Emmy's picks for writing and directing nominees in the series categories are kinda like a state of the craft report card every year. They're often the category where new and innovative programs are recognized long before they crack the more prominent races.

But in a year when Emmy voters seemed to embrace new and different, the choices in the writing and directing heats seem more pedestrian, though some of this year's contenders were so obvious (Bryan Fuller and Barry Sonnenfeld for "Pushing Daisies" Pie-lette, Matthew Weiner and Alan Taylor for the "Mad Men" pilot) as to take some of the suspense out of the race this year. Sonnenfeld (pictured left) and Taylor (pictured right) have already bagged DGA Awards for their work on these pilots.

Sonnenfeld, IMHO, can safely begin rehearsing his acceptance speech for comedy helmer. (Coming from him, it oughta be a doozy.) The competish is strong -- a six-nominee category meaning that there was one tie in the nom ballotting -- but nothing was quite so inventive and visually distinct as that first slice of ABC's "Pushing Daisies."

From my viewfinder, the dark horse in the race could be James Bobin of HBO's "Flight of the Conchords." Bobin, co-creator of the series with Kiwi comedy-rockers Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, is up for the "Sally Returns" episode of "Conchord's" 12-episode frosh season.

Dan Attias nabbed a nom for the "No Cannes Do" installment of "Entourage." Paul Lieberstein has shown that there's no end to his talents by performing, writing and directing segs of NBC's "The Office," and now he's up for helming the seg "Money" Parts 1 and 2 (sounds like a James Brown hit from the early '70s). Also nommed from "Office" is Paul Feig, for handling the season finale, "Goodbye, Toby," which happened to mark the farewell of Lieberstein's character. Michael Engler of NBC's "30 Rock" is up for the "Rosemary's Baby" installment.

"Everybody Hates Chris'" mom and dad, Terry Crews and Tichina Arnold (pictured left), were in D.C. on Friday for a screening of the series third-season opener held as part of the Congressional Black Caucus' 37th annual Legislative Conference, held this past weekend.

CW and "Chris" producer CBS Paramount Network TV hosted a screening and reception for caucus members and other salons and Beltway players at the Grand Hyatt hotel. Crews and Arnold intro'd the seg, "Everybody Hates the Guidance Counselor," which featured Chris Rock in his first on-screen guest shot on his namesake show. Also on hand for the event was "Chris" co-creator/exec producer Ali Leroi.

I was sorry to see that "Chris" didn't do much business for CW in its preem on Monday. It was a funny episode, with Rock playing the guidance counselor, but only 2.6 million viewers showed up for the 8 p.m. premiere.

Following "Chris" was the bow of "Aliens in America," which was also given the D.C. think-tank treatment on Monday by CBS Paramount Network TV. Studio prexy David Stapf and others flew in for a panel at the Brookings Institute on the show and its theme of cross-cultural education and understanding among Westerners and Muslims. Brookings Institute isn't the type of org to suck up to Hollywood, but "Aliens" caught the eggheads' attention with its premise about a typically kooky American family inviting a Muslim exchange student into their world. I enjoyed the pilot of "Aliens" and was also sorry to see that it barely opened for CW, drawing 2.3 million people. Oh well. One night does not a season make, right?

One of the people who took part in the "Aliens in America" confab was Pakistani musican Salman Ahmad, who teamed with P.J. Olsson to record the theme song to "Aliens," a new spin on the Nick Lowe song "(What's So Funny) About Peace, Love and Understanding." Sez Ahmad: "I believe in programs like 'Aliens In America' because music, film and television play a huge part in humanizing culture."

Click here to for a vid of the Olsson-Ahmad collaboration, set for release Oct. 16 on Olsson's CBS Records disc, "American Scream."