When last we left the SAMCRO crew, they were furiously rushing to the docks to try and rescue Jax’s baby son Abel, who’d been kidnapped by Cameron, the Irish gunrunner who was grieving his own dead son, Edmond.

MAJOR cliffhanger, in other words, as Jax (Charlie Hunnam) and the guys got there just in time to see Cameron sail off with the baby, helpless to get Abel back.

I’ve watched a screener of the season 3 premiere (which airs on FX on September 7), and … wow. Any fears fans of the show might have had that it would be impossible to top last year’s incredible sophomore season will be quickly allayed by the season opener, which ends with an event so shocking that it rivals that explosive season two premiere.

Spoilers … nah. Would you really want them, anyway? This is one of the few shows too delicious to have spoiled; you need to watch it for yourself. Suffice it to say that series creator Kurt Sutter remains at the top of his game, as do all the cast members (especially those who were robbed of their incredible well-deserved Emmy nominations … this means you, Katey Sagal!).

A few non-spoilery tidbits of interest: Hal Holbrook joins the cast for a multi-episode arc, playing Gemma’s dad, and we meet him in the season premiere; Stephen King (yes, THAT Stepehen King) guest stars in the third episode of the season; and, as the season three storyline hints, some of the action in the new season will take place in Ireland.

Below, take a peek at the season three promo, followed by BuzzFocus‘ interviews with Katey Sagal and Charlie Hunnam, filmed at San Diego Comic Con … what do you think, SAMCRO fans? Sept. 7 is still feeling too far away, right?

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• Filed in Sons of Anarchy
• Tags: Sons of Anarchy season 3, Stephen King Sons of Anarchy

Well, they’ve been announced, and Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy, Justified, Walton Goggins, The Middle … no nominations. Unbelievable. I’m most bummed about Sagal, who deserved a nomination for Sons of Anarchy’s first season, and deserved to win for its second. Sigh.

Other snubs: They were numerous, and you can read about them in my feature at TV Squad. And if you want to read the entire list of 2010 Emmy contenders, right down to the costume and hair nominees, check out the 39-page document of nominations at Emmys.org.

More good Emmy-related reads today:

- Sons of Anarchy creator (and real-life husband of Katey Sagal) Kurt Sutter’s blog response to today’s (lack of) nominations

- A round-up of nominee reactions at TV Squad

- Analysis from Alan Sepinwall, the go-to TV critic as far as I’m concerned, on the Emmy nominations

What did you think was the day’s biggest snub? Any of the nominations surprise you? Any that you’re particularly happy about?

Yesterday:
It’s heeere … well, almost, anyway. Tomorrow morning (8:30AM ET), Community star Joel McHale (who should be a nominee) and Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara (who shouldn’t) will gather at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles to announce the shows and stars that are nominated for the 2010 Emmy Awards. Winners won’t be announced until the Emmy telecast, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, on August 29 on NBC, but the nomination announcement brings its own round of excitement, and, inevitably, disappointment, as there will always be some well-deserving performances that get overlooked.

Here’s my list of dream picks for who should expect to receive celebratory phone calls tomorrow AM when the Emmy nods are announced (along with a few notes on who/what shows are so not Emmy-worthy). Weigh in with your picks in comments, and tell me the name of the one show or actor or actress who absolutely should not be overlooked by the Emmy folks, in your opinion. Oh yeah, make sure you leave a contact e-mail address along with your comments, because next week (on July 15), I’ll pick one comment maker at random and that person will win a goody box of TV swag!

2010 EMMY NOMINATION WISH LIST

Outstanding Drama Series
Justified
Sons of Anarchy
Breaking Bad
Dexter
Mad Men
Lost

NOTES: Please, no nods for the so-played-out Grey’s Anatomy. Move along, Emmy voters … nothing to see there.

Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
Jon Hamm (Mad Men)
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy)
Timothy Olyphant (Justified)
Kiefer Sutherland (24)

Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)
Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)
Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights)
Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad)

NOTE: If Katey Sagal does not get a nomination this season, after being ridiculously overlooked for Sons of Anarchy’s premiere season, I will lose faith in all that is good and right with the world. Okay, maybe not, but I will definitely have to question the tastes of the Emmy people.

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)
John Slattery (Mad Men)
Walton Goggins (Justified)
Michael Emerson (Lost)
John Goodman (Treme)
Josh Holloway (Lost)

NOTE: Walt Goggins would get a nod for reading the phone book as far as I’m concerned, and he certainly deserves one for Justified’s fantastic debut season. But it would be really great to see Josh Holloway finally get one for Lost’s final season, because I think he is the most underrated actor in the show’s run. And I really, really wish there would be a spin-off series with his Sawyer and Ken Leung’s Miles as buddy cops.

