Tuesday, July 21, is the deadline for actors nominated for their performances in a drama or comedy series to submit a sample episode to be evaluated by Emmy judges. Hey, don't worry, contenders! Our forum posters have made the selections for you! After I created a forum thread inviting everybody's views, our posters Isokolar and Bazooka Joe sifted through all of the suggestions and singled out the most popular, which are listed below.

DRAMA LEAD ACTOR
Simon Baker, "The Mentalist" ("Pilot")
Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment" ("Gina - Week 4")
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad" ("Bit By a Dead Bee")
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter" ("Finding Freebo")
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men" ("The Mountain King")
Hugh Laurie, "House" ("Under My Skin")

COMEDY LEAD ACTOR
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock" ("Generalissimo")
Steve Carell, "The Office" ("Broke" or "Stress Relief")
Jemaine Clement, "Flight of the Conchords" ("Unnatural Love")
Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory" ("The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis")
Tony Shalhoub, "Monk" ("Mr. Monk’s 100th Case")
Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men" ("The Devil's Lube")

DRAMA LEAD ACTRESS
Glenn Close, "Damages" ("Trust Me")
Sally Field, "Brothers and Sisters" ("Taking Sides")
Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" ("PTSD")
Holly Hunter, "Saving Grace" ("Are You an Indian Princess?")
Elisabeth Moss, "Mad Men" ("Meditations in an Emergency")
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer" ("Cherrybomb")

• Both of last year's series champs -- comedy "30 Rock" and drama "Mad Men" -- lead the field in their respective categories again this year. "30 Rock" broke the record for nominations it set last year with 17 bids by landing 22 nods this year. "Mad Men" repeated with 16 nominations, far off the 27 nods for the first season of "NYPD Blue" in 1994. "30 Rock" won seven of its races last year and "Mad Men" prevailed in six.

• After being benched last year because of the writers strike, former Emmy powerhouse "24" made a lackluster return to the race this year, failing to score bids for either series or TV movie ("24: Redemption"). Kiefer Sutherland, who was a fixture in the best actor in a drama series category, was snubbed for the first time in the show's seven years. He had to make do with a nod in the TV movie actor race for the one-off "24: Redemption."  How fast the mighty had fallen! For its fifth season in 2006, "24" won best drama series and Sutherland reigned as best actor.

• "Big Bang Theory" star Jim Parsons -- who announced Emmy nominations this morning with Chandra Wilson ("Grey's Anatomy") -- could win best comedy actor now that he's finally nominated. Last year, when we chatted with Parsons via podcast, we asked him how often he hears people compare his TV role to the wacky, persnickety performance given by Tony Randall as Felix Unger in "The Odd Couple." "There's no way around it," Parsons told us. "I hear that all the time." That's great news as Randall won this Emmy in 1975.

• Kathy Griffin is not only hosting the Creative Arts Emmys but may add a third Emmy to her mantle as "My Life on the D-List" once again contends for best reality program. Since Emmy voters did not nominate the increasingly popular "Jon & Kate Plus 8," Griffin is the front-runner, having won this race for the last two years. If "Jon & Kate Plus 8" had gotten its first nod, producers planned on submitting that powerhouse Season 5 premiere, which showcased the happy celebration of the sextuplets' fifth birthday mixed with harsh scenes of Jon and Kate Gosselin confronting their crumbling marriage. It scored staggering Nielsen ratings: more than 10 million viewers. No word yet on which episode of "My Life on the D-List" Kathy Griffin will submit.

• Just as I had predicted, "Family Guy" broke through to become the second cartoon nominated for best comedy series. Only "The Flintstones" managed the feat back in 1961, losing to "The Jack Benny Program." "The Simpsons" tried to make the cut during the 1990s, switching from the category for best animated program (which it won a few times) to best comedy, but didn't get nommed, so switched back and resumed winning. How did "Family Guy" pull it off? It had two strong pluses that "The Simpsons" didn't have: There are currently only a few strong comedies on TV and the Emmys just expanded this category to include at least six nominees (turns out seven made it in) from five.

