Gold Derby: Emmy Spotlight

When Kathy Griffin won two years ago, censors zapped her blasphemous acceptance speech. Last year, Griffin promised to behave if she won again, but then she dropped f-bombs on stage, adding, “I’m not going to tell anyone to suck it. I would make love to this thing if I could.” What about this year? “I am your clay, television academy, so if you want me to drop trou and accept bottomless, so be it,” she tells The Envelope. “I want a third Emmy in the way most people want the stock market to rebound or Angelina Jolie wants one more kid. I will trade my mother for a third Emmy. No offense to her. She’s lovely. But I will do whatever it takes.”   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Maybe Cesar Millan pays a price for pooh-poohing W.C. Fields’ advice, “Never work with animals or children.” He didn’t get nominated when this category was created last year, even though “The Dog Whisperer” earned bids for outstanding reality program in 2006 and 2007. Is Cesar getting upstaged by the circus act around him? Does reality really bite?   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Farrah Fawcett hasn’t won an Emmy Award for acting in hit TV series such as like “Charlie’s Angels” or critically hailed telefilms such aslike “The Burning Bed,” but she may ultimately claim TV’s top award for telling her own personal drama in boldly honest terms as she battled cancer. She’s an executive producer of “Farrah’s Story.”   (Carlo Allegri / Getty Images)

Why hasn’t America’s top-rated entertainment news show ever been nominated for nonfiction series at Hollywood’s top TV award? Granted, “Entertainment Tonight” was nominated in the now-defunct category of informational series back in the 1980s and early 1990s, but when the category title changed, so did “E.T.’s” luck, which has always been, in the end, bad. It has never won any Emmy. Ditto “Access Hollywood” and “Extra,” which have never been nominated.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Some clashes in the comedy acting categories are no laughing matter — like when “Entourage” rascals Kevin Dillon and Jeremy Piven had to square off in the supporting ring last year. This year, former “Saturday Night Live” costars Tina Fey (“30 Rock”) and Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation”) may have dueling bids for lead actress. Technically, internet fare is eligible at the Emmys, so Paris Hilton could be nominated for her video bout with John McCain, but don’t worry: It’s already lost at the Webby Awards.   (Robert Caplin / For The Times)