By: Valerie Milano

The 62^th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards are being presented Sunday, August 29 at the Nokia Theater and the preparations are well under way. The red carpet has been rolled out with the help of the 2010 host Jimmy Fallon.  There are going to be several firsts at this year’s Emmys. Fallon will be taking live Tweets, something he does on his show, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” which brings viewers into the live event. Also new to the Emmys are the 7 live backstage cameras which will allow viewers to eavesdrop on the goings-on. Lastly, the evening will be broadcast live coast to coast so we locals won’t have to see the pre-recorded version.

Slated to present the awards on Sunday evening are Claire Danes, Ted Danson, Emily Deschanel, Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Nathan Fillion, Lauren Graham, Tom Selleck, Maura Tierney, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Boris Kodjoe.

Special awards being presented at the Emmys include the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to George Clooney. This is only the fourth time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has presented this award to acknowledge an individual whose actions have had a lasting impact on society. Clooney joins previous winners Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby and Danny Thomas in recognition of his continued efforts increase awareness of human rights issues during a crisis.

And the nominees are…probably all well deserving, probably all dressed to the nines and probably all preparing their acceptance speeches – especially Conan O’Brien. Nominated for “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien”, a gag order was imposed after he was let go and replaced by Jay Leno, due to Leno’s program bombing in the 10:00 pm slot.  Leno was not nominated in any category and Hollywood may just rally around the red head, who is up against “The Daily Show with John Stewart”, “The Colbert Report”, “Real Time with Bill Maher” and “Saturday Night Live”. The NBC/O’Brien divorce included him making no disparaging remarks towards NBC, the executives or Leno until September 1^st. It’s a tough choice but I’m rooting for Conan to take the statue and make a classy acceptance speech, and not just because he has to.

Outstanding Comedy Series category honors some very strong shows, “30 Rock”, “Nurse Jackie”, “The Office”, “Modern Family”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Glee”. With “30 Rock” having been recognized quite a bit for the past few years and all of the great press for newcomer “Modern Family”, if there aren’t any repeat winners, that’s my choice. In the Outstanding Drama category nominees are “Dexter”, “Mad Men”, “Breaking Bad”, “Lost”, “The Good Wife” and “True Blood”. Last year “Mad Men” won this category, I’d like to see “Dexter” take the prize.

As long as it’s really just a ‘wish list’ until the big event, my further predictions include Steve Carell, (“The Office”) and Edie Falco, (“Nurse Jackie”) as leads in a comedy series. Michael C. Hall, (“Dexter”) and Julianna Margulies, (“The Good Wife”) for leads in a drama series.

And the winner is…