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Maggie Siff (Sons of Anarchy)
Christina Hendricks (Mad Men)
Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)
Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter)
Joelle Carter (Justified)
Khandi Alexander (Treme)

Outstanding Comedy Series
The Middle
Glee
Modern Family
30 Rock
Curb Your Enthusiasm
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

NOTE: That’s right, The Middle, which I argue once again is a better show than Modern Family, last season’s critical darling. Reasoning: Modern Family is a great show, with good writing and performances, and which manages to combine humor with heartfelt stories and characters. But the show is also rife with the sorts of comic scenarios that lend themselves to sure-thing hilarity, namely that almost every character is playing against a stereotype. The Middle, meanwhile, manages to do the same thing, but by wringing every ounce of humor and heart out of a show about the average suburban (middle America-suburban, no less, which is often ignored or cajoled by Hollywood) family.

NOTE 2: That’s right, It’s Always Sunny. One of the most underrated comedies on the tube, especially by viewers and critics who haven’t taken the time to suss out the pithy commentary that’s often buried in the show’s silliness. Sunny is often compared to Seinfeld, and like that classic show, Sunny isn’t really a show about nothing.

NOTE 3: And please, skip The Office. To throw the once-great series a nomination at this point would just be out of habit, because, upon honest evaluation, with or without Steve Carell and barring a major comeback for the season ahead, it’s time for The Office to be downsized. Ditto Entourage.

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Ed O’Neill (Modern Family)
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Joel McHale (Community)
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
Zachary Levi (Chuck)
Neil Flynn (The Middle)

NOTE: Please, no Charlie Sheen. He’s been playing a slightly less skeevy version of himself on Two and a Half Men all these years, and now that there’s no denying just how skeevy he is in real life, it makes his performance on the show way less funny, way more sad.

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Patricia Heaton (The Middle)
Brooke Elliott (Drop Dead Diva)
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
Lea Michele (Glee)
Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)
Tina Fey (30 Rock)

NOTE: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, again, for The New Adventures of Old Christine? Sigh, no. Couldn’t argue with an Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy nod for her role in the Seinfeld reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm, though.

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)
Atticus Shaffer (The Middle)
Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
Jack McBrayer (30 Rock)
Danny Pudi (Community)
Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation)

NOTE: This is, easily, the toughest Emmy category, and I could have added at least another dozen names to the list, including Neil Patrick Harris, Ty Burrell from Modern Family, Ken Jeong for Community, Chris Pratt from Parks and Recreation, almost every actor on Chuck who isn’t Zach Levi, Chris Colfer and Mark Salling from Glee, Bill Hader and Kenan Thompson for Saturday Night Live, Justin Kirk from Weeds and kid actors like The Middle’s Charlie McDermott and Modern Family’s Rico Rodriguez.

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Jane Lynch (Glee)
Eden Sher (The Middle)
Julie Bowen (Modern Family)
Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie)
Lizzie Caplan (Party Down)
Kaitlin Olson (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

NOTE: If there was a way to nominate not only scene stealer Sher, but the entire kiddie line-up of The Middle and Modern Family, who are probably the least annoying kid stars ever on TV, I’d be for it.

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• Filed in Award shows, Breaking Bad, Glee, Justified, Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy
• Tags: 2010 Emmy nominations, Emmy nominations

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

- Must See TV tonight: The endearing, awesomely talented John Goodman, he of the recent incredible weight loss, on The Late Show with David Letterman. Guessing that his new healthier bod will be a major topic of conversation, so it’ll be cool to hear how he did it. Seriously, dude looks fantastic, and like 20 years younger.

- Must At Least TiVo TV tonight: The premiere of Hot in Cleveland on TV Land. It’s a very, very broad comedy (and I’m not talking about the all-female cast), of which I am not usually a fan, but how do you not watch a show that brings Betty White back to the tube on a weekly basis?

- That chick that wowed you with her rendition of “At Last” on last night’s America’s Got Talent? She’s the mom of Precious Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe.

- My friend Scott and I were just discussing how we’re experiencing Bachelor/Bachelorette overkill, and here comes yet another entry in the franchise line-up: Bachelor Pad, the Big Brother-meets-The Bachelor spin-off, will debut on ABC on August 9 and include hosts Chris Harrison and Melissa Rycroft, as well as Bachelor alumni Tenley Molzahan, Wed Hayden, Craig McKinnon, Gia Allemand, Jonathan Novack, Michelle Kujawa (last season’s “emotional” Jake Pavelka bachelorette) and Kiptyn Locke among the contestants.

- Speaking of overkill, I have to ‘fess up to watching every incarnation of the Real Housewives series, but the upcoming D.C. batch are kinda boring me before the show even premieres. There’s already so much drama, real drama that actually affects most of us in some way, in D.C., that it’s hard to even pretend to take these particular reality star wannabes too seriously, ya know?

- Speaking of boring, TMZ.com reports that Sammi and Ronnie, last season’s Jersey Shore lovebirds, have proven to be so boring in season two that MTV is considering replacing them for season three. Meanwhile, can you imagine we’ll still care enough/be amused by enough these people to tune in for a third season?

