Jimmy Fallon is bursting with enthusiasm to host this year's Emmy Awards

It's glitzy, it's glamorous, and it's one of the biggest award shows of the year. The Primetime Emmy Awards are back, and a new set of achievement nods are on the table for hundreds of small-screen hopefuls this year.

The special, which celebrates excellence in American television programming, airs Sunday, Aug. 29 on NBC, and will be hosted by NBC late-night host Jimmy Fallon. He's been so excited about hosting the award show that he may have gone a little overboard with preparation for the ceremony.

"I've got my tux all ready to go," Fallon said. "It's in the bag, I'm ready to go."

According to his co-workers, he began writing sketches for the awards ceremony immediately after getting the gig, and showed up to a content meeting with a plethora of material.

"We wrote it all out and they're like, 'OK, we have to have room to give out awards, too,'" he said.

However, he's not going to let the trimming of a little fat get in the way of comedic gold -- and he'll also get plenty of help for comedic segments from other stars, even, oddly enough, Kate Gosselin.

Currently, Gosselin stars on the TLC series "Kate Plus 8," and will soon have her own talk show, "Twist of Kate." She's also making an appearance on Sarah Palin's reality show "Sarah Palin's Alaska," where Gosselin and her clan of eight will join the former vice-presidential candidate on a camping trip.

The ever-glamorous George Clooney will receive the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award during the ceremony, marking the first time in six years that the award has been handed out. Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby and Danny Thomas have also received the award.

Clooney is being honored for his advocacy to stop genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and his involvement in mobilizing the entertainment industry for the "America: A Tribute to Heroes" benefit after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Another familiar face will be in the crowd instead of on the stage this year. Neil Patrick Harris, who hosted the Emmy Awards last year, traded in his emcee hat for some Emmy nominations. He's up for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series ("Glee") and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series ("How I Met Your Mother").

The superstar series of the year is Fox's massive rookie hit "Glee." The musical-dramedy has captured hearts of all ages and its popularity only continued to climb after its splashy fall premiere. A four-month hiatus over the winter only whetted viewers' appetites, and its spring premiere had an estimated 13.7 million viewers, nearly doubling its prior numbers.

It has been nominated for 19 Emmys -- Lea Michele was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy for her leading role, and the program has also been nominated for best comedy, best actor (Matthew Morrison), best supporting actress (Jane Lynch) and actor (Chris Colfer), Outstanding Guest Actress (Kristin Chenoweth) and Outstanding Guest Actor for both Mike O'Malley and Harris.

It has also received one writing nomination and two nominations for directing.

Colfer, a first-time nominee for his work on "Glee," had his date picked almost immediately after finding out for the nomination -- he's bringing his mom.

"She informed me that if I don't take her she will disown me," he said.

Although the "Glee" gang seems very excited about their outstanding number of nominations, some nominees of other series aren't as ecstatic after the first few go-arounds. Six-time nominee and two-time winner for "Breaking Bad" Bryan Cranston said multiple nominations are like multiple marriages, which don't hold the same punch after a few tries.

"You're still excited about the marriage, but you're not really like, wow, I'm getting married," he said. "You love her, you do, but you don't have that wide-eyed innocence as you would when you're getting married to No. 1."

However, there will be one category left out that a lot of fans, and stars, are unhappy about -- the Emmy Awards decided that this year they will not be giving an award for best reality-show host. The exclusion of the category has caused some rumblings about boycotting the ceremony.

"It's disappointing news," said Jeff Probst, host of "Survivor" and previous best-reality-host winner. "Collectively, this category represents several of the highest-rated and most popular shows on all of television."

Probst has announced that he will not be attending, but says it's due to the filming of the newest "Survivor."

ATAS has stood its ground on dropping the category, saying the Emmys will be particularly tight this year because the show will be replayed on the West Coast after its first-ever live airing and is including the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for the first time in six years.

Two years ago, all five people nominated for the reality-host award served as emcees of the ceremony, with Probst taking home the statue.