5 Canceled Series Nab Emmy Awards

All good things must come to an end, and these five canceled TV series have been rewarded with 2010 Emmy Awards nominations for their triumphant finales--or in spite of their early demise. Will any of these canceled TV shows get the final justification of an Emmy Award?

Lost -- Planned Final Season

While disgruntled fans may question the Emmy Awards voters' wisdom in bestowing a writing nomination for the Lost finale "The End" (along with directing, music, and editing), few can dispute the worthiness of the Emmy Best Drama and particularly the Emmy Best Acting nods. This year, Lost actors Matthew Fox (Jack), Terry O'Quinn (Locke/MiB), Michael Emerson (Ben), and Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet) have been honored with Emmy nominations.

Mitchell, Emerson, and O'Quinn have been turning in complex and intriguing performances from the get-go, and it's a shame, as Hollywood Reporter points out, that Mitchell's Guest Actress Emmy Award nomination has been the only Emmy acknowledgment of the Lost ladies for the entire series. Fox has had to weather some annoying character traits over the season, but he knocked it out of the park this year, reeling us back into loving the damaged leader Jack again. With Emerson and O'Quinn in the same Emmy Awards Supporting Actor category, they might cancel each other out, but we can always hope for a tie for these ridiculously talented performers.

As for the Best Drama Series Emmy nomination, Entertainment Weekly reports that Lost Executive Producer Damon Lindelof was overwhelmed at the announcement: "You don't want to say 'Oh, my God I really want a nomination.' We should just be proud of the work we did. And we are incredibly proud. But the fact that our peers still care about the show ended up meaning a lot more than I expected."

The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien -- Canceled

Though only on the air for a mere 7 months, The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien has managed to nab four Emmy nominations, including an Emmy nod for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series. Fans of Conan's feel the Emmy nomination is the last laugh at NBC, who botched the whole Jay Leno primetime/Conan Tonight Show mess. Rather than suffer the indignity of The Tonight Show being pushed back to follow a new late night program with Leno (and therefore push Jimmy Fallon into the latest of all late night slots) Conan bowed out and is now heading towards a new TBS chat show.

"In three months I've gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I'm headed to basic cable," O'Brien was quoted by Variety. "My plan is working perfectly." Though it's been a tumultuous ride, the late night disaster may have been just the career boost O'Brien needed. With public opinion strongly supporting him, and no Emmy series nominations for Leno or Letterman, O'Brien looks poised to have that last laugh--especially if he takes home an Emmy Award. Or as MTV put it: "We know he's far too dignified for it, but we'd forgive Conan if the entire [Emmy Awards] speech was simply, 'Suck it, Leno!'"

Monk -- Planned Final Season

It's actually debatable whether Emmy nominated Monk was shockingly canceled at the height of its popularity or that it was a "mutual decision" by all involved parties to leave the series on a high note before it got stale. As TV Series Finale notes, it was a little bit of both, and once again the almighty dollar drove the decision towards cancellation. The only good news for Monk fans was that a planned series ending at least allowed time for a proper finale, unlike other series that get cut off mid-storyline.

Monk has been popular at the Emmy Awards; Zap2It reports that the series has won 7 of 16 Emmy nominations, including 3 Emmy wins for popular Monk star Tony Shalhoub. This year Monk has nabbed another Emmy nod for Shalhoub, as well as an Original Song and Lyrics Emmy nomination. With heavy hitters in the Best Actor Comedy Series Emmy category Alec Baldwin, Steve Carrell, and Larry David, along with deserving newcomers Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) and Matthew Morrison (Glee), it's doubtful Shalhoub will nab another Emmy win. Ending a series with high ratings and Emmy nods isn't a bad way to go, however.

The New Adventures of Old Christine -- Canceled

When Julia Louis-Dreyfus won an Emmy Award for The New Adventures of Old Christine in 2006, she was proud to proclaim the "Seinfeld curse" officially over. Unfortunately the good times on TV series eventually end, and CBS decided the time was now for Old Christine. According to Variety, it was just a typical maneuver by a network: "But CBS' lineup is aging, and the net likely sees this as a good year to make some changes -- particularly given the sheer number of new series being launched by rivals NBC and ABC."

Ratings for Old Christine were fair, and Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker feels the funny series deserved more notice: "The series, created by Kari Lizer, is a sustained portrait of a middle-aged woman at loose ends, plus slapstick. It's like no other sitcom on the air." While The New Adventures of Old Christine has had some side-splittingly funny episodes, and boasts an astoundingly talented support cast, "Old Christine" has suffered the same fate as many female comic leads--she's become too much of a caricature.

What Louis-Dreyfus deserves her Emmy Award for is making the character funny and even occasionally lovable despite the madness and mountain of flaws she's forced to convey.

The Tudors -- Planned Final Season

Like Monk, The Tudors completed its storyline, but TV Series Finale notes that the shortness of the series was caused by "The collapse of the dollar". Take a look at the four Emmy nominations for The Tudors, and you'll get an idea of the lavishness of the production; The Tudors has earned Emmy nods for Art Direction, Cinematography, Costumes, and Hairstyling. Then look at the heavy-hitting cast that includes Jonathan Rhys Myers, Henry Cavil, Jeremy Northam, Sam Neill, Gabrielle Anwar, and Joely Richardson. The Tudors is expensive, as quality shows so often are.

Though Rhys Meyers has nabbed Golden Globe nominations, there have unfortunately been no Emmy nods for acting during The Tudors four year run. They have had luck in other Emmy Awards categories, including Emmy wins for Cinematography, Costumes, and Main Title Theme Music. The Tudors should be able to nab at least one win for their final Emmy season, though they're certain to have big competition from the creative costumes of Glee.

Anyone sitting around The Tudors costume designer Joan Bergin should be careful if she lands the Emmy win, however. About her previous Emmy win, she tells the LA Times: "The Tudors was a show I originally did not want to do because I didn't know how it could be done. I thought, 'How on Earth could you do this?' And so when my name was called out, I was like one of those footballers and went, 'Yes!' My friends claimed I knocked them down. I was shocked at how delighted I was. You often lack the security about what you're doing, and it was like being reaffirmed." With four Emmy nods this year, The Tudors can also feel reaffirmed that they created an admirable and artistic series.

See all the Emmy Awards nominations on the official Emmy Awards site.