To the despair of many, the Emmys get it wrong. Most of the time.
Sure, they rightfully acknowledged landmark series such as "Hill Street Blues" and bestowed countless trophies to shows like "The West Wing" and its deep ensemble cast (although even Allison Janney is getting a bit embarrassed at this point) but after every nominations period, there's always that moment where TV viewers realize that their favorite show or actor has been completely stiffed.
So this time, let's make life easier for those beleaguered voters. The real nominations come out early July 6, but for voters, here's some advice: Just go with this list and all will be forgiven:
Comedy actor
Jason Bateman, "Arrested Development"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
Jason Lee, "My Name Is Earl"
Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men"
The new blood dominates here. NBC topper Jeff Zucker should put a little something extra in the pay envelopes of Carell and Lee, who are doing their best — with the help of terrific ensemble casts — to bring the network's comedy legacy back. Sheen might actually be underappreciated on "Men," considering he gets five times more ink for his disintegrating marriage and porn star addictions than anything else.
Comedy supporting actor
Terry Crews, "Everybody Hates Chris"
Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"
Ethan Suplee, "My Name Is Earl"
Rainn Wilson, "The Office"
Give it up for Crews. "Everybody Hates Chris" might center around Tyler James Williams, as a young Chris Rock, but as the overworked and underappreciated dad, Crews is giving his TV son a career's worth of memorable one-liners. Piven has gotten so good at playing a cold-hearted and ruthless agent, folks at CAA are calling and asking for tips.
Comedy actress
Tichina Arnold, "Everybody Hates Chris"
Lauren Graham, "Gilmore Girls"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine"
Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"
Debra Messing, "Will & Grace"
All hail the end of the "Seinfeld" curse. As Christine, Louis-Dreyfus has many of Elaine's neuroses, but now with a child and ex-husband. One of these days Graham needs get recognized for "Gilmore," so why not now? Yeah, Messing is an Emmy warhorse but as the show has wrapped up its final season, there's no shame in giving her one last hurrah.
Comedy supporting actress
Alexis Bledel, "Gilmore Girls"
Portia de Rossi, "Arrested Development"
Jenna Fischer, "The Office"
Alyson Hannigan, "How I Met Your Mother"
Jaime Pressly, "My Name Is Earl"
Hannigan has made the transformation from "Buffy" to the "American Pie" franchise and back to the small screen in the cute-as-kittens "Mother." Fischer's season-long flirtations with John Krasinski culminated in a whopper of a final episode.
Comedy series
"Arrested Development"
"Entourage"
"My Name Is Earl"
"The New Adventures of Old Christine"
"The Office"
With "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Friends," "Frasier" gone — and "Will & Grace" about to be, Emmy-wise — the new blood here is refreshing. Though "Entourage" is for paying cable customers only, there's nothing else quite like it, lampooning the same industry in which it was born. (The fact that "Desperate Housewives" isn't on this list isn't an oversight. The show suffered a serious sophomore slump and needs to win back critics and voters with better scripts, not past magazine-cover glory.)
Drama actor
Michael Chiklis, "The Shield"
James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos"
Hugh Laurie, "House"
Denis Leary, "Rescue Me"
Kiefer Sutherland, "24"
Chiklis, who won for "The Shield" his first time out, may seem somewhat forgotten over the years but that mistake of major proportions needs to be corrected pronto. Leary smarminess and testosterone-fueled rages may turn off some but an actor need to give a genuine compelling performance to raise the ire of viewers. Nobody saves the world — and then brings it back to the edge of destruction — like Sutherland, all on a weekly basis.
Drama supporting actor
TR Knight, "Grey's Anatomy"
Michael Emerson, "Lost"
Harry Dean Stanton, "Big Love"
Forest Whitaker, "The Shield"
Joseph Gannascoli, "The Sopranos"
"The Sopranos" may be all about all-things Tony but Gannascoli stole the show this season. Gannascoli and his penguin walk were the talk of both viewers and the mobsters. Of these five nominees, Emerson had the least amount of scenes but the quality of each was inspiring. Stuck in the hatch in "Lost," all it took was a raise of an eyebrow or a passing glance that sent the castaways into a twitter.
Drama actress
Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under"
Edie Falco, "The Sopranos"
Ellen Pompeo, "Grey's Anatomy"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"
Jeanne Tripplehorn, "Big Love"
Just on the basis of those first few episodes where she's caring for Tony while he's in the hospital - and making sure his payments due are both timely and accurate - Falco could be in line for her fourth Emmy. Tripplehorn found a career muse in "Big Love," as polygamist Bill Paxton's first, and most endearing, wife. Sedgwick brings a brassy spring to her step as an Southern-friend LAPD cop in basic cable's most-watched show, TNT's "The Closer."
Drama supporting actress
Lauren Ambrose, "Six Feet Under"
Yunjin Kim, "Lost"
Mary Lynn Rajskub, "24"
Chloe Sevigny, "Big Love"
Chandra Wilson, "Grey's Anatomy"
Though "Six Feet Under" ended nearly a year ago, it would be wrong to forget Ambrose's great work. The final episode, in which we see how all the characters will live out the rest of their lives and die, was superb and she played a major part in that. There's wasn't much to like about Sevigny's shopaholic and close-minded Nicky, but it's to her credit that she gets such a visceral reaction out of everyone - from TV watchers to her fellow wives.
Drama series
"Grey's Anatomy"
"Lost"
"The Sopranos"
"The Shield"
"The West Wing"
Any of these series would be deserving of a win. "Wing" closed their run with a superior season, examining the presidential race between Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits. "The Shield" rose its game again, with another race - this one even more bitter - between evil yet beloved cop Michael Chiklis and internal affairs officer Forest Whitaker, to see who would get in each other's psyche first. But it's "Grey's" that seems to carry the most momentum heading into nominations Thursday, even more so than reigning champion "Lost." Whether it has the fortitude to take the crown, however, remains to be seen.
Stuart Levine is a senior editor at Daily Variety. You can email him at stuart.levine@variety.com.