Despite controversy over nominations, the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by Conan O’Brien, are being televised Sunday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m. on NBC, directly following the 2006 Emmy Red Carpet Special.

In the past the Emmy nominations have been blandly predictable, with shows like “Frasier” and “Will and Grace” walking away with the majority of nominations. So while critics have raved about underappreciated performances, like that of SMU Alumna Lauren Graham of “Gilmore Girls,” many of the most deserving candidates have yet to receive recognition.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences finally changed its voting process this year, making it possible for less predictable candidates to make the nomination list.

The new voting system still allowed Academy members to cast their votes for the nominees in the big award categories, such as Best Drama, Best Comedy, Best Lead Actor/Actress, etc. But rather than having the members’ top five picks for each of the categories automatically put on the ballot, the Academy took the top 15 winners, and a panel determined which five would be officially nominated for an Emmy.

Unfortunately, the new process did little to change the outcome in nominations, although it did produce a few oddities. For example, last year’s heavy hitter “Desperate Housewives” was largely snubbed, ending up with only a Best Supporting Actress award for Alfre Woodard.

Also confusing is the fact that both “Scrubs” and the critically acclaimed (but now defunct) “Arrested Development” are both nominated for Best Comedy, but neither of the shows’ leading men, Zach Braff and Jason Bateman respectively, were recognized.

Both actors did some of their best work this season and have been nominated before (Bateman even won last year), but both were snubbed this year.

Acclaimed actress Ellen Burstyn received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie nomination for her role in HBO Film’s “Mrs. Harris.” The problem? Burstyn was only on screen for 15 seconds, prompting critics of the new nominating system to question whether the judges actually watched the film.

Meanwhile, the overlooked shows that the new system was supposed to highlight, such as “Veronica Mars,” “Battlestar Galactica,” and the aforementioned “Gilmore Girls,” went unnoticed yet again.

But with the list of nominees, and Conan O’Brien as emcee, the 2006 Emmy Awards are sure to be entertaining, even if they’re not altogether even-handed.