- You have to give him this: he’s committed. A professional cartographer, and presumably huge Lost fan, has created a very cool map of the Lost island.

- Here’s a Sons of Anarchy fan’s visit to the SOA set, complete with Q+A with series creator (and portrayer of Big Otto … and real-life husband of series star Katey Sagal) Kurt Sutter.

- Syfy is developing a fun new show about Hollywood memorabilia.

- And if you’re in Los Angeles this week, try to hook up with USA Network’s Emmy promo ice cream truck, where the network is handing out ice cream sandwiches for each of their shows, including “The Monk” (vanilla bean), “The Psych” (brown butter candied bacon), “The In Plain Sight” (chocolate chipotle) and “The Royal Pains” (balsamic fig and mascarpone).

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• Filed in Betty White, Late Night, Lost, Real Housewives, Reality, Sons of Anarchy, TV News
• Tags: Hot in Cleveland, John Goodman weight loss

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

- Kudos to NBC for the get-well message to Celebrity Apprentice contestant Bret Michaels at the end of last night’s show. Not so much for Apprentice host Donald Trump, who’s spouting off today about the supposed negative prognosis for the rocker and his brain hemorrhage … often he’s amusing, but sometimes, Trump should just keep his mouth shut.

- Madonna got her own episode of Glee, and now Britney Spears wants one, too. And series creator Ryan Murphy says he’s into the idea.

- More Glee news: Murphy’s description of this summer’s Glee tour makes it sound like it’ll be sort of a live performance of a TV episode.

- TheWrap.com has a first look at Rob Lowe and Party Down’s Adam Scott as the new cast members of the most improved show of the season, Parks and Recreation, which means season three could be even better.

- Another show that’s likely to be even better in its third season: FX’s Sons of Anarchy, which started filming on season three last week. The new season, set to premiere this fall, will feature Hal Holbrook playing the father of (the so Emmy-worthy) Katey Sagal’s Gemma. Holbrook, whose last TV guest gig was on ER in 2008, was married to Designing Women star Dixie Carter, who died earlier this month.

- And a show I hope improves upon its last season, which was the lamest in the show’s history: Entourage, which makes its seventh season premiere on June 27, along with season two of Hung and season three of True Blood. According to the current plan for Entourage, by the way, season seven will be the show’s penultimate one, with a big-screen Entourage movie in development for after the show’s eighth season.

- After a year on The CW, the Daytime Emmys are headed to CBS. They’ll air live – from Las Vegas, for the first time – on June 27.

- The Lost series finale just keeps getting bigger. ABC will now air the Lost two-hour pilot on May 22, the night before the series ender that (hopefully) will answer most of fans’ big lingering questions.

- If you have HDNet, check out the list of awesome performers the channel will host for concerts in May and June, including Green Day, Paul McCartney, Jack Johnson and John Legend.

- One of my fave TV critics, Alan Sepinwall, says the last six season three episodes of Chuck, which begin airing tonight (8PM ET, NBC) are even better, thanks to the Chuck and Sarah romance.

- And Mad Men star Vincent Kartheiser is definitely the opposite of those people on Hoarders, but he may be taking it too far: He has no toilet in his house.

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• Filed in Boob Tube to Big Screen, Glee, Lost, Sons of Anarchy, TV News
• Tags: Bret Michaels, Chuck and Sarah, Daytime Emmys, Entourage season 7, Glee Britney Spears, Glee summer tour, Lost series finale, Mad Men Vincent Kartheiser, Rob Lowe Parks and Recreation, Sons of Anarchy Hal Holbrook, Sons of Anarchy season 3

Et tu, Screen Actors Guild? Even you can’t be bothered to recognize the incredible performances of your fellow actors, especially Katey Sagal? So. Lame.

If you care about who did get SAG nominations in the TV categories, here ya go:

Best Comedy Actor:
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

Best Comedy Actress:
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine

Best Comedy Ensemble:
30 Rock
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Glee
Modern Family
The Office

Best Drama Actor:
Simon Baker, The Mentalist
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House

Best Drama Actress:
Patricia Arquette, Medium
Glenn Close, Damages
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Best Drama Ensemble:
The Closer
Dexter
The Good Wife
Mad Men
True Blood

Best TV Movie/Miniseries Actor:
Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance
Cuba Gooding Jr., Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Jeremy Irons, Georgia O’Keeffe
Kevin Kline, Cyrano de Bergerac
Tom Wilkinson, A Number

Best TV Movie/Miniseries Actress:
Joan Allen, Georgia O’Keeffe
Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens
Ruby Dee, America
Jessica Lange, Grey Gardens
Sigourney Weaver, Prayers for Bobby

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• Filed in Award shows, Sons of Anarchy, TV News
• Tags: Katey Sagal, SAG Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Sons of Anarchy