Nominations for the Writers Guild Awards are out, and not only are they helping sort out the Oscar race--they're helping clear up housekeeping matters.

Antwone Fisher, its success-against-all-odds story first reaching an audience in the book, Finding Fish, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, its nuptials-against-all-odds story first entertaining audiences in the theater, and Gangs of New York, its very title lifted from a history book, have all been designated original screenplays. And, as of now, they're all WGA nominees.

They'll compete in the original screenplay category against Todd Haynes' Far from Heaven and surprise nominee Michael Moore, lauded for his look at the gun culture, Bowling for Columbine, a film you probably thought was a documentary (it is) and, therefore, not eligible for an award like this (well, it is).

Awards-show expert Tom O'Neil agrees Moore's nod is "a jaw-dropper."

"It's a courageous, but curious choice," O'Neil says. "It's a reality, fact-based film that looks odd in this lineup."

Still, O'Neil says Bowling for Columbine is more than a documentary--"obviously, there's so much tongue-in-cheek commentary." He says the film's buzz is such that there's talk of a Best Picture run at the Oscars.

Nominations for the 55th Annual Writers Guild Awards, honoring film, TV and radio, were announced Thursday morning. They are the final Oscar tuneup until the Oscar nominations themselves are announced next Tuesday morning. (E! will cover the nominations live beginning at 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT.)

WGA winners are to be revealed March 8, in ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles.

In the more straight-forward adapted screenplay race, the writers of Oscar frontrunners Chicago (based on a Broadway show), The Hours (based on a book), About Schmidt (ditto) and Adaptation (ditto--with a twist) will go up against Peter Hedges and American Pie guys Chris and Paul Weitz for About a Boy (ditto).

Notable MIAs: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Pianist, both considered Oscar contenders for Best Picture. The Lord of the Rings snub is, according to O'Neil, "shocking."

"This could be an early death knell for its chance at the Oscars," says O'Neil, author of the book, Movie Awards: The Ultimate, Unofficial Guide to the Oscars, Golden Globes, Critics, Guild and Indie Honors, "It shows weakening support for this movie."

Like the Directors Guild Awards, WGA winners are likely to duplicate their success at the Academy Awards. Last year, Akiva Goldsman picked up the WGA for best adapted screenplay for A Beautiful Mind, en route to picking up the Oscar in the same category. Julian Fellowes turned the same trick in the original screenplay race with Gosford Park.

But Bill Condon, who neatly figured out how to make a movie out of the musical Chicago, is proof you don't have to win the WGA to further your career. In 1999, he was nominated, but failed to claim, the Writers Guild Award for his adapted screenplay for Gods and Monsters. But come Oscar night, it was Condon making the acceptance speech.

Other veteran WGA film nominees among this year's crop include About Schmidt's Golden Globe honorees Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, winners (and eventual Oscar losers) for Election; and, Adaptation's Charlie Kaufman, previously nominated for Being John Malkovich. Kaufman's make-believe twin brother, Donald, also earned a real WGA nod (his first) for his contribution to his sibling's freeform take on the Susan Orlean book, The Orchid Thief.

Other WGA nominee newbies include: former studio security guard Antwone Fisher (of, natch, Antwone Fisher), and former struggling actress Nia Vardalos (of My Big Fat... yada yada).

In the matter of Antwone Fisher and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, an Academy Award official tells the Hollywood Reporter that both works are considered original screenplays because their stories originally existed as screenplays. Fisher wrote his memoir after he sold the script; Vardalos wrote her one-woman play after she couldn't get a movie deal.

Gangs of New York, meanwhile, is said to be "suggested by," not "based on," the 1928 history book of the same name. In the Reporter, screenwriter Jay Cocks says the book was one of 50 tomes used as source material, and provided nada in terms of the film's storyline. The "suggested by" credit was meant as a nod, and not much more, Cocks says in the trade paper.

Deciding what is, and what isn't, an adapted screenplay is a "kooky, gray area," according to O'Neil. In 2001, the Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? was designated an adapted screenplay, even though its Depression-era tale could hardly be confused with its source material--Homer's Odyssey.

In the TV race, Sex and the City stood tall in its stilettos. The horny HBO half-hour dominated the comedy series category, earning three of seven nominations.

Fox's The Simpsons pulled a similar hat trick in the animation division, hogging three of six nominations.

Here's a rundown of the major film and TV nominations for the 55th Annual Writers Guild Awards:

Original Screenplay Antwone Fisher, Antwone Fisher Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes Gangs of New York, Jay Cocks and Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos Adapted Screenplay About a Boy, Peter Hedges and Chris Weitz & Paul Weitz About Schmidt, Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor Adaptation, Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman Chicago, Bill Condon The Hours, David Hare

TELEVISION

Animation Futurama (Fox), "Godfellas" King of the Hill (Fox), "My Own Private Rodeo" Santa, Baby! (Fox) The Simpsons (Fox), "The Bart Wants What It Wants" The Simpsons (Fox), "Blame It on Lisa" The Simpsons (Fox), "Jaws Wired Shut" Drama Series The Education of Max Bickford (CBS), "Pilot" ER (NBC), "On the Beach" Resurrection Boulevard (Showtime), "Nino Del Polvo" Six Feet Under (HBO), "In Place of Anger" The Sopranos (HBO), "Whoever Did This" The West Wing (NBC), "Game On" Comedy Series The Bernie Mac Show (Fox), "Pilot" Ed (NBC), "The Wedding" Frasier (NBC), "Rooms With a View" Scrubs (NBC), "Pilot--My First Day" Sex and the City (HBO), "Change of a Dress" Sex and the City (HBO), "I Heart NY" Sex and the City (HBO), "Plus One Is the Loneliest Number"