Emmy Nominees: Thrilled, Honored...Outraged?

Wearing emotion on one's sleeve is often the benchmark of a good actor. Luckily for Tina Fey, making sure the emotion matches the occasion isn't.

Upon receiving word that 30 Rock, the little freshman sitcom that could, received nods not only for Outstanding Comedy Series but nabbed Fey a Lead Actress and Alec Baldwin a Supporting Actor nomination, the star released the following statement as an expression of her gratitude: "This is an outrage!" (View the complete list of nominees.)

Not quite so confused was Baldwin, who, having learned a thing or two in recent months about the lasting impression of the spoken word, kept his requisite platitudes short and sweet.

"I'm grateful to be nominated," he informed the press.

On the slightly more excitable and infinitely more quotable end of the nominee spectrum was Kathy Griffin, who for the second consecutive year saw her Bravo series, My Life on the D-List, get name-checked in the Reality Show category. And while she missed out on the hardware last time around, this season she's heading into the ceremony with a game plan.

"My strategy for winning is to sleep with the entire Television Academy, ask my mom to do The Secret and get Oprah to be my Emmy date," the celeb-skewering comic said.

Of course, not all newly minted nominees have thought through their end game to such a degree. Some are still flummoxed at how they received a nomination in the first place.

"I got up early and fixed some waffles and turned on E! for the announcements," Office star and Comedy Lead Actress nominee Jenna Fischer said. "I didn't realize that they don't announce the supporting categories on TV. So, when they finished, I just sat there wondering what to do. About five minutes later, my phone started ringing like crazy."

Heroes' Masi Oka, who scored a Dramatic Supporting Actor nod for his supernatural underpinnings, also gave thanks for the 5:45 a.m. good-news wake-up call.

"It's certainly a much better way to start my morning than yesterday, when I spilled hot tea all over myself," he said. "I couldn't be happier and more thrilled."

The Comedy Supporting Actor nomination of Jon Cryer came in a slightly less jarring but no less surprising way. The Two and a Half Men star, who hosted the proceedings with fellow nominee Kyra Sedgwick, found out about his nod while announcing other nominees live on air. And thanks to a gift from the nominations' cable net host, the self-professed geek has made a bubbly amendment to his celebratory plans.

"My wife and I are planning to play the videogame Star Wars Battlefront," he told reporters. "And E! sent me a few bottles of champagne, so I guess it'll be drunken Star Wars Battlefront!"

His costar Charlie Sheen, who also managed to secure a nod for Comedy Lead Actor, tempered his good news, of which he was informed by voice-mail later in the morning, with a sobering realization about his future HOV-lane usage.

"It is a really special day when so many of your cohorts receive a nomination that the idea of carpooling now becomes unrealistic," he said. "I tip my hat to our brilliant cast, crew and writers."

Name-checking their unsung cohorts was the order of the day for several nominees.

Bobblehead inspiration and now Emmy nominee Rainn Wilson, who along with Fischer, Steve Carell and The Office as a whole, spread the love to his fellow unheralded thesps.

"I'm thrilled and honored both for the nomination and to be a member of the best cast on television," he said.

Ditto awards show vet Sally Field, who credited the Brothers & Sisters crew with her Lead Actress in a Drama nod.

"I'm thrilled because my nomination really represents the entire Brothers & Sisters family," she said, failing to mention that for lack of other individual nominations, it would have to. "I couldn't do the work without the incredible actors I stand across from or the brilliant writing and directing I've been given. I really am having the time of my life."

For his part, Emmy favorite John Goodman, this year nominated for Guest Actor in a Drama for his stint on the overly hyped and ill-fated Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, said he was "overwhelmed and grateful. It was all in the writing."

Another nominee who magnanimously shared the awards-show credit was Helen Mirren, who fresh off her Best Actress Oscar win was nominated for Lead Actress in a Miniseries for Masterpiece Theatre's Prime Suspect: The Final Act. Mirren, who also took home the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for the same role earlier this year, was informed of her nomination by phone while attending a family reunion in Russia.

"I'm incredibly pleased. This is very gratifying, because it is the last season. I'm very happy for the whole history of the program."

Among other "thrilled," "honored" and "overjoyed" nominees were Debra Messing, whose Starter Wife earned a Lead Actress in a Miniseries nod for her and Outstanding Miniseries nod for itself; and Emmy newcomer Queen Latifah, who goes up against Messing for her role in Life Support.

Describing the production, which she also produced, as a passion project, Latifah said she "never imagined it would go so far."

Messing, for her part, described Starter Wife as a "labor of love" and said that "to have it acknowledged in this way by the Academy is indescribably gratifying."

Of course, as it is Hollywood, not all expressions of gratitude were as nonplussed and motive free.

A pro to the core, Heidi Klum, whose Project Runway was again nominated for Reality Competition, as well as a handful of technical nods, took the gushing opportunity to plug her series' upcoming season.

"I'm so excited and honored that Runway is nominated again this year. We just finished this upcoming season, and I think people will love it!"

Of course, not all Emmy reaction was of a positive nature.

"Emmy chiefs better worry about Dexter's Michael C. Hall sneaking up on them in a dark alley with a clever," veteran Oscar expert and Gold Derby purveyor Tom O'Neil told E! Online of the snubbed Showtime star, who didn't reserve his unction for just the acting nods.

"The Emmys just overhauled the voting system because Lost wasn't nominated for best drama series last year," he said. "So--guess what?--it just got snubbed AGAIN! Ha!"

Adding insult to Academy cold shouldering injury, O'Neil expressed equal disappointment for critics and fans alike in the Best Drama race.

"America's TV critics are furious that Friday Night Lights and The Wire were shut out of the top races. Well, that's what happens to low-rated great shows when the Emmys increase the impact of the popular vote of TV academy members. More popular shows prevail."

The 59th Annual Primetime Emmys air Sept. 16 on Fox.