Melissa McCarthy and Joshua Jackson announced the 63rd annual Emmy nominations Thursday morning, and, as usual, they were a mixed bag for TV fans. For every incredibly cool nomination, like Louis C.K. receiving writing and acting nominations or Parks & Recreation cracking the comedy lineup or Justified getting four of its actors nominated (including unexpected but welcome nods for Walton Goggins and Jeremy Davies), there was something either disheartening or downright baffling, like Johnny Galecki getting a nomination no one was predicting for The Big Bang Theory or Justified somehow missing drama series (ignored for the likes of Dexter!) despite all of those acting nominations or Community getting totally and completely snubbed for the second year in a row. (It couldn't even manage an animated program nomination for the Christmas special.) Also totally ignored? Terriers, though that was mostly expected. (About the only category it had a realistic shot in was the one for theme song, which it somehow missed out on, despite having the greatest theme song ever.) But, hey, The Killing got six nominations, and the much derided Veena Sud is now an Emmy nominee for her scripting of the pilot. So we've all got that going for us.


HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce led the nominations count with 21 nominations, followed by 19 for AMC's Mad Men, 18 for HBO's Boardwalk Empire, and 17 for ABC's Modern Family. Mad Men, coming off three straight drama wins, seems like the prohibitive favorite in that category again with that many nominations. Its dominance extended even down to the guest categories, where Randee Heller, the woman who played Miss Blankenship, drew a nomination. Modern Family also seems likely to repeat its comedy series win with that many nominations, and it drew three directing nominations, as well as four supporting actor nominations (the most a show has dominated that category ever). Indeed, the show's entire adult cast was nominated, which is something no other show can say. Other nomination totals of note included Game Of Thrones, which garnered 13 nominations after some doubted the Academy would embrace a fantasy series, and Glee, which scored 12 nominations, down sharply from its season one total of 19.

As always, if you poke around in the nominations list, you'll find both some very odd stuff and some very welcome stuff. Pamela Fryman, for instance, is an Emmy nominee for her work on How I Met Your Mother for the first time, after holding together nearly every single episode of that show for six seasons. But at the same time, a cursory scan of the nominations will reveal that the Academy also embraced Harry's Law, nominating Kathy Bates in the lead category and Paul McCrane for a guest stint on the show. The best anyone can ever hope for from the Emmys is that they don't screw it up too badly, and though there are some very weird nominations this year, they're offset by some very cool, very unexpected ones as well. They aren't perfect nominations, but every category has at least one very deserving nominee. And that's pretty good for the Emmys.


To read the full list of nominees, go here.

Outstanding Drama Series:

Boardwalk Empire

Dexter

Friday Night Lights

Game Of Thrones

The Good Wife

Mad Men


Outstanding Comedy Series:

The Big Bang Theory

Glee

Modern Family

The Office

Parks & Recreation

30 Rock

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series:

Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire

Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights

Michael C. Hall, Dexter

Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Hugh Laurie, House

Timothy Olyphant, Justified


Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series:

Kathy Bates, Harry's Law

Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights

Mireille Enos, The Killing

Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU

Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men


Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series:

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Louis C.K., Louie

Steve Carell, The Office

Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory


Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series:

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie

Tina Fey, 30 Rock

Laura Linney, The Big C

Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly

Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope

Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation


Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series:

Andre Braugher, Men Of A Certain Age

Josh Charles, The Good Wife

Alan Cumming, The Good Wife

Peter Dinklage, Game Of Thrones

Walton Goggins, Justified

John Slattery, Mad Men


Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series:

Christine Baranski, The Good Wife

Michelle Forbes, The Killing

Christina Hendricks, Mad Men

Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire

Margo Martindale, Justified

Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife


Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series:

Ty Burrell, Modern Family

Chris Colfer, Glee

Jon Cryer, Two And A Half Men

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family

Ed O'Neill, Modern Family

Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family


Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series:

Julie Bowen, Modern Family

Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock

Jane Lynch, Glee

Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Betty White, Hot In Cleveland

Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live


Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series:

Beau Bridges, Brothers & Sisters

Jeremy Davies, Justified

Bruce Dern, Big Love

Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife

Paul McCrane, Harry's Law

Robert Morse, Mad Men


Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series:

Cara Buono, Mad Men

Joan Cusack, Shameless

Loretta Devine, Grey's Anatomy

Randee Heller, Mad Men

Mary McDonnell, The Closer

Julia Stiles, Dexter


Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series:

