NBC's '30 Rock,' AMC's 'Mad Men' lead 2009 Emmy nominations

It’s going to be a good day for both Tina Fey (at right) and Jon Hamm. The NBC comedy 30 Rock leads all shows going into this year’s Emmy Awards with 22 nominations, announced this morning, and AMC’s Mad Men, which became the first basic cable show to win an Emmy Award for best drama series last year, looks poised to clean up again this year with 16 nominations. The possible Emmy nominee list was expanded to six in all the major categories in 2009, and Mad Men will compete against Breaking Bad, Big Love, Lost, Dexter, Damages and House for best drama series. Mad Men‘s Hamm joins Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Hugh Laurie (House), Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment), Simon Baker (The Mentalist) and Michael C. Hall (Dexter) in the lead actor in a drama series category. Hamm was also nominated in the guest actor in a comedy series category for his stint as Fey’s love interest on 30 Rock, which had a great morning as well. The NBC sitcom will go up against Entourage, Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother, Flight of the Conchords and Weeds for outstanding comedy series, and its star, Fey, was nominated for best actress in a comedy series alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine), Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?), Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program), Toni Collette (The United States of Tara) and Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds). For a list of all the nominations, click here. How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris, who was nominated as an outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series, will host the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, airing on CBS, on Sept. 20.

Photo courtesy of NBC