The Teddys, not the Emmys, award what's tops on TV

Today is the day the best shows and actors on television finally get their due recognition.

Not with the Emmy Award nominations, silly, but with the Teddy Awards.

The Teddys, as aware readers well know, are the humble attempt of Your Friendly Neighborhood TV Critic to atone for the wrongs annually done by the Emmys, and they've never been more necessary.

Last year, in its endless attempt to reform a broken process, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences imposed minimal popularity standards for its best comedy and drama categories. In effect, it ruled out series like HBO's excellent "The Wire" because they weren't regularly seen by enough viewers. The ATAS will unreform that policy this year, but even though "The Wire" was listed as one of 10 finalists before nominations were announced, don't expect it to get a nod.

It's a happy accident when the best is also the most popular, but it just doesn't happen very often. And for all its faults - Jackie Gleason never won an Emmy, 'nuff said - the ATAS had a fairly good track record on that count for most of the last half-century. The Emmys could point to bringing early attention to deserving future hits like "Hill Street Blues," "Cheers" and "The Office," and even celebrating the occasional canceled series like "My World and Welcome to It."

Not anymore, and not for years now, truth be told. The Emmys have become little more than a Hollywood popularity contest, championing hack work like that of David E. Kelley and William Shatner alongside industry pets like Candice Bergen and Tyne Daly, while slighting more deserving series, like "The Wire," "Gilmore Girls" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Thus, the Teddys were born, to champion the true best on television. And while the Emmys are chatted about today after nominations are released at 7:30 a.m. on E! in a predawn ceremony in Hollywood, the real stars will be jumping up and down with word that they've actually received Teddys and Teddy nominations.

Usually, I admit, I prevaricate a bit and shower my favorites with awards and nominations, but this year tended to produce very clear winners in the major series and acting categories, beginning, yes, with the swan song of "The Wire," the best show on TV. So let's get right to it, shall we?

Dramas

In its final season, "The Wire" went out strong with a meditation on morality in the media and law enforcement. Its closing montage was a bittersweet ode to Baltimore and inner cities. Give nominations as well to HBO's contrived, but nonetheless compelling "In Treatment," a series of one-act plays masquerading as a therapist drama, and AMC's stylish "Mad Men." Finally, give nominations to comic dramas "Reaper" and "Pushing Daisies," both of which produced not just comedy ha-ha, but the higher form of comedy not tragedy.

Best actor

Dominic West was more nuanced than ever as the guilt-stricken, self-destructive, but well-intentioned and intrepid detective McNulty in "The Wire," so he gets the Teddy. Yet give nominations to co-leads John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg of "The Kill Point," to Michael C. Hall for making a serial killer sympathetic in "Dexter" and to Jon Hamm as the enigma at the center of "Mad Men."

Best actress

Holly Hunter stands above all others as the whoring, hard-drinking, above all blaspheming star of "Saving Grace," again for taking an unsympathetic character and making a viewer care about her. Give nominations to Kathryn Morris of "Cold Case," Patricia Arquette of "Medium" and Kyra Sedgwick of "The Closer," as well as Emily Deschanel of "Bones" for her effortless ease. What the Italians call disinvoltura is a quality highly esteemed by the Teddys.

Best supporting actor

This is the strongest category of the year, led by Ray Wise's impish impression of the devil in "Reaper." As the former murderer in "Twin Peaks," Wise not only gave the devil a sense of humor, but also a sharp edge beneath his smile. Close behind is Blair Underwood, brilliant as the cocksure if ill-fated pilot in "In Treatment." Then there's Andre Royo, who brought new poignancy to the drug addict Bubbles in "The Wire," along with his co-star, Clark Johnson, the "Homicide: Life on the Street" actor returned from the director's chair to play a Baltimore city editor. Finally, there will always be at very least a Teddy nomination for J.K. Simmons, the gruff but sympathetic commanding officer in "The Closer."

Best supporting actress

Again, in a strong category, one stands apart: Mia Wasikowska's suicidal teen gymnast in "In Treatment." She could lash out with spite, then go limp with self-loathing. Give a nomination to her co-star, Michelle Forbes, another Teddy favorite, as well as the fearsome Felicia "Snoop" Pearson of "The Wire," Elisabeth Moss of "Mad Men" and Laura Harris of "Women's Murder Club."

Comedies

Like "The Wire," HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" was listed among 10 Emmy finalists, but is almost certain to be slighted in today's nominations. A wry, deadpan look at two New Zealand musos displaced in Manhattan, "Conchords" was and is wickedly funny - never more so than in its whimsical music videos. Nominations go to CBS' fine ensemble comedies "How I Met Your Mother" and "Rules of Engagement," as well as "South Park" and, of course, "The Simpsons," two cartoons typically ghettoized in the specialty animation categories by the Emmys.

Best actor

I have to be consistent and go with Jemaine Clement, the funnier of the two "Conchords." Otherwise, it was a good year for louts, in that nominations go to Patrick Warburton of "Engagement" and Jerry O'Connell of "Carpoolers." Alec Baldwin earns one for "30 Rock," as does Dan Byrd as the main character in the CW's sadly unappreciated "Aliens in America." He wasn't always likable, but he was almost always funny.

Best actress

If Sarah Silverman's music-video love letter to Jimmy Kimmel with Matt Damon wasn't the funniest thing on TV this season, it was her abortion montage set to Green Day's "Good Riddance" on her own "The Sarah Silverman Program," so give her the Teddy as comedienne of the year. Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "The New Adventures of Old Christine," Tina Fey of "30 Rock" and Christina Applegate of "Samantha Who?" all deserve nominations even if they'll probably get Emmy nods as well, but don't overlook Judy Greer, the best thing about "Miss Guided."

Best supporting actor

Neil Patrick Harris claims another Teddy as Barney on "Mother," and give a nomination to his co-star Jason Segel, who manages to be funny without full frontal nudity on the small screen. Rainn Wilson deserves a Teddy nomination along with an Emmy nomination for "The Office," but then give one to T.J. Miller for his small but indelible role as Marmaduke on "Carpoolers" and the loutish Craig Bierko for "Unhitched."

Best supporting actress

Alyson Hannigan has been a Teddy favorite going back to "Buffy," and she remains the heart of the ensemble on "Mother," so give her the Teddy. Nominations go to Megyn Price for playing straight woman to Warburton on "Engagement," to the comically cold Angela Kinsey of "The Office," to Amy Pietz as the Nervous Nelly mom on "Aliens" and finally to Carrie Genzel of "Under one Roof," which I had to find a place to mention somewhere.

Let's just see today's Emmy nominations top that list of honorees.

• Ted Cox writes Tuesday and Thursday in L&E, Friday in sports and Friday in Time out!