Nifty Emmy facts about 'Glee,' 'Lost' and 'The Good Wife'

July 9, 2010 | 7:21 am

Our Emmy guru Chris "Boomer" Beachum notes these fascinating Emmy factoids:

● The comedy lead actress race has three former "Saturday Night Live" cast members as nominees (Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Amy Poehler).

● "Glee" received nominations in every single acting category (both leads, both supportings, both guests).

● The comedy supporting actor race has three cast members from "Modern Family." It is only the third time this has happened in this category (both other times for "Cheers" -- 1985 with Nicholas Colasanto, John Ratzenberger and George Wendt and 1988 with Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson and George Wendt).

● With that top bid for "The Good Wife," this is the first year CBS has had a drama series nominee since "Joan of Arcadia" in 2004.

● With an Emmy win for "Lost" next month, composer Michael Giacchino would have won an Emmy, Grammy and Oscar all in 2010. He also won an Emmy in 2005 for composing the score of "Lost."

● With Betty White's nomination this year, a "Mary Tyler Moore Show" cast member has had a nomination in 34 of the past 40 years (1971-2010). The only years not represented were 1983, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2008. Edward Asner, Cloris Leachman, Mary Tyler Moore and Betty White are four of the most rewarded performers in Emmy history, both with wins and nominations.

● Four of the five most prolific hosts in "Saturday Night Live" history (Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, John Goodman and Tom Hanks) are all nominated for Emmys this year. The other is Buck Henry (not nominated this year).

● In another first for female directors (after Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar win this year), three of the five directors nominated in the drama category are women (Michelle MacLaren for "Breaking Bad," Lesli Linka Glatter for "Mad Men" and Agnieszka Holland for "Treme").

● Eight Oscar winners (Kathy Bates, Jeff Bridges, Judi Dench, Shirley Jones, Al Pacino, Susan Sarandon, Maggie Smith, Sissy Spacek) are nominated in acting categories.

● Eleven Oscar nominees (Joan Allen, Ann-Margret, Alec Baldwin, Glenn Close, Toni Collette, Anne Hathaway, John Lithgow, Ian McKellen, David Strathairn, Lily Tomlin, Brenda Vaccaro) are nominated in performance categories.