Glee is a top Emmy contender with 19 nominations, including Best Comedy

The nominations for the 62^nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were revealed July 8, but not without a bit of controversy over the year’s “snubbed” shows and actors.

Modern Family and Community stars Sofia Vergera and Joel McHale announced this year’s Emmy nominees, which proved to be both obvious and surprising. First to be revealed were the nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series. Among the contenders were Curb Your Enthusiasm, Glee, The Office, Nurse Jackie, 30 Rock and Modern Family. For Drama, Breaking Bad, Lost, True Blood, Mad Men, Dexter and The Good Wife received nods. The HBO World War II miniseries, The Pacific, and Fox’s Glee led the nominations with 24 and 19, respectively.

In the category of Lead Actor, a few usual suspects were named, including Alec Baldwin of 30 Rock, Tony Shalhoub of Monk and Steve Carell of The Office, who recently announced his departure from the NBC show at the end of next season. Facing his first Emmy nomination, Matthew Morrison was recognized for his role as the singing and dancing choir director, Will Schuester, on Glee. Another Matthew, Matthew Fox, received his first nod as well. Fox is nominated for his performance as the compelling Dr. Jack Shephard on Lost, which completed its six-year run this May.

Nomination surprises included the slighting of Patricia Heaton and her show, The Middle, Charlie Sheen for his character on Two and a Half Men, Courteney Cox for Cougar Town, and, although Vergara was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress for Modern Family, her fellow Emmy announcer, McHale, was overlooked for his role on Community. Kiefer Sutherland and 24 also failed to get nominated.

An additional shock came when David Letterman and his Late Show were absent from the list. Not only was he not recognized, but this was the first time since his first full season that Letterman was not in Emmy contention. Meanwhile, in another late night talk show controversy, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien was acknowledged by the Academy of Arts and Sciences, but Jay Leno, who’s become O’Brien’s rival, was not. Leno responded jokingly, “Oh man. I guess Dave and I will be watching the Emmy’s at Oprah’s house this year,” clearly referencing the surprising Superbowl commercial he and Letterman appeared in together.

For a complete list of Emmy nominees, go to Emmys.com. Tune in to NBC August 29 as Jimmy Fallon hosts the 62nd Emmy Awards to see which primetime television stars and shows take home the golden trophies.