• Given that seven comedies and seven dramas are contending for best series, it is odd that none of the newcomers nabbed Emmy nominations: "True Blood," "The Mentalist," "United States of Tara," etc. However, there are four veteran shows that finally made the cut in comedy: "Family Guy," "Flight of the Conchords," "How I Met Your Mother" and "Weeds." And "Big Love" and "Breaking Bad" broke through on the drama side.

Ah, the Emmy nominations that might have been! Below is a list of the programs and stars that got snubbed by the 14,000 voters in the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Here is a full list of nominees.

* = Top 10 Semi-Finalist in 2008
** = Nominee in 2008

NOT-SO-BEST DRAMA SERIES
"Battlestar Galactica"
"Boston Legal" **
"ER"
"Friday Night Lights" *
"Grey's Anatomy" *
"In Treatment"
"The Mentalist"
"The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency"
"Rescue Me"
"The Shield"
"True Blood"
"The Tudors" *
"24"

NOT-SO-BEST COMEDY SERIES
"The Big Bang Theory"
"Californication"
"Desperate Housewives"
"Scrubs"
"Two and a Half Men" **
"Ugly Betty" *
"United States of Tara"

NOT-SO-BEST MINISERIES
"House of Saddam" (HBO)
"Maneater" (Lifetime)

NOT-SO-BEST TV MOVIE
"Accidental Friendship"
"America"
"Front of the Class"
"Gifted Hands"
"God on Trial"
"Jesse Stone: Thin Ice"
"Living Proof"
"My Zinc Bed"
"Natalee Holloway"
"Sybil"

On the official Emmy ballot, there are 27 shows competing for outstanding reality-competition program, but the same five have been nominated for the last two years: "Amazing Race," "American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," "Project Runway" and "Top Chef." And the same one has won all six years since this category was created ("Amazing Race").

So handicapping this Emmy race seems to be fairly simple. Below is my rundown. I'm throwing "Survivor" into the "front-runners" portion because it was nominated here four years in a row (2003-2004) and Jeff Probst won the new award for reality host last year.

Hey, where's "America's Got Talent"? Why didn't producers submit it this year?

REALITY/COMPETITION  PROGRAM
(Front-runners)
"The Amazing Race"
"American Idol"
"Dancing With the Stars"
"Project Runway"
"Survivor"
"Top Chef"

(Possible)
"America's Next Top Model"
"The Bachelor"
"Big Brother"
"Biggest Loser: Couples"
"Celebrity Apprentice"
"Deal or No Deal"
"Hell's Kitchen"
"So You Think You Can Dance"

Our forum posters remained enthusiastic about the second season of "In Treatment" throughout its seven-week run on HBO, which wrapped up this holiday weekend. Based on the hit Israeli series "BeTipul," "In Treatment" unfolds over the course of weekly therapy sessions. As Dr. Paul Weston, Gabriel Byrne counsels a different patient in four of the weekly installments while in the fifth he is undergoing therapy himself.

This season, the good doctor is treating another wide array of patients. Among those earning plaudits from our posters are current Tony nominee Hope Davis ("God of Carnage") as a successful attorney who blames Weston for her woes because she was once under his care. And two-time Emmy nominee John Mahoney ("Frasier"), who plays a CEO consumed by panic attacks, has earned his share of rave reviews as well.

But it is one-time Tony nominee Alison Pill ("The Lieutenant of Inishmore") as a student in denial about her cancer who has won over most of our posters. Last month Atypical said, "Alison Pill was incredible this week. She's on a different playing field than everyone else at this point. Just wow." More recently Buffy Mars thought, "Alison Pill should win the Emmy. I watch a lot of tv and I know there are many great supporting actress performances this year, but she's on a completely different level from everyone else." And for sirkevin, "It has been years since I've been so moved and intrigued by a character arc on television. Pill is creating one of the most complex characters of the season. What a star. She really deserves this."

However, as nicolefan notes, "I'm really rooting for Alison Pill this year. I mean, I'm a nervous wreck while watching her episodes, she's just so unbelievably real and heartbreaking. I doubt she'll get a nomination, but she truly deserves to win it this year. And as much as I like Diane Wiest and Hope Davis, I bet they get in over Alison Pill just on name recognition alone. I wouldn't mind them getting nominated, because they're both great, but only if Alison Pill can get nominated too."

