2008 Emmy Nominations Announced
John Adams, 30 Rock Lead the Pack While Desperate Housewives Snubbed
Jul 24, 2008
The 2008 Emmy nominations have been announced. There are a few surprises and even a little drama to go along with the grandeur. Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl took herself out of the running and no Emmy list is complete without a few feelings of being snubbed from the ones left out.
Leaders of the Pack
HBO's Miniseries John Adams leads the pack of nominations with 23 including:
- Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries
- Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries
- Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries
- Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries
- Outstanding Direction for a Miniseries
NBC’s comedy 30 Rock broke an Emmy record with 17 nominations this year, the most ever for a comedy series including:
- Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series
- Outstanding Comedy Series
- Outstanding Direction for a Comedy Series
- Outstanding Guest Actor- Rip Torn, Will Arnet, Steve Buscemi, and Tim Conway
- Outstanding Lead Actor- Alec Baldwin
- Outstanding Lead Actress- Tina Fey
- Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
Emmy Snubs
There are grumblings every year after the nominations are announced about programs or actors the fans feel were snubbed by The Academy. The list this year is no different. However, there may be a justification now with the new way The Academy is picking the final nominees. Instead of just The Academy voting shows, writers and actors into Emmy history, the nominations now must go past a “blue-ribbon” panel which makes the final decision.
ABC’s Entertainment President, Stephen McPherson, is not one of the proponents of the new system. "I hope the academy looks at the changes they made and realizes they aren't all good, and goes back to the old system."
One reason McPherson feels this way is because of some of the larger snubs this year. Desperate Housewives and Lost aren’t nominated in categories in which they took home the statue last year.
"For one year Desperate Housewives to win best actress and for the next year not to be nominated, I think that's a problem," McPherson said.
Other notable snubs:
- Jason Lee and Jamie Pressley in My Name is Earl
- Lauren Graham in Gilmore Girls
- Hugh Laurie in House
Emmy Drama
Katherine Heigl won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2007 for her role in the hospital drama Grey’s Anatomy. However, Heigl took herself out of contention this year due to unsatisfactory written material for her character.
Heigl told the Los Angeles Times, “I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention.” This angered the show writers and within days there were rumors circulating about Heigl's character being killed off next season.
The full list of Emmy nominations including Heidi Klum’s Project Runway and Heroes.
