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."

"Survivor" wrapped its 18th installment Sunday night on CBS with a finale that saw one of the relatively good guys — James "J.T. Thomas — winning over both the jury and the public. Now the question is: can this kinder, gentler version of "Survivor" can win over Emmy voters once more?

This granddaddy of all reality competition shows premiered back in summer 2000 and quickly became a national obsession. In 2001, "Survivor" was named outstanding nonfiction program (special class) at the Emmy Awards. Two years later, the reality competition category was introduced at the Emmys and "Survivor" was one of the front-runners to win this award. Instead, that critical darling "The Amazing Race" took home the gold and has done so ever since.

"Survivor" was an Emmy also-ran for four years before being dropped from the lineup of nominees two years ago in favor of "Top Chef." How ironic that a show that starves its contestants was replaced by a culinary competition. And adding to the twists of Emmy fate, last year "Survivor" wrangler Jeff Probst won the first Emmy bestowed on a reality show host while "Amazing Race" leader Phil Keoghan was not even nominated.

"Survivor" took over the time slot of that perennial Emmy champ time on Sunday night. The finale of this one-time ratings juggernaut — which stretched over three hours — proved strong competition for "Desperate Housewives." "Survivor" is ranked 17th for the season, attracting about half the viewers of top-rated "American Idol." That musical competition has been bested by the much-lower-rated "Amazing Race" at the Emmys for six straight years. And just as that show is enjoying a critical resurgence this season, so too is "Survivor."

For Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly, "occasionally we are reminded that 'Survivor' is chiefly a social experiment and we are treated to a fascinating social scene, and that's what was served up at the final Tribal Council. Two best friends who hadn't had a cross word in 39 days suddenly ripping and clawing at each other for a splash of cash. Honestly, is there anything better than that?"

"Desperate Housewives" lost its only bid for the best comedy series Emmy Award to the farewell season of "Everybody Loves Raymond" back in 2005. After that first-season nod, the hour-long show has been snubbed by Emmy in that top race ever since. While it made the top 10 runoff as determined by a popular vote in both 2006 and 2007, it failed to win over the judging panels and earn a spot in the final round last year. And the actors have fared little better.

For playing frazzled working mom Lynette Scavo on that first breakout season of "Desperate Housewives," Felicity Huffman won the 2005 Emmy. She contended again in 2007 but lost to "Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera. Last year, she made the top 10 list but was not a hit with the judging panel, which helped winnow down these contenders to the final nominees.

Teri Hatcher won the Golden Globe midway through the first season in 2005 for her work as lovable klutz Susan Mayer and picked up an Emmy nod that year as well. She was a popular vote choice at the Emmys in both 2006 and 2007 but did not rank among the top 10 last year.

Marcia Cross racked up three consecutive Golden Globe nods (2005-07) as well a 2005 Emmy bid for her brittle Bree Van de Kamp Hodge. While she made the Emmy runoff in each of the last three years she has failed to translate that popular success into a nomination.

Neither Nicollette Sheridan as the vampy tramp Edie Britt or Eva Longoria  — who plays the delicious diva Gabrielle Solis — have earned any Emmy nominations to date. Longoria was popular enough with academy voters to be considered by the judging panels in each of the last three years, but she has yet to make it through to the final round.

And based on the comments of our forum posters, both the show and the stars face uphill battles at the Emmy Awards this year as well.

Leobassaid, "What a TERRIBLE season. Absolutely nothing worked. Even the praised 100th episode was lame, in my opinion. Out of the hit shows that premiered in 2004 (Grey's, Lost, Desperate Housewives, House...) DH is easily the one that got stale faster."

AJthought, "Overall, the finale was probably the weakest of the 5 but it had its good moments. I actually liked how they resolved the Dave mystery, which is easily the worst mystery they have done. I never thought anything could beat the Applewhite mystery but the Dave storyline takes the cake for being the worst, most bland, and the most predictable mystery yet."

nrlondon76 wrote, "Disappointing season finale as the Dave storyline dragged it down. I would have preferred more housewife attention and a whole lot less of Dave. The entire Dave mystery this season was just blah."

"Desperate Housewives" ended its fifth year on a high note as the season-long mystery was solved and all seemed as well as it ever can be for the women of Wisteria Lane. In the two-hour finale, there was a wedding, an affair, a pregnancy and an adoption. But can all this drama get the show back into the Emmy race for best comedy series?

"Desperate Housewives" has contended only once for TV's top prize. That was back in 2005 for its first smash-hit season. The ratings winner lost to the last year of "Everybody Loves Raymond." For Seasons 2 and 3, the show did make the top 10 as determined by a popular vote of academy members. However, it failed to impress the judging panels enough to earn a place in the final list of nominees. And last year, "Desperate Housewives" didn't even make the top 10 despite continued good ratings.

This year, the Emmy Awards nominating process has been revised to eliminate the juried runoff. Now the contenders will be determined solely by popular ballot. "Desperate Housewives" ranks No. 9 for the seasons with an average audience of 14.5 million. The only other comedy in the top 20 is "Two and a Half Men," which sits in 11th place with 9.8 million viewers.

Ironically, that mancentric sitcom seems to have taken the place of these wily women in the lineup of Emmy-nominated comedy series. The traditional three-camera sitcom has landed a nod in each of the last three years, while the single-camera hour-long dramedy has been snubbed.

After being written off by many TV critics, "Desperate Housewives" took a big risk this season and shifted the story ahead five years. This fast forward offered a chance for a much-needed reboot. However, while the show has sizzled in some episodes this season — most notably in the demise of Edie — the finale got mixed reviews.

"Grey's Anatomy" wrapped up its fifth season with a two-hour doubleheader that had our forum posters buzzing. The consensus was that the episodes — entitled "Here's to Future Days" and "Now or Never" — took their time to set up the story lines but the payoff was well worth it. In the stunning cliffhanger two of the main characters who deal with life and death every day at Seattle Grace confront their own mortality. Both Izzie (Katherine Heigl), who has been battling cancer this season, and George (T.R. Knight), who wants to fight for his country, were left in limbo when the show ended last night.

That jolt to the system may be just what this Emmy also-ran needed to revive its awards prospects. Over its first four seasons, "Grey's Anatomy" has earned 25 Emmy nominations but managed only two wins — a 2006 casting award and the 2007 upset by Katherine Heigl in the supporting actress race.

"Grey's Anatomy" competed for best drama series for its first full season in 2006 (losing to "24") and again the following year when "The Sopranos" won for its farewell season. Last year, the show did not number among the final six series nominees, but it did make the top 10 runoff.

This year, the nominating process has been revised to eliminate the juried runoff and the contenders will be determined solely by popular ballot. That "Grey's Anatomy" ranks 14th so far this season in TV's Nielsen ratings should help its cause. Up against ratings powerhouse "CSI," the show's average audience is 12.5 million (about half the number of who tune in to "American Idol")  And last night's finale was up substantially from that with 16.3 million viewers.

Among those watching were many of our forum posters who weighed in with their thoughts on the Emmy prospects for the show. Said Atypical, "Katherine Heigl and Justin Chambers need dual Emmy nominations this year, b/c they both were devastating tonight and made the last third of this season come alive. Who in their right mind would save a stranger from a speeding bus at the risk of his own life like that? George would. This ranks right up there with the season 2 finale as one of the best conclusions that the show's done to date."

Hingle thought, "Justin Chambers deserves an Emmy. He has been amazing this season. So does Heigel. I also think Pompeo has been phenomenal this season. Really, I'd love to see Grey's get some Emmy love this year, because it has been really good."

Admitted Bazookka Joe, "I didn't see that ending coming at all. I knew George was going to be injured, but everything was pointing towards him being injured in Iraq. So him being John Doe was one hell of a twist. Wasn't sure where they were going with Izzie, but it looks like she's a goner. George probably will too. Best cliffhanger this show has done. Nice job."