Fresh Faces! Snubs! Five Things to Know About the Critics' Choice TV Awards (No. 1: What the Heck Are They?!)

Inaugural television award nods were unveiled this morning, but where are the usual names we've come to expect on nomination morning?

If there's one thing Hollywood is never short on, it's self-congratulations, and while last night it was the movie stars' turn, today it's all about the small screen, as the nominations were announced for the inaugural Critics' Choice Television Awards.

So, what exactly are the Critics' Choice Television Awards? And more importantly, who's getting kudos? And more shockingly, who's not?!

Here are five things you need to know about this awards show:

1. What They Are: Just as the Critics' Choice Movie Awards are determined by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the couch potatoes in charge of picking winners for the Critics' Choice TV Awards are a different body of the same organization, the newly-formed Broadcast Television Journalists Association.

Newly minted nominee Cat Deeley has the honor of hosting the first ever broadcast of the show, which will take the form of a luncheon and be held at the Beverly Hills Hotel June 20. The ceremony will be streamed live on VH1.com, before getting edited down and rebroadcast on the ReelzChannel (ad infinitum, we're guessing) starting June 22.

2. They're Keeping It All in the Family: Modern Family has the distinction of being the most nominated show on the most nominated network (ABC grabbed 16 total nods), scoring nominations for Best Comedy Series, as well as Supporting Actor nods for Ty Burrell, Ed O'Neill and Eric Stonestreet, and Supporting Actress honors for Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara. In fact, the only show regular not to be singled out for his acting chops was Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

Also feeling pretty proud of themselves this morning: Mad Men, which scored the most nods of any drama, with five, including Best Actor (Jon Hamm), Best Actress (Elisabeth Moss), Best Supporting Actor (John Slattery) and Best Supporting Actress (Christina Hendricks).

3. It's Out With the Old…Big Time: There's making a fresh start, and then there's making a fresh start by totally annihilating what came before. Wherefore art though Hugh Laurie? And for that matter, House as a whole? What about January Jones? Or Matthew Morrison? Chris Colfer?! A comedy series category that acknowledges Archer but not How I Met Your Mother? And don't get us started on the MIA Toni Collete, Laura Linney, Thomas Jane, Bryan Cranston, Kyra Sedgwick, or a whole host of names and shows that have become de rigueur on nomination mornings.

Not to mention, late-nights. While our own Chelsea Handler's Chelsea Lately is up for Best Talk Show, against The Daily Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the outgoing Oprah Winfrey Show, more notable is who's not nominated: Jay, Dave, that other Jimmy, Craig, Conan, and Stephen (sure, strictly speaking, The Colbert Report isn't a talk show, but then again, neither is The Daily Show).

In any case, if this show ends up being a harbinger of things to come for the Emmy nominations, we could be in for some shockers when those nominations are read out July 14.

4. You Wanted Fresh Blood, You Got It: The TV critics taketh away, sure, but they also giveth in the form of some much-needed new faces in the nomination lineup. Host Cat Deeley, usually left out of the Emmy race, is included here as Best Reality Show host, against a slightly varied stable: American Idol's Ryan Seacrest, Dancing With the Stars' Tom Bergeron, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's Ty Pennington, and Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe (auf wiedersehen, Heidi Klum. Your tribe has spoke, Jeff Probst).

RuPaul's Drag Race somehow snuck its way into the Best Reality Series Competition (So You Think You Can Dance was once again criminally overlooked), but it was the main categories that brought the most new faces.

Among them: Community's Joel McHale, up for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, as was It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Charlie Day; Best Actor in a Drama Series saw the addition of Justified's Timothy Olyphant and Shameless' William H. Macy; The Killing's Mireille Enos scored a Best Actress in a Drama nod, as did Fringe's Anna Torv.

Meanwhile, Justified, The Killing, Big Love, Fringe, Southland, The Middle, Raising Hope, Friday Night Lights and Big Love littered the categories, while Louie, Archer and Game of Thrones made their first foray onto the big lists for the first time.

5. There's More Where That Came From: There was one category that has yet to be announced by the TV critics: Most Exciting New Series is still accepting submissions for consideration and will announce the nominees at a later date. A future favorites of sorts, the category will shine a light on new shows (and provide some nice and much-needed critics buzz for the fledgling series), and is currently fielding screeners for shows set to debut this fall.

Here's the complete list of nominees for the inaugural Critics' Choice TV Awards:

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Fringe
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Justified
The Killing
Mad Men
The Walking Dead

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
William H. Macy, Shameless
Timothy Olyphant, Justified

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy
Anna Torv, Fringe

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Walton Goggins, Justified
Shawn Hatosy, Southland
John Noble, Fringe
Michael Pitt, Boardwalk Empire
John Slattery, Mad Men

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Michelle Forbes, The Killing
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
Margo Martindale, Justified
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Chloë Sevigny, Big Love

BEST REALITY SERIES
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Hoarders
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Sister Wives
Undercover Boss

BEST REALITY SERIES, COMPETITION
The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing with the Stars
Project Runway
RuPaul's Drag Race
Top Chef

BEST REALITY SHOW HOST
Tom Bergeron, Dancing with the Stars
Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance
Ty Pennington, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Mike Rowe, Dirty Jobs
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol

BEST TALK SHOW
Chelsea Lately
The Daily Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The Oprah Winfrey Show

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Archer
The Big Bang Theory
Community
Glee
Louie
The Middle
Modern Family
The Office
Parks and Recreation
30 Rock

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Louis C.K., Louie
Charlie Day, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Joel McHale, Community
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Courteney Cox, Cougar Town
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Patricia Heaton, The Middle
Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation
Ed O'Neill, Modern Family
Danny Pudi, Community
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Jane Lynch, Glee
Busy Philipps, Cougar Town
Eden Sher, The Middle
Sofía Vergara, Modern Family