It would be easy to begin a nomination reaction post with a list of subjective ommisions, so that’s what I’m going to do. Spartacus : Blood and Sand (production art, Andy Whitfield as Spartacus, John Hannah as Batiatus, stunts); Heroes (prosthetic make-up, production art, stunts); Party Down (Ken Marino as Ron Donald, Lizzy Caplan as Casey Klein); True Blood (Alexander Skarsgaard as Eric Northman, Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton).

And those are just for starters.

Anyway, on to the actual nominees and my favourite is Mike O’Malley’s nomination as a guest star in Glee, though he’s been solid as Burt Hummell from his first appearance. He is nominated specifically for the episode “Wheels” where he goe to bat for his son Kurt when he is denied the solo in the glee club performance of ‘Defying Gravity’. This was where Burt became a hero to all as he stood up for his boy to both Will Schuster and Principal Figgins, despite him being ‘as bent as a nine dollar bill’.  O’Malley puts in another rousing performance in “Theatricality” and thoroughly deserves his nomination, even over fellow Glee-ite Neil Patrick Harris, nominated in the same category.

I remember shifting uncomfortably when I saw the Family Guy episode ‘Extra Large Medium’ and had to listen to the song ‘Down’s Syndrome Girl’. Whether there’s an Atlantic shift between attitudes to people with Down’s Syndrome I don’t know, but as there’s a collective British wince every time an American show uses the word ‘spaz’ (taboo in the UK for a long while), I would guess that to be the case. The song has been nominated for an Emmy for best song musically and lyrically – perhaps there’s our answer. I must say I preferred fellow nominee “Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit” from How I Met Your Mother, performed by Neil Patrick Harris.

I think an Emmy nomination is now pretty much guaranteed for an actor collecting an honour from the Queen these days- Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench and Sirs Ian McKellen, Michael Gambon and Patrick Stewart are all nominated for acting Emmys alongside fellow Brits Alan Cumming OBE, Michael Sheen OBE and Jonathan Pryce CBE. Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is also nominated for a non-fiction award , and wouldn’t you know it, he has an MBE too. The Ricky Gervais Show is nominated for outstanding animated program, and whilst he doesn’t have a Royal honour, he does have an Emmy already, so he’s probably not arsed.

Cancelled shows even manage a few paltry nominations – Heroes for the art direction in finale ‘Brave New World’, and Flashforward for cinematography, stunts and original score. See? Every cloud…

The Emmys will be screened on NBC on Sunday August 29th. http://www.emmys.com/nominations