Seth Green

It took several phone calls from well-wishers for Bob Balaban to realize that he had received multiple nominations, including supporting actor in a miniseries/movie for HBO’s "Recount" and directing for a mini/movie/dramatic special for HBO’s "Bernard and Doris." He also exec produced the latter, which was nominated in the made-for-TV movie category. Initially, a friend alerted him to the "Bernard" noms, but "eight phone calls later, somebody congratulated me on my acting nomination, and I told them they must have read the list and made a mistake."

"This is our third straight year of being nominated (for outstanding comedy series), and let me tell ya, it never gets old at all," said Chuck Lorre, creator/exec producer of CBS’ single-camera comedy "Two and a Half Men." "It’s not something you ever take for granted. It’s wonderful to get that call. And I mean, the number of cameras you have on your show should matter less than how well you make people laugh. That should be the goal of a comedy series. It certainly is for us. That the voters believe we get it right is what’s most gratifying."

"We were very hopeful about getting some acknowledgment, but when you are faced with behemoth (Emmy) campaigns from HBO, we fell like the little engine that could," said Neil Meron, exec producer of made-for-TV movie nominee "A Raisin in the Sun." "Especially because it’s not the kind of thing that deals with political campaigns or ex-presidents or big conspiracies; it’s a very simple family drama." Craig Zadan, who also exec produced the ABC movie, said "Raisin," while set in the 1950s, resonates with events in today’s world. "There’s no way not to look at the correlation with a black presidential candidate, racism, poverty and the hard economic times and people struggling to keep their head above water. It’s amazing how this is a period drama and yet how contemporary this movie is to the world we are living in right at this moment."

Seth Green had a rough Wednesday night, taking a red-eye flight, but the news that his Adult Swim show "Robot Chicken," which he created with Matthew Senreich, was nominated for an animated program Emmy made his morning a lot better. "My publicist called at 6:22 a.m., about three hours after I landed in Los Angeles. I was pretty much asleep and reacted in a disproportionately grumpy way," he joked. "I didn’t have my head about me yet." Once he processed the information, he said he was "baffled and excited" about the news. The show was nominated for its "Star Wars" parody, which is being released Tuesday on DVD; Green said he’s hoping to have another big episode for the show’s upcoming fourth season. "We’re talking to some companies, like Mattel and Hasbro, about some things. We want to do it right, whatever lends itself to a half-hour parody. We’re definitely thinking about it."

Although Kristin Chenoweth was immersed in Emmy nomination news as one of the announcers Thursday morning, she didn’t expect the biggest news of all — her nomination for supporting actress for "Pushing Daisies." "It was a total shock," she said. This is the actress’ first Emmy nom, and no one is more thrilled than her mother. "I talked to my mom, and she was crying and really proud. She’s been getting a lot of phone calls in Oklahoma."

Neil Patrick Harris was onstage at 5:40 a.m. to announce the nominees when as a surprise at the end, it was his name called as best supporting actor in a comedy series for CBS’ "How I Met Your Mother." Harris called it a "lovely surprise" but downplayed the importance of winning. "We’re all trying to do our best at the show, and it’s good to put on your bio, but it doesn’t hold that much water. The trophy isn’t important; it’s just nice to give acknowledgment to the show," he said. Harris also talked about his smaller-than-small-screen work on Joss Whedon’s just-launched online musical, "Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog," and whether a series like that could see an Emmy someday in a new category. "It’s odd that I’m way more excited right now about ’Dr. Horrible’ than the Emmy nomination," he said, laughing. "It wouldn’t surprise me (to see an online TV category) in the future. We’re in a tricky, uncharted territory on the Internet. If people know that millions of people will watch it, we’re going to see more shows like this. I’m not saying ’Dr. Horrible’ is the most high-brow of shows, but it’s good. We’re not reinventing the theatrical wheel, but it’s certainly an amazing 22 minutes of show so far, and I can’t wait to see what happens next."

Zeljko Ivanek also is up for supporting actor for "Damages," but said there won’t be any rivalry on set — friendly or otherwise — with his co-star Ted Danson. "It’s out of my hands. It was nice getting to this point, but the rest will play out the way it plays out. I have no expectations or sense of being beaten or beating out." On second thought, "maybe it’ll be uglier by September, but not now," he quipped. The first-time nominee also declined to divulge details about the show’s second season. "All I can say about it is there are some great surprises in store, and it’s not up to me to spoil them."

"Even if my name had not been among the five nominees, I’m just pleased the category exists," said Tom Bergeron of ABC’s "Dancing With the Stars" in regard to this year’s new category for reality-competition program host. "It’s great that the Emmy folks recognized the work I’m doing and my friends are doing, and I’m flattered to be part of that." Bergeron said he’s friends with all of his fellow category nominees — Ryan Seacrest, Howie Mandel and Jeff Probst — except Heidi Klum, "and I’m hoping to rectify that." But he still thinks he has the formula to beat them: "I’m looking at the competition, and I’m going to make a strategy on this: I’m going to have dimples put in to compete with Probst, shaving my head to compete with Howie, waxing my legs to compete with Heidi and cutting 20 years off my resume to compete with Ryan." After such an exciting morning, Bergeron said it was back to reality Thursday afternoon. "I’m on vacation in New Hampshire, and I’ve got to take my 1978 Volkswagen Beetle convertible to get a windshield-wiper pump installed. It’s a little yin and a little yang."

"Law & Order: SVU" executive producer Neal Baer was excited about the NBC procedural’s three nominations — leading drama actress for Mariska Hargitay and guest-star mentions for Robin Williams and Cynthia Nixon. "You don’t often see the star of a show in its 10th year get nominated," he said. He credited the actors, the writers and the director — David Platt directed all three performances — as well as a TV academy policy that ensures that the judging panels actually watch the performances before voting. "I can’t say how happy I am that the members of the panels see the tapes because this is the fairest way. It lets the performances speak, and apparently these spoke loudly."

Tom Hooper didn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to find out that he was nominated for directing HBO’s miniseries "John Adams." He was in London working on "The Damned United," his upcoming film written by Peter Morgan, Hooper’s "Longford" collaborator. "I found out, and then I got to go out to lunch and celebrate in a civilized way," he quipped. He said the subject matter resonates in America today. "I think one of the great things about doing this is having the chance through this story to have a dialogue about America’s core values in an election year. What made me happy was I feel like the success of ’John Adams’ is proof that people are more politically engaged this year and open to the complexity of America’s political history. It wasn’t a dumbed-down version of history." That history is something the British-born Hooper wasn’t as familiar with before signing on to direct the mini. "I previously knew little about John Adams, but I think I was able to bring an fresh perspective, an outsider’s perspective, to the story."