TVSquad

The list of Emmy nominations have become the Hummer limo of the awards show world. They get longer and even more uncool, even though they are attempting to show just how cool they are with each passing year.

The whole system is in serious need of revamping. For the most part, the category structure hasn't changed in the last 50 years when then Academy President Rod Serling chose to eliminate favoritism by widening the playing field and the judging, a move so disastrous that no one has dared to even touch the system since then.

So if you're not going to revamp the process, at least add some categories that we wouldn't mind giving up four hours of sleep, exercise and our lives to wait for the winner.

The Emmy Award nominees were announced this morning, and with the help of a lot of caffeine and my DVR, I managed to catch the announcement. Here are the nominees in the major categories, with some comment on who was nominated and who was neglected.

If you notice, the major categories have more nominees starting this year.


Outstanding Drama

Mad Men
Damages
House
Lost
Big Love
Breaking Bad
Dexter

Somebody needs to give 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin a shoulder to cry on. Seriously. In this recent interview the Emmy nominee not only mourned his lost youth -- he's just turned 50 (in April) and realizes that he'll never play professional baseball or dance in the ballet (really, Al, you think that was ever likely?) -- but he talked about quitting acting entirely. Hard to believe it, but here are his words:

"There's other things to do. ...So I'm trying to decide what to do when I quit this business. ...Yeah, I do have to find another career. I don't want to do this. I don't."

It's hard to figure out exactly what's behind Baldwin's words, unless we take it on face value and believe that he just doesn't want to act anymore.

Every single year, when we hear the announcement of the Emmy nominations, we all say "why wasn't so and so nominated?" and "how can that guy be nominated again?" But this year it might be different.

Instead of getting five nominees from 4500 entries via a two step process, they'll now be another step added. The list is whittled down to 10 or 15 nominees, and then a special committee watches an episode of the series and rates the episode. Then the final five nominees are taken from that list.

I'm not sure if this is an ultimate solution, but it could mean that the more nominees you have, the more cult shows could get in there (like Veronica Mars) and science fiction shows (Battlestar Galactica). Not to mention all the stars that should have been nominated in previous years but were always overlooked. Should be interesting.

The Emmys will air in late August, right before the new fall season starts.