As last year's champ Jaime Pressly ("My Name Is Earl") did not make the Top 10, the race for funniest featured woman is wide open. Our Emmy gurus Robert "Rob L" Licuria and Chris "Boomer" Beachum agree on three of the five nominees –- Vanessa Williams ("Ugly Betty") and Jenna Fischer ("The Office"), who both picked up nods last year, as well as newcomer Kristen Chenoweth ("Pushing Daisies").

To fill out the final five, Rob opts for two-time nominee Holland Taylor of "Two and a Half Men" and Tony award winner Jane Krakowski ("30 Rock"). Boomer believes two-time guest comedy actress winner Jean Smart will score her first comedy series nom for "Samantha Who?" and Amy Poehler will land her first nod after seven seasons on "Saturday Night Live."

Our Emmy gurus agree that two-time nominees Conchata Ferrell ("Two and a Half Men") and Elizabeth Perkins ("Weeds") will finish out of the running as will Judith Light of "Ugly Betty," who picked up a guest nod for that show last year.

To find the final five nominees, Boomer and Rob follow the actual voting process. First, they predict the order of the semifinalists as determined by the popular vote by the TV academy's actors' branch.

Here's how Rob thinks the popular vote tallied — 1.) Vanessa Williams 2.) Holland Taylor 3.) Jenna Fischer 4.) Jane Krakowski 5.) Elizabeth Perkins 6.) Conchata Ferrell 7.) Kristin Chenoweth 8.) Judith Light 9.) Jean Smart 10.) Amy Poehler

How Boomer ranks the popular vote outcome — 1.) Vanessa Williams 2.) Jenna Fischer 3.) Kristin Chenoweth 4.) Elizabeth Perkins 5.) Holland Taylor 6.) Jean Smart 7.) Amy Poehler 8.) Conchata Ferrell 9.) Judith Light 10.) Jane Krakowski

Then they predict how the panel judges scored the sample episode entries.

Here's how Rob ranks the judges' views of the episodes — 1.) Vanessa Williams 2.) Holland Taylor 3.) Amy Poehler 4.) Kristin Chenoweth 5.) Jean Smart 6.) Judith Light 7.) Jenna Fischer 8.) Jane Krakowski 9.) Elizabeth Perkins 10.) Conchata Ferrell

How Boomer thinks the judges ranked episode entries — 1.) Jean Smart 2.) Vanessa Williams 3.) Amy Poehler 4.) Kristin Chenoweth 5.) Jane Krakowski 6.) Jenna Fischer 7.) Holland Taylor 8.) Judith Light 9.) Elizabeth Perkins 10.) Conchata Ferrell

They combine these two results on a 50-50 basis, just like the accountants do, to determine the final ranking of the nominees. The lower the score the higher the chance of being nominated.

BEST COMEDY SUPPORTING ACTRESS: ROB'S PREDIX
(Top five = nominees)
1.) Vanessa Williams, "Ugly Betty" ("Bananas for Betty") — 3 points
2.) Holland Taylor, "Two and a Half Men" ("Media Room Slash Dungeon") — 4 points
3.) Jenna Fischer, "The Office" ("Fun Run") — 10 points
4.) Kristin Chenoweth, "Pushing Daisies" ("Girth") — 11 points
5.) Jane Krakowski, "30 Rock" ("The Collection") — 12 points
6.) Amy Poehler, "Saturday Night Live" ("Tina Fey") — 13 points
7.) Judith Light, "Ugly Betty" ("I See Me, ICU") — 14 points
7.) Elizabeth Perkins, "Weeds" ("Risk") — 14 points
7.) Jean Smart, "Samantha Who?" ("The Girlfriend") — 14 points
10.) Conchata Ferrell, "Two & a Half Men" ("Fish in a Drawer") — 16 points

Rob's commentary: This is one of very few categories this year where a very good argument could easily be made that any one of the 10 contenders in the list will be nominated. Perkins and Ferrell are past nominees on a number of occasions, and so have proved to be very popular with voters. Smart is an Emmy favorite and veteran, and Light is almost a TV legend, and was nominated last year in the Guest category. I suspect Poehler sneaked in to the top 10 popular list, but her episode really showcases a great range of her comic abilities and puts her in a very good position to make history as the first "SNL" cast member to be nominated in this category. I would not discount or underrate Krakowski or Taylor, both of whom have great episodes. Fischer will do well on the popular ballot, and Williams and Chenoweth should have nothing to worry about either.

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