Glee, Mad Men, The Pacific Top Emmy Noms

NEW YORK: Newcomer Glee picked up the most series nominations, 19, for this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards, followed by previous winner Mad Men, with 17.

Mad Men won the award for best drama series for the past two consecutive years. This year the show faces competition from Breaking Bad, Dexter, True Blood, The Good Wife and Lost, which has ended its series run. Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm and January Jones also scored nods on the performance side. Hamm is up against Friday Night Lights‘ Kyle Chandler, Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston, Hugh Laurie of House, Michael C. Hall of Dexter and Lost‘s Matthew Fox. Up against Jones for best actress are Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife, Mariska Hargitay of SVU, Glenn Close of Damages, Kyra Sedgwick of The Closer and Connie Britton of Friday Night Lights.

Glee and Modern Family are both newcomers in the comedy category, along with Nurse Jackie. The first-time contenders will be facing off with veteran nominees such as 30 Rock, The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Glee‘s Lea Michel will try to the take the comedic actress award from last year’s winner Toni Collette, nominated for The United States of Tara. Also in the category are Tina Fey for 30 Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus for The New Adventures of Old Christine, Edie Falco for Nurse Jackie and Amy Poehler for Parks and Recreation. Alec Baldwin has been a repeat winner for his male comedic performance in 30 Rock, and this year Glee‘s Matthew Morrison, Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s Larry David, Steve Carell of The Office, Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory and Tony Shalhoub of Monk look to take the crown.

The Pacific, which scored the most nominations overall, with 24, faces off with Return to Cranford in the mini-series or movie category. Up for outstanding TV movie are HBO’s The Special Relationship, Temple Grandin and You Don’t Know Jack, against HISTORY’s Moonshot, Lifetime’s Georgia O’Keeffe and PBS’s Endgame.

In the reality category, Project Runway, Top Chef, The Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars and American Idol are all in the running for outstanding competition show. Up for the win for best variety, music or comedy series are The Colbert Report, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Real Time with Bill Maher, Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.

Overall, HBO again led the pack in nominations, with 101. The main broadcast networks fared well, however, with ABC scoring 63, CBS with 57, NBC with 48 and FOX with 47.