American Horror Story Leads Emmy Nominations

LOS ANGELES: FX’s American Horror Story: Asylum led the Primetime Emmy nominations announced this morning with 17 nods, followed by HBO’s Game of Thrones with 16, including outstanding drama series, where it is up against AMC’s Breaking Bad and Mad Men, Showtime’s Homeland, PBS’s Downton Abbey and Netflix’s House of Cards.

The streaming service Netflix scored a total of 14 nominations for its original series. "We are overwhelmed with 14 nominations and honored by a warm welcome which confirms what we have always believed, that great television is great television regardless of where, when and how it is enjoyed," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer. 

House of Cards star Kevin Spacey is up for outstanding lead actor in a drama, together with Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston, Downton Abbey‘s Hugh Bonneville, Homeland‘s Damian Lewis, Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm and The Newsroom‘s Jeff Daniels. For lead actress, nods went to Vera Farmiga of A&E’s Bates Motel, Downton‘s Michelle Dockery, Homeland‘s Claire Danes, House of Cards‘ Robin Wright, Mad Men‘s Elisabeth Moss, Connie Britton for ABC’s Nashville and Kerry Washington from Scandal.

The series in the running for outstanding comedy are The Big Bang Theory, Girls, Louie, Modern Family, 30 Rock and Veep. Lead actor nods went to Jason Bateman for Netflix’s resurrected Arrested Development, Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory, Matt LeBlanc for Episodes, Don Cheadle for House of Lies, Louis C.K. for Louie and Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock. Lead actress nominees are Laura Dern in Enlightened, Lena Dunham for Girls, Edie Falco for Nurse Jackie, Amy Poehler for Parks and Recreation, Julia Louis-Dreyfus for Veep and Tina Fey for 30 Rock.

The nominees for outstanding mini-series or movie are American Horror Story: Asylum, HBO’s Behind the Candelabra and Phil Spector, HISTORY’s The Bible, Sundance Channel’s Top of the Lake and USA’s Political Animals. HBO dominates the lead actor category: contenders are Michael Douglas and Matt Damon for Behind the Candelabra, Tony Jones for The Girl, Benedict Cumberbatch for Parade’s End and Al Pacino for Phil Spector. For lead actress, there’s Jessica Lange for American Horror Story: Asylum, Laura Linney for The Big C, Helen Mirren for Phil Spector, Sigourney Weaver for Political Animals and Elisabeth Moss for Top of the Lake.

The Amazing Race is back to defend its title as outstanding reality-competition program, up against Dancing with the Stars, Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef and The Voice. For outstanding reality program, the nominees are Antiques Roadshow, Deadliest Catch, Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives, MythBusters, Shark Tank and Undercover Boss. In the outstanding documentary/nonfiction special category, the nominees are All The President’s Men Revisited from Discovery Channel, HBO’s Crossfire Hurricane, Ethel and Manhunt: The Inside Story of the Hunt For Bin Laden and PBS’s Death and the Civil War. In the doc/non-fiction series category, nominees are PBS’s The Abolitionists and American Masters, HISTORY’s The Men Who Built America and HBO’s Vice. In the informational series or special category, CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown is in the running, alongside National Geographic’s Brain Games, Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio, OWN’s Oprah’s Master Class and the cross-network Stand Up to Cancer.