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Ellen Burstyn’s Best Supporting Actress nod sure has the outrage flowing. Is her 14-second, 38-word performance in the HBO movie Mrs. Harris Emmy-worthy? Most probably not. But after doing some poking around, it’s hard to get all worked up. To me, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was forever compromised in 1987.

That year, The Facts of Life was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling. If the above picture doesn’t deem that ridiculous, check out this George Clooney gem. The fact is, The Facts lost (to Moonlighting). Nevertheless, the Academy still celebrated Blair Warner’s ‘do. So I can’t wax indignant about Burstyn today.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not excited about the Emmys. Don’t own a TV? Don’t worry. Here are ten conversational nuggets to get you through Emmy season. You did realize it was Emmy season, right?

• The name “Emmy” was derived from the term “immy,” which described the image orthicon tubes common in early TV cameras.

• Cops has been nominated four times (Outstanding Informational Series, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994).

• In 1992, NBC’s Wings had nominees for Best Supporting Actor and Actress – for guest stars Tyne Daly and Kelsey Grammer (reaching to play psychiatrist Frasier Crane). Tony “Antonio Scarpacci” Shalhoub would grin and bear it for eleven more years before being recognized for Monk.

• Speaking of Grammer, he’s the only actor to be nominated for the same character on three different shows – Wings (once), Cheers (twice), and Frasier (ten nominations, four Best Actor wins). Speaking of Cheers, Sam Malone, Diane Chambers, Carla Tortelli, Lilith Sternin-Crane, Woody Boyd and Rebecca Howe were all winners. John Cleese also won an Outstanding Guest Actor statue for his brilliant Dr. Simon Finch-Royce.

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards both won for Seinfeld. Jason Alexander was nominated – and lost – seven consecutive times; Jerry himself lost five straight years.

• Dynasty was nominated 24 times, and Dynasty lost 24 times.

• Paul “Pee-Wee Herman” Reubens was nominated twice. Once as a guest star on Murphy Brown, once as a set decorator for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.

• Growing Pains won twice, both for Outstanding Lighting Direction.

• In 1971, George C. Scott turned down his Oscar for the movie Patton, complaining the Oscars were a petty popularity contest. But that same year, he accepted an Emmy for his role in Hallmark Hall of Fame’s The Price. Scott felt the Emmy was a true gauge of performance.

• The Emmy Statues are manufactured by a company with a manufacturing site at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in El Dorado, Kansas. Also at the El Dorado Correctional Facility: BTK killer Dennis Rader. This is one of those facts that seems made up and randomly posted on both Wikipedia and Answers.com. Only use this nugget if you’ve spent the other nine.