The Creative Arts Emmys were held at the weekend, but Desperate Housewives failed to pick up a single award. This leaves Alfe Woodard (Betty Applewhite), whose storyline was attacked by critics during season two, as Housewives' last chance to win an Emmy.

Whereas HBO's Deadwood was a thorn in Housewives' side last time, this time it was HBO's Rome that was getting in the way of its success. This is a list of the Housewives nominations and results:

• Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series — Shirley Knight was nominated for her one-episode guest appearance as Phyllis Van de Kamp, but lost out to Malcolm In The Middle's Cloris Leachman. It was Leachman's fifth nomination and the first time she's won for her role in the show. But it was her eighth Emmy win in total, the most for a female performer. "If your heart doesn't stop beating and you stay up with it, look what happens," she said of the award. Last year the award was won by Lupe Ontiveros (Juanita Solis) for Housewives. Kathryn Joosten (Mrs. McClusky) was also nominated.
• Outstanding Hairstyling For A Series — key hairstylists Dena Green and Gabor Heiligenberg and hairstylists Stefano Ceccarelli and Gaetano Panico represented Housewives for the first time in this category. But they lost out to their counterparts on Rome.
• Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series — Nancy Morrison lost out to editor Lance Luckey on NBC's My Name is Earl. Housewives took home this award last year, for Michael Berenbaum's work on "Pilot".
• Outstanding Costumes For A Series — costume designer Catherine Adair and costume supervisors Karo Vartanian and Joyce Goodwin lost our to their counterparts on Rome. They were nominated last year too, but lost out to Deadwood.
• Outstanding Casting For A Comedy Series — Scott Genkingre and Junie Lowrie Johnson won last year but lost out to Dava Waite Peaslee on My Name is Earl this year.
• Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series — production designer Thomas Walsh, art director P. Erik Carlson and set decorator Erica Rogalla were up for this award. They were up last year too, but lost out to Deadwood. The Emmy site did not list the outcome of this award.

Housewives has already received a bruising in the nominations process. As well as receiving less nominations this year, Housewives was absent in categories in which it dominated last year such as that for the best comedy actress Emmy. This has been put down to a drop in the show's quality and a new Emmy nomination process, but James Denton (Mike Delfino) has his own theory.

"I don't think the show is a pure comedy or pure drama and last year, particularly, it was very dark," Denton told Associated Press Television, according to The Age. He said that he thinks the show has fallen "between the cracks" of comedy and drama. "So, when you're nominating yourself or presenting yourself as a comedy, there's certainly funnier shows on television, as a pure comedy."

So while three of the Housewives were up for an Emmy last year, Woodard will be the last chance for Housewives to not go away empty handed. The award show is broadcast live on NBC on August 27 and Woodard is up for the Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series award.

Meanwhile an editorial at TV Week has called for the TV industry to support the new Emmy voting system. "With the naming of this year's Primetime Emmy winners coming up Sunday, it's time for the industry to stop its grousing about the change in the voting procedures this year and compliment the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for trying to improve the process."

A full list of Creative Emmy winner can be found at the Emmy website. Denton's comments can be read at The Age. The full editorial on the Emmy nomination process can be found at TV Week.

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