Last year, Gabriel Byrne earned his first Emmy nod for this role but lost the lead actor in a drama series race to Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad"). In January, he won a Golden Globe as a consolation prize.

Two-time Oscar champ Dianne Wiest ("Hannah and Her Sisters," "Bullets over Broadway") won her second Emmy Award for her work as the therapist's therapist Dr. Gina Toll. Wiest prevailed over perennial Emmy champ Candice Bergen ("Boston Legal" ) and repeat nominees Rachel Griffith ("Brothers and Sisters") and "Grey's Anatomy" co-stars Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson.

Throughout this season of "American Idol," Adam Lambert was widely proclaimed to be the front-runner, even by the notoriously fickle Simon Cowell, who called him a brilliant artist, showman and "worldwide star." Victory by Kris Allen is such a blatant rejection of industry and critical opinion, we must wonder: Does it diminish the credibility of the show?

For Jon Caramanica of the New York Times, "At best, Mr. Allen is a harmless singer — he makes Kenny Loggins look tough. At worst, he’s indefensible, utterly lacking in texture and range and interpretive imagination. His awww-shucks demeanor spills over to his performances, in which his chin jerks violently to the right every time he’s aiming for a big note, as if his mouth is struggling to deliver what his brain is asking for."

However, as Whitney Pastorek of Entertainment Weekly explained, "Adam Lambert was never going to win this show, but I don't think it had anything to do with platform boots or flaming bombast or some vast red state/Mormon/hillbilly/Miss California conspiracy. I think it had more to do with the fact that the sort of people who would be inclined to like Adam Lambert are not as inclined to watch this show as the sort of people who would be inclined to like Kris Allen."

And as Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times pointed out, "Allen has his undeniable strong points. In terms of the music industry, he cuts a more contemporary figure than Lambert: Many stars now (specifically rock-oriented, male ones) tend to do better when they draw themselves to scale, offering songs that make fans feel warm and connected, not blown away."

Though the public may have preferred the soft rock of Kris Allen, Adam Lambert's hard edge certainly made for better TV. And the ultimate judges of that aspect of "American Idol" will be the Emmy voters. Over its first seven seasons, "American Idol" has struck out repeatedly at the Emmy Awards, winning only two of its 34 bids. And neither of those wins came in the top race of best reality competition program. Indeed, since that category was introduced in 2003, "The Amazing Race" has won all six years.

"Dancing With the Stars" crowned its newest — and youngest — champ last night when Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, 17, edged out "Sex and the City" stud Gilles Marini to win Season 8. Last-minute addition "The Bachelor"-jilted Melissa Rycroft came in third place. All three scored top marks for their routines from the panel of judges with the viewer vote making the difference. With such strong performances this year, perhaps this show can finally win the Emmy Award for choreography.

After all, the two women in the final three both came to the dancefest with a talent for toe-tapping. Shawn Johnson won gold at the 2008 Olympics and was the 2007 world champion gymnast. And before we got to know Melissa Rycroft as one of the women vying for Jason Mesnick's attentions on "The Bachelor," she performed with the renowned Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. As for Gilles Marini, he certainly made all the right moves on Kim Cattrall in the big-screen version of "Sex and the City."

Surprising as it seems, this celebrity dance-off has lost the choreography Emmy for three years running. In 2006, "Dancing With the Stars" had three noms in the category but lost to "High School Musical." In 2007, there was a three-way tie as "So You Think You Can Dance" took two Emmys and "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" also won, leaving "Dancing With the Stars" the sole loser. Last year, "So You Think You Can Dance" repeated, albeit with just one win.

Over those first three years of Emmy eligibility, "Dancing With the Stars" managed only four technical wins from its 23 nominations. Besides that embarrassing shutout in the choreography category, the show has lost the reality competition title three years running to "The Amazing Race." And last September, "Dancing with the Stars" emcee Tom Bergeron lost the first Emmy race for reality show host to Jeff Probst of "Survivor."

