The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the nominees for the 61st annual Emmy Awards (for excellence in television) early this morning. The Creative Arts Emmys will be awarded Saturday 12 September 2009; the Primetime Emmy Awards will be handed out Sunday 20 September. Both ceremonies will take place in the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
We’ve dropped “Outstanding,” which precedes all the awards (rather than “best”) in this list. Genre nominees (by show) include:
Afro Samurai: Resurrection:
     * Animated Program (more than one hour)
American Dad:
     * Animated Program (less than one hour) for “Sixteen-Hundred Candles”
Battlestar Galactica:
     * Directing (Drama Series) for “Daybreak, Part 2”
     * Single-Camera Picture Editing (Drama Series) for “Daybreak, Part 2”
     * Sound Editing (Series) for “Daybreak, Part 2”
     * Sound Mixing (One-Hour Comedy or Drama Series) for “Daybreak, Part 2”
     * Outstanding Special Class—Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs for “The Face of the Enemy”
     * Special Visual Effects (Series) for “Daybreak, Part 2”
The Big Bang Theory:
     * Art Direction (Multi-Camera Series) for “The Hofstadter Isotope”, “The Vegas Renormalization”, and “The Lizard-Spock Expansion”
     * Guest Actress (Comedy Series) for Christine Baranski as Beverly Hofstadter in “The Maternal Capacitance”
     * Lead Actor (Comedy Series) for Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper
Chuck:
     * Stunt Coordination for “Chuck Versus the First Date”
Destination Imagination (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends):
     * Animated Program (more than one hour)
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog:
     * Outstanding Special Class—Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs
Fringe:
     * Special Visual Effects (Series) for “Pilot”
Ghost Whisperer:
     * Music Composition (Series) Mark Snow for “Leap of Faith”
     * Special Visual Effects (Series) for “Ghost in the Machine”
Heroes:
     * Art Direction (Single-Camera Series) for “Cold Snap”;
     * Special Visual Effects (Series) for “The Second Coming/The Butterfly Effect”
Legend of the Seeker:
     * Music Composition (Series) Joe LoDuca for “Prophecy”
The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice:
     * Costumes (Miniseries, Movie, or Special); Sound Editing (Miniseries, Movie, or Special)
     * Supporting Actor (Miniseries or Movie) for Bob Newhart as Judson
Life on Mars:
     * Cinematography (One-Hour Series)
Lost:
     * Drama Series; Single-Camera Picture Editing (Drama Series) for “The Incident”
     * Sound Mixing (One-Hour Comedy or Drama Series) for “The Incident”
     * Supporting Actor (Drama Series) for Michael Emerson as Ben Linus
     * Writing (Drama Series) Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof for “The Incident”
A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa:
     * Original Music and Lyrics (Paul Williams for “I Wish I Could be Santa Claus”)
Disney’s Phineas and Ferb:
     * Outstanding Special Class—Short-format Animated Programs for “The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein”
Pushing Daisies:
     * Art Direction (Single-Camera Series) for “Dim Sum Lose Some”
     * Costumes (Series) for “Bzzzzzzzzz!”
     * Hairstyling (Single-Camera Series) for “Dim Sum Lose Some”
     * Makeup (Non-Prosthetic, Single-Camera Series) for “Dim Sum Lose Some”
     * Supporting Actress (Comedy Series) for Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook
Robot Chicken:
     * Animated Program (less than one hour) for “Star Wars Episode II”
     * Voice-Over Performance for Seth Green as Anakin Skywalker/Bob Goldstein/Imperial Officer/Ponda Baba/Robot Chicken Nerd in “Star Wars Episode II”
Sanctuary:
     * Special Visual Effects (Series) for “Sanctuary for All”
The Simpsons:
     * Animated Program (less than one hour) for “Gone Maggie Gone”
     * Music Composition (Series) Alf H. Clausen for “Gone Maggie Gone”
     * Voice-Over Performance for Hank Azaria as Moe Syzlak in “Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe”
     * Voice-Over Performance for Harry Shearer as Kent Brockman/Lenny/Mr. Burns/Smithers in “The Burns and the Bees”
     * Voice-Over Performance for Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson in “Father Knows Worst”
Smallville:
     * Sound Editing (Series) for “Bloodline”
South Park:
     * Animated Program (less than one hour) for “Margaritaville”
SpongeBob SquarePants:
     * Outstanding Special Class—Short-format Animated Programs for “Dear Vikings”
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
     * Sound Editing (Series) for “Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today”
True Blood:
     * Art Direction (Single-Camera Series) for “Burning House of Love”, “Cold Ground”, and “Sparks Fly Out”
     * Casting (Drama Series)
     * Main Title Design
24:
     * Music Composition (Series) Sean P. Callery for “7:00AM-8:00AM“
     * Single-Camera Picture Editing (Drama Series) Scott Powell for “7:00AM-8:00AM“
     * Sound Editing (Series) for “10:00PM-11:00PM“
     * Sound Mixing (One-Hour Comedy or Drama Series) for “10:00PM-11:00PM“
     * Stunt Coordination for “5:00PM-6:00PM“
     * Supporting Actress (Drama Series) for Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor
24: Redemption:
     * Lead Actor (Miniseries or Movie) for Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer
     * Music Composition (Miniseries, Movie, or Special) for Sean P. Callery
     * Single-Camera Picture Editing (Miniseries or Movie)
     * Sound Editing (Miniseries, Movie, or Special)
     * Sound Mixing (Miniseries or Movie)
Wizards of Waverly Place:
     * Children’s Program
Battlestar Galactica‘s five nominations ties last year’s record, giving it 19 nominations and three wins since 2005. The Big Bang Theory‘s three nominiations are its first, in its second year of eligibility. Last year, Pushing Daisies won three Emmys on 12 nominations; this year, it has five nominations. Legend of the Seeker and Life on Mars each received one nomination in this, their first year of eligibility. Lost‘s five nominations are the fewest ever for the series, which has 39 nominations and eight wins (including Outstanding Drama Series in 2005) since 2005. True Blood garnered three nominations in this, its first year of eligibility. After no nominations last year, 24 got six this year, bringing its total to 63 since 2002 (including 17 wins).
The most nominated program this year is 30 Rock, with 22 nominations.
The complete list of nominees is available here.