Will Arnett, 30 Rock

Matt Damon, 30 Rock

Idris Elba, The Big C

Zach Galifianakis, Saturday Night Live

Nathan Lane, Modern Family

Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live


Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series:

Elizabeth Banks, 30 Rock

Kristin Chenoweth, Glee

Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live

Dot-Marie Jones, Glee

Cloris Leachman, Raising Hope

Gwyneth Paltrow, Glee


Outstanding Miniseries Or Made-For-TV Movie:

Cinema Verite

Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)

The Kennedys

Mildred Pierce

The Pillars Of The Earth

Too Big To Fail


Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or Made-For-TV Movie:

Idris Elba, Luther

Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood

William Hurt, Too Big To Fail

Greg Kinnear, The Kennedys

Barry Pepper, The Kennedys

Edgar Ramirez, Carlos


Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or Made-For-TV Movie:

Taraji P. Henson, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story

Diane Lane, Cinema Verite

Jean Marsh, Upstairs Downstairs (Masterpiece)

Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)

Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce


Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or Made-For-TV Movie:

Paul Giamatti, Too Big To Fail

Brian F. O'Byrne, Mildred Pierce

Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce

Tom Wilkinson, The Kennedys

James Woods, Too Big To Fail


Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or Made-For-TV Movie:

Eileen Atkins, Upstairs Downstairs (Masterpiece)

Melissa Leo, Mildred Pierce

Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)

Mare Winningham, Mildred Pierce

Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce


Outstanding Reality Competition Program:

The Amazing Race

American Idol

Dancing With The Stars

Project Runway

So You Think You Can Dance

Top Chef


Outstanding Reality Program:

Antiques Roadshow

Deadliest Catch

Hoarders

Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List

MythBusters

Undercover Boss


Outstanding Nonfiction Series:

American Masters

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

Biography

Moguls & Movie Stars

Pioneers Of Television

30 For 30


Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality Competition Program:

Tom Bergeron, Dancing With The Stars

Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance

Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race

Jeff Probst, Survivor

Ryan Seacrest, American Idol


Outstanding Variety, Music, Or Comedy Series:

The Colbert Report

Conan

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Real Time With Bill Maher

Saturday Night Live


Outstanding Variety, Music, Or Comedy Special:

Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On

Carrie Fisher In Wishful Drinking

The Kennedy Center Honors

Lady GaGa Presents The Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden

The Pee-Wee Herman Show On Broadway


Outstanding Animated Program:

The Cleveland Show, "Murray Christmas"

Futurama, "The Late Philip J Fry"

Robot Chicken, "Star Wars Episode III"

The Simpsons, "Angry Dad"

South Park, "Crack Baby Athletic Association"


Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program:

Adventure Time, "It Came From The Nightosphere"

Disney Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa

Regular Show, "Mordecai And The Rigbys"

Robot Chicken, "Robot Chicken's DP Christmas Special"

SpongeBob SquarePants, "That Sinking Feeling"


Outstanding Voice-Over Performance:

Bob Bergen, The Looney Tunes Show

Dan Castellaneta, The Simpsons

Seth Green, Robot Chicken

Maurice LaMarche, Futurama

Christopher Plummer, Moguls & Movie Stars Brenda Strong, Desperate Housewives


Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series

Boardwalk Empire - "Anastasia," Jeremy Podeswa

Boardwalk Empire - "Boardwalk Empire (Pilot)," Martin Scorsese

The Borgias - "The Poisoned Chalice/The Assassin," Neil Jordan

Game Of Thrones - "Winter Is Coming (Pilot)," Tim Van Patten

The Killing - "Pilot," Patty Jenkins


Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series

How I Met Your Mother - "Subway Wars," Pamela Fryman

Modern Family - "Halloween," Michael Alan Spiller

Modern Family - "See You Next Fall," Steve Levitan

Modern Family - "Slow Down Your Neighbors," Gail Mancuso

30 Rock - "Live Show," Beth McCarthy-Miller


Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series

Friday Night Lights - "Always," Jason Katims

Game Of Thrones - "Baelor," David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

The Killing - "Pilot," Veena Sud

Mad Men - "Blowing Smoke," Andre Jacquemetton and Maria Jacquemetton

Mad Men - "The Suitcase," Matthew Weiner


Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series

Episodes - "Episode 107," David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik

Louie - "Poker/Divorce," Louis C.K.

Modern Family - "Caught In The Act," Steve Levitan and Jeffrey Richman

The Office - "Good-Bye Michael," Greg Daniels

30 Rock - "Reaganing," Matt Hubbard


Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music, Or Comedy Series:

The Colbert Report

Conan

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Saturday Night Live