Emmy nominees blend deserved nod, bad taste

This year should have been different. There’s a new system, and while it makes little or no… This year should have been different. There’s a new system, and while it makes little or no sense and involves a secret society, it seemed like there would be some new people faking smiles and acting shocked on Aug. 27 when the Emmys air.

Unless the producers of “Will ‘ Grace” made a pact with the devil, all the new system did was prove that Emmy voters haven’t picked up a remote in five years. While most of the categories feature Emmy favorites (“Will ‘ Grace,” “The West Wing”), the new system worked in favor of a few people.

Christopher Meloni (“Law ‘ Order: SVU”) received a long-overdue nomination in the actor in a drama category, but don’t worry: Emmy regulars Martin Sheen (“The West Wing”), Peter Krause (“Six Feet Under”) and Kiefer Sutherland (“24”) made the cut as well.

The only big surprise in this category is Denis Leary for “Rescue Me.” Traditionally, networks that aren’t ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, HBO or Showtime get ignored, but voters must have accidentally walked into a room while FX was on and witnessed Leary in all his pill-popping, alcohol-swigging glory.

Leary not only deserves a nomination, but he deserves to win. The only problem is that both “The West Wing” and “Six Feet Under” ended, and voters will want to give Sheen or Krause some sort of parting gift. The women in the drama category will face a similar problem with Allison Janney and Frances Conroy.

Janney has proudly raised a trophy enough times for one series, so that leaves Conroy to face Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer”), the strongest nominee of the group. Her performance elevates what could have been just another mediocre procedural. Sedgwick deserves the award, but Conroy has been nominated four times and voters don’t know when they’ll get to see her again.

Geena Davis (“Commander in Chief”) is nominated mostly because she’s a movie star who wandered into a television show about the White House, and Mariska Hargitay (“Law ‘ Order: SVU”) is around because they’re looking for a new perennial nominee.

Between reruns of “Will ‘ Grace,” Emmy voters must have decided to check out what kind of comedies CBS had on the air. They found the 8-year-old “The King of Queens” and an overrated sitcom called “Two and a Half Men” and decided to throw some nominations at lead actors Kevin James and Charlie Sheen.

James has been overdue (by eight years) for a nomination on the underappreciated “The King of Queens.” His Emmy recognition is probably partially because voters recognized his name after he appeared in movies like “Hitch,” “Monster House” and made headlines by signing on to star in an upcoming Adam Sandler comedy.

Sheen, along with “Monk” star Tony Shalhoub, shouldn’t have made the cut. Shalhoub’s performance gets more over-the-top with each episode, and Sheen does little more than shake his head and spout one-liners. A better choice would have been Jason Bateman’s deadpan performance on “Arrested Development.”

Although Steve Carell (“The Office”) or Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) deserve to win, voters seem to love Shalhoub. Plus Charlie Sheen’s dad is on “The West Wing,” so that gives him some extra points.

Voters love “The West Wing” so much that they found an excuse to nominate Stockard Channing even though she isn’t on it anymore. Their reasoning was that she was in “Out of Practice,” which could be described as a sitcom.

Joining Channing is Jane Kaczmarek (the “Malcolm in the Middle” star who’s married to a “West Wing” cast member), Lisa Kudrow (star of “The Comeback” who worked with Matthew Perry who appeared on “The West Wing”), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (the lead in “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” who probably saw “The West Wing” at least once) and Debra Messing (who doesn’t need a connection to “The West Wing” because she’s on “Will ‘ Grace”).

Even though the actress in a comedy category looks like it’s from 2000, at least two of the nominees, Kudrow and Louis-Dreyfus, have the work to justify their nomination. Kudrow is most deserving for her awkwardly funny and realistic portrayal of a former sitcom star trying to reclaim fame, but she’s least likely to win because most voters probably missed the brief run of her canceled HBO sitcom.

It will probably come down to Kaczmarek and Messing because both were on established, long-running shows — voters may have stumbled upon more episodes than the one they submitted.

While this year’s nominations were far from recognizing current, quality television shows and performances, there’s always hope that next year Emmy voters will actually watch some TV before they turn in their ballots.