Catching up with this year's Emmy nominations

Emmy nominations were announced last week. While the Oscars is my preferred awards show, I am so pumped to see a bunch of my favorite series get nominations that I might tune in. And with the telecast being Aug. 29, there's time to catch any unseen shows and pick favorites.

"The Pacific," an HBO 10-part miniseries, topped the list with 24 nominations.

I have not seen the miniseries, a World War II-themed show sometimes compared to the respected HBO "Band of Brothers," but raking in that many nominations might get me to hibernate one weekend and watch the whole series.

"Glee," which I wrote about last week, pulled in 19 nominations. Now, I like "Glee," which follows a high school glee club as it prepares for competitions, but I don't really know how it pulled off so many nominations.

Two of my favorite shows, "30 Rock" and "Mad Men," got tons of recognition, with 15 and 17 nominations a pop. Tina Fey is one of the coolest, so any chance for her to be recognized for anything is awesome. Her Liz Lemon character on "30 Rock" is funny and quirky, and the show never fails to entertain, even if it overdoes the single woman with bad eating habits storyline a little.

"Mad Men," set in fictional 1960s New York advertising office Sterling Cooper, stars Jon Hamm, who also appeared in and was nominated for a handful of "30 Rock" episodes as Dr. Drew Baird, aka Mr. Good Looking, and January Jones. It's a really well-made show, even if Don and Betty Draper aren't the best role models.

"Modern Family" scored 14 nominations, which definitely surprised me. I've caught several episodes, but the comedy series following three interconnected modern families isn't really my speed. And "True Blood" got nominated in the outstanding drama category. I definitely never expected that guilty pleasure vampire show to be in Emmy territory, but it rounds out a category filled with shows about criminal teachers, serial killers, lawyers, castaways and ad men.

Other nominated shows I'm happy about include "Breaking Bad" and "Dexter." Both shows question morals, presenting characters who typically would be bad guys as the guy you root for.

"Breaking Bad," nominated in seven categories, just finished its third season. It seems like a lot of people don't know about the AMC show, but everyone I know who watches it loves it. Bryan Cranston (the dad from "Malcolm in the Middle") plays a high school chemistry teacher with terminal cancer who becomes a criminal in order to save money for his family.

Showtime's "Dexter," which earned three nominations, follows Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a blood analyst for the police by day and serial killer by night. This past season featured an incredibly creepy guest spot by John Lithgow.

And if you need another reason to look forward to the Emmy show, Conan O'Brien got nominated for "The Tonight Show," (but Jay Leno didn't). Score! Sure, Conan has done all right for himself since leaving NBC -- his new show on TBS starts in November -- but it still wasn't cool that he lost "The Tonight Show." Who knows if he'll win, but I'm all about some CoCo attention.