Emmy nominations: First reactions

The Emmy nominations were unveiled this morning, and television pundits are already weighing in on the main headlines. Here's a round up of the main talking points:

THE LENOGATE FALLOUT

• The Emmys already seem to have cast their vote for Team Coco. Red-haired funnyman Conan O'Brien was nominated for his seven-month stint hosting "The Tonight Show" — while the man who replaced him was snubbed both for that show and the ill-fated "Jay Leno Show." This could be "sweet payback" for Conan against the "peacock network executives who jettisoned him," says Mark A. Perigard at the Boston Herald. But he'll have to beat "SNL", Jon Stewart, Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert to win Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series.

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THE SNUBS

• "Charlie Sheen's bad boy antics finally caught up with him," says Tom O'Neil at the Los Angeles Times. The "Two and a Half Men" star didn't make the list after four consecutive Emmy nominations.

• The bad boy antics on "Entourage" didn't impress Emmy judges this year either, continues O'Neil. It "wasn't nommed after reaping three consecutive bids (2007-2009)."

• "Late Night" veteran David Letterman survived his blackmail scandal, but failed to gain an Emmy nomination this year, notes Lacey Rose at Forbes.

• CBS' top-rated comedy "The Big Bang Theory" failed to garner a nomination in the Best Comedy category for the second year in a row. Its "continuing lack of Emmy Awards clout" is one of the bigger oversights, says the in-no-way-biased CBS News.

THE SURPRISES

• Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton of "Friday Night Lights" were both nominated after five seasons of Emmy snubs, says Kelly Woo at AOL's TV Squad. The series also nabbed writing and casting nods. "Sometimes, the underdog does win the big game."

• "Lost" won a "surprising but deserved bumper crop of nominations," says Maureen Ryan at the Chicago Tribune, including three acting nominations.

• "No Emmy pundits foresaw the "Nurse Jackie" nomination for best comedy series," says the L.A. Times' O'Neil.

THE FOREGONE CONCLUSIONS

• It's no particular surprise that Betty White was nominated for her much-lauded guest appearance on "SNL." The episode received seven nominations in total, and the octogenerian's Snickers commercial landed White an eighth nomination, notes Gary Susman at AOL's TV Squad. "Just think, she could have been on Emmy's list nine times if there were a prize for Best Facebook Petition," adds Susman.

• "Glee", probably television's biggest success story of 2009-10, garnered a "whopping" 19 nominations. But it's "hard not to feel that the hype surrounding the show is reaching critical levels, leaving a second season fall-off in quality inevitable," says Sarah Hughes at The Guardian.

• "30 Rock"'s success at the Emmys continues with 15 nominations. Evidently, adds The Guardian's Hughes, "some shows... remain untouchable regardless of a drop in quality."

• Oh, and "nothing against 'Monk,'" deadpans Maureen Ryan at the Chicago Tribune, "but Tony Shalhoub got yet another best comedy actor nod? Really?"

• Other predictable nominees: "The Pacific" (24 nominations) "Mad Men", (17 nominations); "Modern Family" (14 nominations) and "The Good Wife" (9 nominations) all "got a lot of Emmy love this year — all of it much deserved," adds Ryan.