LOS ANGELES--NBC¡¦s ¡§30 Rock¡¨ topped the list of Emmy contenders Thursday with 22 nominations, a record for a comedy. AMC¡¦s ¡§Mad Men¡¨ claimed 16, including best drama and lead actors Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss. Both won top series awards last year.
However, few of television¡¦s most popular series won major awards recognition, continuing a trend that lately has favored lower-rated but critically-acclaimed shows.
That, in turn, has hurt ratings for the Emmy ceremony, which, last year, tied a record low audience. This year¡¦s awards air Sept. 20 on CBS.
Among top drama contenders, AMC¡¦s ¡§Breaking Bad,¡¨ HBO¡¦s ¡§Big Love,¡¨ FX¡¦s ¡§Damages¡¨ and Showtime¡¦s ¡§Dexter¡¨ will join ¡§Mad Men¡¨ and compete against just two broadcast series, ABC¡¦s ¡§Lost¡¨ and Fox¡¦s ¡§House.¡¨
For best comedy, HBO¡¦s ¡§Flight of the Conchords¡¨ and ¡§Entourage,¡¨ along with Showtime¡¦s ¡§Weeds,¡¨ will battle NBC¡¦s ¡§The Office¡¨ and ¡§Rock,¡¨ along with first-time nominees Fox¡¦s ¡§Family Guy¡¨ and CBS¡¦ ¡§How I Met Your Mother.¡¨
(¡§Family Guy¡¨ is TV¡¦s first animated series up for best comedy since ¡§The Flintstones¡¨ in 1961).
Other first-time acting nominees include ¡§Mad Men¡¦s¡¨ Elisabeth Moss, Simon Baker of CBS¡¦ hit, ¡§The Mentalist,¡¨ Jim Parsons of CBS¡¦ ¡§Big Bang Theory¡¨ and ¡§Conchords¡¦ ¡¨ Jemaine Clement.
Some new series were snubbed by Emmy voters, including HBO¡¦s acclaimed ¡§True Blood¡¨ and No. 1 ¡§Ladies¡¦ Detective Agency,¡¨ which were shut out of top categories. FX¡¦s ¡§Rescue Me¡¨ came up short, save for guest star Michael J. Fox, and departing shows ¡§ER,¡¨ ¡§The Shield¡¨ and ¡§Battlestar Galactica¡¨ didn¡¦t measure up.
Movie contenders were split between two cable networks: Lifetime¡¦s ¡§Coco Chanel¡¨ and ¡§Prayers for Bobby¡¨ and HBO¡¦s ¡§Grey Gardens,¡¨ ¡§Into the Storm¡¨ and ¡§Taking Chance.¡¨
Only two miniseries, HBO¡¦s ¡§Generation Kill¡¨ and PBS¡¦ ¡§Little Dorrit,¡¨ vie in that category.
The list of reality competitions is identical to last year¡¦s, led by six-time winner, ¡§The Amazing Race.¡¨
Shows led by Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, David Letterman and Bill Maher vie for best variety, music or comedy series with NBC¡¦s ¡§Saturday Night Live.¡¨
Justin Timberlake was among guest-acting nominees for his role as ¡§various characters¡¨ on ¡§SNL,¡¨ and Miss Fey and Mr. Hamm won second nominations as guest stars: Miss Fey for her ¡§SNL¡¨ appearances as Gov. Sarah Palin and Mr. Hamm for his turn as Miss Fey¡¦s date on ¡§30 Rock.¡¨
The Emmy voting system had two changes: Acting nominees expanded to six in each category from five (drama and comedy series categories grew to seven because of ties), and the TV academy ditched ¡§blue-ribbon¡¨ nominating panels, allowing all members to vote in each category.
Despite predictions that the change would favor more popular series at the expense of lower-rated cable series, such niche series prevailed in several categories.
HBO again had the most nominations (99), followed by NBC (67), ABC (55), CBS (49) and Fox (42).
Other records:
„P ¡§SNL¡¨ had 13 nominations, the most by a variety program in a single year.
„P ¡§Dancing With the Stars¡¨ set a record for most by a ¡§non-fiction program¡¨ with 10.
