Season 62
Nominations for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, covering the period of June 1, 2009 through May 31, 2010, were announced on 8 July, 2010 by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, California.
Television Academy Chairman and CEO John Shaffner presided over the nominations along with Modern Family's Sofia Vergara and Joel McHale from the NBC sitcom Community.
This year's telecast was executive produced by Don Mischer and hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
This year's nominations included a cross section of new faces and returning favourites that ran the gamut from network, basic cable and premium channels.
Among the freshman series nominees, Glee, Modern Family and The Good Wife all secured multiple nominations while shows such as Lost and the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien celebrated nominations after ending their runs.
Five of the twelve nominated Comedy and Drama series were first time nominees; half were network series and half were basic and pay cable programs.
For outstanding drama series program this included The Good Wife and True Blood; and for outstanding comedy series program this included Glee, Modern Family and Nurse Jackie.
Newcomers and familiar faces in new roles made up a big portion of this year's outstanding comedy series performer categories, including (leads) Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison in Glee, Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie, Amy Poehler in Parks and Recreation; (supporting performers) Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Ty Burrell in Modern Family, Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer in Glee; (guests) Kristin Chenoweth, Neil Patrick Harris and Mike O'Malley in Glee, Jane Lynch in Two and a Half Men, Fred Willard in Modern Family and Eli Wallach in Nurse Jackie.
Similar to the comedy categories, the outstanding drama series performer categories had many new nominees including (leads) Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler in Friday Night Lights, Julianna Margulies in The Good Wife, January Jones in Mad Men and Matthew Fox in Lost; (supporting performers) Sharon Gless in Burn Notice, Christine Baranski and Archie Panjabi in The Good Wife, Martin Short in Damages and Andre Braugher in Men of a Certain Age; (guests) Mary Kay Place and Sissy Spacek in Big Love, Shirley Jones in The Cleaner, Lily Tomlin in Damages, Ann-Margret in Law & Order: SVU, Elizabeth Mitchell in Lost, Beau Bridges in The Closer, John Lithgow in Dexter, Alan Cumming and Dylan Baker in The Good Wife.
As in years past, the miniseries and movie categories were comprised of some of the biggest names from television, film and stage.
This year's first-time nominees in lead performance categories for miniseries or movie were Jeff Bridges in A Dog Year, Dennis Quaid and Michael Sheen in The Special Relationship and Maggie Smith in Capturing Mary.
Additional first-time nominees in supporting performance categories for a miniseries or movie were Julia Ormond and David Strathairn in Temple Grandin.
With their 12 nominations this year, Saturday Night Live had 126 Primetime Emmy nominations, surpassing ER (124 nominations) as the most nominated television show in Emmy history.
Winners
Outstanding Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Glee (Fox)
Modern Family (ABC)
Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
The Office (NBC)
30 Rock (NBC)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Jim Parsons - The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Matthew Morrison - Glee (Fox)
Tony Shalhoub - Monk (USA)
Steve Carell - The Office (NBC)
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock (NBC)
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Lea Michele - Glee (Fox)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Edie Falco - Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
Amy Poehler - Parks & Recreation (NBC)
Tina Fey - 30 Rock (NBC)
Toni Collette - United States of Tara (Showtime)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Chris Colfer - Glee (Fox)
Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Modern Family (ABC)
Eric Stonestreet - Modern Family (ABC)
Ty Burrell - Modern Family (ABC)
Jon Cryer - Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Jane Lynch - Glee (Fox)
Julie Bowen - Modern Family (ABC)
Sofia Vergara - Modern Family (ABC)
Kristen Wiig - Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Jane Krakowski - 30 Rock (NBC)
Holland Taylor - Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Outstanding Drama Series
