Emmy Nominations: Mad Men, 30 Rock Dominate, Family Guy Shocks

Written by S.T. VanAirsdale

30 Rock and Mad Men led the field of Emmy nominees announced this morning in Los Angeles, pulling down 22 and 16 nominations respectively, including nods for Best Comedy and Dramatic Series. But the ensuing free for-for-all in the expanded categories offered the real news of the day — not the least of which was Family Guy’s selection as the first animated Best Comedy Series nominee since The Flintstones.

That’s a nearly 50-year streak broken by Seth MacFarlane, whose gamble to submit Family Guy in the comedy rather than animation category paid off big. Perhaps even more surprising was Flight of the Conchords’ recognition among comedy series (not to mention Jemaine Clement’s Best Actor nomination), with Entourage, How I Met Your Mother, The Office and Weeds filling the remaining slots. Slightly lesser history was made in the drama category, where Breaking Bad, Big Love, Dexter, House, Damages and Lost rounded out the dramas (maybe next year, True Blood!). ER and The Shield’s final seasons were both stiffed by Emmy voters.

Elsewhere, Toni Collette (The United States of Tara) and Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program) commandeered dark-horse nominations for Best Actress - Comedy. Jim Parsons scored his own first nod for The Big Bang Theory. Bryan Cranston will defend last year’s upset victory as Best Actor - Drama for Breaking Bad. And maybe not so surprisingly after his 2008 Emmy-host takedown, Jeremy Piven was bumped off the Best Supporting Actor - Comedy list in favor of his Entourage co-star Kevin Dillon. Congrats to all; a comprehensive nominee list can be found over at The Live Feed. Look for more Emmy commentary here later in the day and in the weeks leading up the Sept. 20 awardscast.

· Emmy nominations complete list [The Live Feed]