"How I Met Your Mother" ended its fourth season last night having moved one step tantalizingly closer to explaining the rendezvous referred to in the TV series' title. And while the mystery of how Ted (Josh Radnor) meets his match may not be answered for seasons to come, this year could mark the entry of the show into the Emmy race for best comedy series.

"How I Met Your Mother" is still, admittedly, a long shot. The show needs to place in the top six or seven with the popular vote of the academy members to land an Emmynod. During its first three years on the air, "HIMYM" failed to rank in the top 10 when run-off elections were held to determine semi-finalists before judging panels picked five nominees. This year the panels will be scrapped while the number of nominees will  be expanded. 

However, the cast and creative types of "HIMYM" should take some comfort in the examples of how the Emmys first treated other CBS Monday night sitcoms. It took till Season 3 for "Everybody Loves Raymond" to break into the comedy series race and then five consecutive nods before it finally won the award in 2003. It would also win for its tenth and final season in 2005. The following year "Two and a Half Men" took over the "Raymond" time slot and also its place in the Emmy lineup. This top-rated laffer has earned three consecutive nods, losing first to critical darling "The Office" in 2006 and then for the last two years to the little-watched but much loved "30 Rock."

"HIMYM" has won three successive Emmys for art direction and contended for several other technical awards. Among the talent, only Neil Patrick Harris — who plays the boorish Barney — has been Emmy nominated. He has lost the last two supporting actor races to Jeremy Piven ("Entourage"). But based on growing critical kudos, this could be the breakthrough year for the show.

Aly Semigran of Entertainment Weekly found the finale, "did what 'How I Met Your Mother' does best, which give us those tiny little hints (more on that later) without giving away the big payoff. As far as season finales go, it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, even if those last few minutes were fantastic. Maybe it was the fact that the weeks leading up had given us such wonderful little nuggets (the yellow umbrella! Stella returns!), but something about it didn't seem as fulfilling as I was hoping for (I also somewhat blame 'The Office' for filling my quota of painfully good humor and heartbreak)."

"Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl will submit her name for Emmy Awards consideration this season, reports Mike Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly. Gold Derby can add to that news: After appearing in a high-profile role that could've been defined as lead, she's decided to remain in the same supporting category she won in 2007. 

It was Gold Derby that noticed Katherine Heigl's name missing from the initial list of 2008 contenders last June. When we inquired as to why, Heigl's response to us triggered a huge media uproar: "I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination."

After that brouhaha, there was talk that her character of Izzie could be killed off this season on the medical drama. Though Izzie has been battling cancer, her fate remains a mystery with an ambiguous finale putting both her and George (T.R. Knight) in limbo. 

While we will have to wait till the fall to learn which — if either of them — survives, we now know that Heigl liked this storyline enough to put her name forward for the Emmys. That she decided to stay in the supporting race is illuminating. After all, there are plenty of Emmy precedents to legitimize a move up to lead actress by a supporting winner without any noticeable increase in screen time.

Last night's seventh-season finale of "24" delivered the show's trademark mix of action and drama as it wrapped up another eventful day in the life of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). This year the rogue spy battled friends and foes before ending the day facing imminent death.

Many critics have hailed the creative resurgence of this onetime perennial Emmy Awards contender. "24" sat out last year's Emmy race due to the writers strike. In 2007, Season 6 was deemed a disappointment and the show failed to contend for the drama series Emmy for the first time in its run. While "24" had made the top 10 — as determined by a popular vote of academy members — the sample episodes failed to impress the judging panel enough for the show to make it through to the final round of nominees.

That snub was especially glaring as "24" had taken TV's top honor the previous year. That win in 2006 came for the fifth consecutive series nod. And Sutherland won the lead actor Emmy Award that night as well. Though the show was not in the running in 2007, Sutherland did contend again for the sixth year in a row. He lost to James Spader ("Boston Legal"). Both he and the show are certainly in the mix this year based on reviews like the following for last night's two-hour season-ender.

Robert Bianco of USA Today thought the show "capped its season-long creative resurgence Monday with a finale that was characteristically rousing and uncharacteristically thoughtful. Spurred by Tony's betrayal and his own sense of impending doom, Jack allowed his heroic façade to drop — allowing the show to dig a bit deeper into the nature of his heroism."