Things seem a bit familiar in Emmy land. The snubs are glaring, while the comedy runs high: NBC's satire hit "30 Rock" received 22 Emmy nominations Thursday (including best comedy, best actress and actor), the most of any single show. HBO's "Grey Gardens" was a surprise nom-sweeper, receiving 17 nods, while '60s drama "Mad Men" followed with 16. 

All but one of the best drama nominees was a cable show, with notable shunning exceptions including "Big Bang Theory" and "The Mentalist," both of which drew best actor nominations but were otherwise shut out of award contention. No love for "24" (really? Not even for Carlos Bernard?) or "The Shield" either, which was expected to be recognized. The show finished its run on high strength and industry respect - largely due to lead actor Michael Chiklis' devoted performance.  

The snubs, while not entirely surprising (given the history of these things), made even less sense this year, being that the Academy has so many categories now that everyone could walk away with an award and there would still be statues left over. Proof? Ryan Seacrest was nominated ("Best Host" - come on.), and Bruce Springsteen's Super Bowl halftime show was nominated several times. Why? The major categories were expanded to six and seven nominees as well, to be more inclusive, but evidently even that doesn't make the deciding anywhere near foolproof.  

Non-cable broadcast shows received four of seven possible nominations for outstanding comedy. Aside from two-time winner "30 Rock," nominations were given to Fox's "Family Guy" - only the second time an animated series has been included in this category ("The Flinstones" was nominated in 1961), as well as NBC's "The Office" and CBS' "How I Met Your Mother".   

HBO's "Entourage" was nominated for a third time and "Flight of the Conchords" and Showtime's "Weeds" were both first-time nominees as well.   On the drama side, cable took four of the seven nominations, which included one first-time nominee, HBO's "Big Love," as well as "Breaking Bad," "Mad Men," FX's "Damages," Showtime's "Dexter," Fox's "House" and ABC's "Lost."   The 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards will be presented Sept. 20 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS Television beginning at 8 PM ET. "Doogie Howser" himself Neil Patrick Harris will host.   

Click on for the full (huge!) list of nominees: