
• NBC has new episodes of My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, The Office, 30 Rock, and ER.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, then a new Don't Forget The Lyrics.
• There's a new Smallville on The CW at 8, followed by a new Supernatural.
• Discovery has two new episodes of Expedition Alaska at 8.
• TLC has a new Overhaulin' at 8, followed by new episodes of American Chopper and Miami Ink.
• At 9, PBS has a new Carrier.
• At 10, Food Network has a new Ace of Cakes.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new 'Lil Bush.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Like Bob wrote the other day in his TV Squad review, 30 Rock is the kind of show that you have to watch and really pay attention to in order to get all the great lines and jokes. That includes the lids on Judah Friedlander's noggin. At a recent event, a New York Observer reporter cornered 30 Rock's Frank with a few questions ... all about his hats.

The baseball caps that Judah wears in every show -- and you never see him sans-hat -- are his own creation. It's a shtick that he began nearly two decades ago. "I've been making my own hats for years. I've been doing stand-up for 19 years and my hats have always said world champion in some language." See, the joke is that he's not the world champion of anything. Now, as one of the writers on TGS, Judah tailors his hats to the individual episode. Some are obvious jokes, some are in-jokes, nothing is accidental or unplanned.