HBO & FX Lead Critics’ Choice TV Awards

BEVERLY HILLS: HBO has scored the most nominations for the third annual Critics’ Choice Television Awards, with 21 nods, followed closely by FX, which landed 19.

The most-nominated series are The Big Bang Theory and American Horror Story: Asylum, with six each. Parks and Recreation and Top of the Lake each scored five. The Americans, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, Louie, New Girl and Political Animals each received four nominations.

Up for best comedy are The Big Bang Theory, Louie, The Middle, New Girl, Parks and Recreation and Veep. For best actor in a comedy, the nominees are Don Cheadle for House of Lies, Louis C.K. for Louie, Jake Johnson for New Girl, Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory, Adam Scott for Parks and Recreation and Jeremy Sisto for Suburgatory. The female nominees are Laura Dern for Enlightened, Zooey Deschanel for New Girl, Lena Dunham for Girls, Sutton Foster for Bunheads, Julia Louis-Dreyfus for Veep and Amy Poehler for Parks and Recreation.

Drama series contenders are The Americans, Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, The Good Wife and Homeland. Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston is up for best actor in a drama, along with Damian Lewis for Homeland, Andrew Lincoln for The Walking Dead, Timothy Olyphant for Justified, Matthew Rhys for The Americans and Kevin Spacey for House of Cards. The actress category recognizes Claire Danes for Homeland, Vera Farmiga for Bates Motel, Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife, Tatiana Maslany for Orphan Black, Elisabeth Moss for Mad Men and Keri Russell for The Americans.

The nominees for best movie or mini-series are American Horror Story: Asylum, Behind the Candelabra, The Crimson Petal and the White, The Hour, Political Animals and Top of the Lake. The performance nominations went to, on the male side, Benedict Cumberbatch for Parade’s End, Matt Damon and Michael Douglas for Behind the Candelabra, Toby Jones for The Girl, Al Pacino for Phil Spector and Dominic West for The Hour. On the female side it is Angela Bassett for Betty & Coretta, Romola Garai for The Hour, Rebecca Hall for Parade’s End, Jessica Lange for American Horror Story: Asylum, Elisabeth Moss for Top of the Lake and Sigourney Weaver for Political Animals.

Up for best reality series are Duck Dynasty, The Moment, Pawn Stars, Push Girls, Small Town Security and Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan. Best reality competition series up for the award are Chopped, Face Off, Shark Tank, So You Think You Can Dance, Survivor and The Voice.

“This year’s nominations reflect the expanding definition of television, with nominated programs and performances representing new platforms as well as broadcast and cable,” said Joey Berlin, the president of the Broadcast Television Journalists Association. “As evidenced by nominations for the third annual Critics’ Choice Television Awards, television continues to be a rich and diverse source of high-quality entertainment.”