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Dexter (Showtime)
The Good Wife (CBS)
Lost (ABC)
Mad Men (AMC)
True Blood (HBO)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)
Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)
Matthew Fox, Lost (ABC)
Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer (TNT)
Glenn Close - Damages (FX)
Connie Britton- Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)
Julianna Margulies - The Good Wife (CBS)
Mariska Hargitay- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)
January Jones- Mad Men (AMC)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Aaron Paul - Breaking Bad (AMC)
Martin Short - Damages (FX)
Terry O'Quinn - Lost (ABC)
Michael Emerson - Lost (ABC)
John Slattery - Mad Men (AMC)
Andre Braugher - Men of a Certain Age (TNT)
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Sharon Gless - Burn Notice (USA)
Rose Byrne - Damages (FX)
Archie Panjabi - The Good Wife (CBS)
Christine Baranski - The Good Wife (CBS)
Christina Hendricks- Mad Men (AMC)
Elisabeth Moss - Mad Men (AMC)
Outstanding Miniseries
The Pacific (HBO)
Masterpiece: Return to Cranford (PBS)
Outstanding Made for Television Movie
Masterpiece: Endgame (PBS)
Georgia O'Keeffe (Lifetime)
Moonshot (The History Channel)
The Special Relationship (HBO)
Temple Grandin (HBO)
You Don't Know Jack (HBO)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
Jeff Bridges - A Dog Year (HBO)
Ian McKellen - The Prisoner (AMC)
Michael Sheen - The Special Relationship (HBO)
Dennis Quaid - The Special Relationship (HBO)
Al Pacino - You Don't Know Jack (HBO)
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Maggie Smith - Capturing Mary (HBO)
Joan Allen - Georgia O'Keeffe (Lifetime)
Dame Judi Dench - Masterpiece: Return to Cranford (PBS)
Hope Davis - The Special Relationship(HBO)
Claire Danes - Temple Grandin (HBO)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
Michael Gambon - Masterpiece: Emma (PBS)
Patrick Stewart - Great Performances: Hamlet (PBS)
Jonathan Pryce - Masterpiece: Return to Cranford (PBS)
David Strathairn - Temple Grandin (HBO)
John Goodman- You Don't Know Jack (HBO)
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Kathy Bates - Alice (SyFy)
Julia Ormond - Temple Grandin (HBO)
Catherine O'Hara - Temple Grandin (HBO)
Brenda Vaccaro - You Don't Know Jack (HBO)
Susan Sarandon- You Don't Know Jack (HBO)
Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)
The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien (NBC)
Outstanding Reality Program
Antiques Roadshow (PBS)
Dirty Jobs (Discovery Channel)
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (ABC)
Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List (Bravo)
MythBusters (Discovery Channel)
Undercover Boss (CBS)
Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program
Phil Keoghan - The Amazing Race (CBS)
Ryan Seacrest - American Idol (Fox)
Tom Bergeron - Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Heidi Klum - Project Runway (Bravo)
Jeff Probst - Survivor (CBS)
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Amazing Race (CBS)
American Idol (Fox)
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Project Runway (Lifetime)
About the Emmys
The Emmy Awards are administered by three sister organisations; the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
The Awards recognise excellence within various areas of the television industry, and are a symbol of peer recognition from over 12,000 members of the Academy, where each member casts a ballot for the category of competition in their field of expertise.
The Awards are divided into three categories - The Primetime Awards, The Daytime Awards and the L.A. Area Awards.
Only the Primetime Awards are screened in South Africa, which celebrate excellence in national prime-time programming, awarding top honours during the creative arts awards and the prime-time telecast.
The first Emmy Awards were presented on January 25, 1949 at the Hollywood Athletic Club. The name "Emmy" was a feminisation of "immy", a nickname used for the image orthicon tubes that were commonplace in early television cameras.
The Emmy Awards trophies are currently made by a private company with a manufacturing site at the maximum security El Dorado Correctional Facility, in El Dorado, Kansas.
The statuette of a winged woman holding an atom has since become the symbol of the TV Academy's goal of supporting and uplifting the art and science of television.
The wings represent the muse of art, and the atom represents the electron of science. It was created by television engineer Louis McManus, using his wife as a model.