2009 Emmy Nominations Announced

The nominations in the major category were announced early Thursday morning by Parsons and Chandra Wilson of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy who were joined by the chairman of the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences John Shaffner.

Fox hit Family Guy became the first animated series in nearly 50 years, and the second ever, to land a best comedy series nomination, following The Flintstones in 1961.

Seven half-hours made it in to the best comedy series category, with two more first-timers, HBO’s offbeat The Flight of the Conchords, CBS’ often overlooked How I Met Your Mother and Showtime’s veteran Weeds. They will compete against defending champ 30 Rock, previous winner The Office and HBO’s Entourage.

Also seven are the nominees in the best drama series category. Critics’ darling Mad Men, the reigning winner at all major TV awards, is back in contention in the best drama series field, alongside another AMC series, Breaking Bad, ABC’s resurgent Lost, FX’s Damages, Showtime’s Dexter, HBO’s Big Love and Fox’s House.

Only two projects made it into the ever-shrinking best miniseries category: HBO’s Iraq-themed Generation Kill and PBS’ Little Dorrit.

Another HBO Iraq-themed drama, Taking Chance, will compete in the best TV movie field alongside two other politically-tinged HBO films, the Kennedy-themed Grey Gardens, the Winston Churchill-centered Into the Storm as well as Lifetime’s biopic Coco Chanel and based-on-a-true story Prayers for Bobby.

It’s a familiar group in the best reality competition category where dominant winner The Amazing Race will compete against American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Project Runway and Top Chef.

Among the networks, HBO once again led the pack with 99 nominations, followed by NBC with 67, ABC with 55, CBS with 49 and Fox with 42.

In the lead actor in a drama category, last year’s surprise winner Bryan Cranston of AMC’s Breaking Bad, is back, along with fourth-time nominee Hugh Laurie for Fox’s House, Gabriel Byrne of HBO’s In Treatment, Michael C. Hall of Showtime’s Dexter, Jon Hamm of Mad Men and the new kid on the block, Simon Baker of CBS’ freshman The Mentalist.

In the lead actress in a drama series category, first-time nominee Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men joins the five actresses nominated in the category last year: previous winners Glenn Close of Damages, Sally Field of Brothers and Sisters and Mariska Hargitay of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as well as Kyra Sedgwick of TNT’s The Closer and Holly Hunter of another TNT drama, Saving Grace.

The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons, one the most buzzed about contenders this year, landed his first awards nomination in the lead actor in a comedy series category where he will face off last year’s winner Alec Baldwin, Steve Carell of The Office, Charlie Sheen of Two and a Half Men, three-time winner Tony Shalhoub of Monk and newcomer Jemaine Clement of HBO’s The Flight of the Conchords.

Toni Collette earned her first Emmy nomination for her multiple personality disorder-stricken heroine on Showtime’s United States of Tara. In the best lead actress in a comedy series category, she is joined by three previous winners Tina Fey of 30 Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus of The New Adventures of Old Christine, Sarah Silverman for The Sarah Silverman Program, Mary-Louise Parker for Weeds and Christina Applegate, nominated for the recently canceled ABC comedy Samantha Who?

The nominations in top categories follow:

Outstanding comedy series

Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
How I Met Your Mother
The Office
30 Rock
Weeds

Outstanding drama series

Big Love
Breaking Bad
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost
Mad Men

Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Steve Carell, The Office
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Charlie Sheen, Two And A Half Men

Outstanding lead actor in a drama series

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Simon Baker, The Mentalist

Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures Of Old Christine
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Outstanding lead actress in a drama series

Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Glenn Close, Damages
Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: SVU
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace

Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series

Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Rainn Wilson, The Office
Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock
Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men

Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series

William Shatner, Boston Legal
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
William Hurt, Damages
Michael Emerson, Lost
John Slattery, Mad Men

Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series

Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
Kristin Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Vanessa William, Ugly Betty
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds

Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series

Rose Byrne, Damages
Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy
Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Hope Davis, In Treatment
Cherry Jones, 24

Outstanding variety, music or comedy series

The Colbert Report
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Late Show With David Letterman
Real Time With Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live

Outstanding variety, music or comedy special

Chris Rock – Kill The Messenger
Kathy Griffin: She’ll Cut A Bitch
The Kennedy Center Honors
Ricky Gervais: Out Of England – The Stand-Up Special
Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America

Outstanding reality program

Antiques Roadshow
Dirty Jobs
Dog Whisperer
Intervention
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
MythBusters

Outstanding reality competition program

The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing With the Stars
Project Runway
Top Chef

Outstanding host for a reality or reality-competition program

Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With The Stars
Heidi Klum, Project Runway
Jeff Probst, Survivor
Padma Lakshmi (host) and Tom Colicchio (co-host), Top Chef

Outstanding miniseries

Generation Kill
Little Dorrit

Outstanding made for television movie

Coco Chanel
Grey Gardens
Into The Storm
Prayers For Bobby
Taking Chance