HBO Leads Emmy Noms

NEW YORK: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the contenders for the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards, with HBO, once again, scoring the most nominations, with 99.

NBC followed with 67 nominations, while ABC had 55, CBS had 49 and FOX had 42. In the cable space, meanwhile, HBO was well ahead of its closest competitor, Showtime, which picked up 29 nods, with AMC not too far behind with 23.

HBO’s Big Love received its first nomination in the category for outstanding drama series, where it will compete alongside AMC’s Breaking Bad, FX’s Damages, Showtime’s Dexter, FOX’s House, ABC’s Lost and last year’s winner, AMC’s Mad Men, which secured a total of 16 nominations this year, more than any other drama. On the performance side, Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm is up against Hugh Laurie of House, Michael C. Hall for Dexter, Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad, Gabriel Byrne for HBO’s In Treatment and Simon Baker of CBS’s The Mentalist. Lead actress nominees are Glenn Close for Damages, Sally Field for ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, Mariska Hargitay of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU, Holly Hunter of TNT’s Saving Grace, Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men and Kyra Sedgwick for TNT’s The Closer. Last year’s best actor and best actress in the category went to Bryan Cranston and Glenn Close, respectively. 

NBC’s 30 Rock scored the most nominations this year, with 22, on the back of two consecutive wins as best comedy series. This year the show will compete against HBO’s Entourage and Flight of the Conchords, CBS’s How I Met Your Mother, NBC’s The Office, Showtime’s Weeds and FOX’s Family Guy, which becomes only the second animated comedy to ever be nominated in the category. Last year, 30 Rock‘s Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin both took home performance wins. This year Fey faces off with Christina Applegate of ABC’s Samantha Who?, Toni Collette for Showtime’s United States of Tara, Julia Louis-Dreyfus of CBS’s The New Adventures of Old Christine, Mary-Louise Parker of Weeds and Sarah Silverman of Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program. Baldwin, meanwhile, is up against Steve Carell of The Office, Jemaine Clement of Flight of Conchords, first-time nominee Jim Parsons of CBS’s The Big Bang Theory, Tony Shalhoub of USA’s Monk and Charlie Sheen for CBS’s Two and a Half Men. 

With a total of 17 nominations, HBO’s Grey Gardens leads off the category of outstanding made-for-TV movie, alongside fellow HBO contenders Into the Storm and Taking Chance, as well as Lifetime’s Coco Chanel and Prayers for Bobby. Outstanding mini-series contenders are HBO’s Generation Kill and PBS’s Little Dorrit. Both Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange are nominated for their roles in Grey Gardens, with the lead actress in a mini-series or movie category rounded out by Shirley MacLaine for Coco Chanel, Sigourney Weaver of Prayers for Bobby and Chandra Wilson for the Hallmark Channel’s Accidental Friendship. Up for best actor in the category are Kevin Bacon for Taking Chance, Kenneth Branagh for PBS’s Wallander: One Step Behind, Brendan Gleeson of Into the Storm, Kiefer Sutherland for FOX’s 24: Redemption, Kevin Kline for PBS’s Cyrano De Bergerac (Great Performances) and Sir Ian McKellen of PBS’s King Lear (Great Performances). 

In the category of outstanding reality-competition program, CBS’s The Amazing Race has seen consecutive wins since 2003. FOX’s American Idol, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars (with ten nods this year, more than any other nonfiction show) and Bravo’s Project Runway and Top Chef will look to break that streak with a win this year. Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will face off as outstanding variety, musical or comedy series, alongside CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher and NBC’s Saturday Night Live. 

Nominees for outstanding children’s program are Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place and Nickelodeon’s iCarly. Up for best nonfiction series are PBS’s American Experience and American Masters, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations from Travel Channel, BIO’s Biography and Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch. Contenders in the reality category are PBS’s Antique Roadshow, Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters, National Geographic Channel’s Dog Whisperer, A&E’s Intervention and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, the Bravo series that took the win last year.