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The annual Emmy nominations were announced Thursday and  even though the “golden age of comedy” aged out long ago, and “appointment TV” lost its urgency when the DVR was invented, television programming is better than ever — with one glaring exception. As production values (aided by sophisticated technology) improve, scripts, acting and story themes have also become increasingly more interesting Lena Dunham, creator and star of the HBO TV series, "Girls." (Ali Paige Goldstein - AP)— but in the area of diversity, it may as well be the 1950s. Series television, especially, has maintained high standards. Not only has content gotten edgier and more granular over my lifetime, but plots are infinitely more entertaining since the days when I waited all week for ”Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie.” In both comedy and drama, we are happily in an era of auteur show-runners who deliver mature hour-long dramas that continue to intrigue and surprise, such as “Treme,” “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” or mold-breaking half-hour sitcoms, such as “Modern Family,” and classic variety humor, such as “Saturday Night Live.”   Even more heartening, for those last holdouts who still prefer writing to reality, young innovators like Lena Dunham continue to showcase boundary-pushing original twists. Despite that discredited rumor that went around Hollywood a few years back that women aren’t funny, my gender has taken great strides in the medium that Lucille Ball helped pioneer.