“30 Rock” which won an EMMY last year for outstanding comedy series picked up another 22 nominations this year, including nominations for its Greek-American writer and star Tina Fey.
Nominations for the 61st Primetime Emmy® Awards, covering the period of June 1, 2008 through May 31, 2009, were announced today by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre, North Hollywood, California. The Television Academy’s Chairman of the Board & CEO John Shaffner presided, assisted by Chandra Wilson and Jim Parsons.
Of the eighty-three nominations for comedy and drama programs as well as lead, supporting and guest performers, forty-one were not included among last year’s nominees — a forty-nine percent change from last year’s roster of nominees in these fourteen categories. Forty-nine (sixty-nine percent) were broadcast network nominations (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) and thirty-four (thirty-one percent) were cable network nominations.
First-time nominees in drama series programs included Big Love and Breaking Bad. (Breaking Bad joined Damages and Mad Men – first nominated last year – as a basic cable series in the drama series program category.) First-time nominees in comedy series programs included Flight of the Conchords, How I Met Your Mother and Family Guy (which had a prior nomination in the Animated Program category).
Newcomers (not nominated last year) in the comedy series performer categories included (leads) Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory, Jemaine Clement in Flight of the Conchords, Toni Collette in United States of Tara, and Sarah Silverman in The Sarah Silverman Program; (supports) Tracy Morgan in 30 Rock, Jack McBrayer in 30 Rock, Kristin Wiig in Saturday Night Live, Jane Krakowski in 30 Rock, and Elizabeth Perkins in Weeds; (guests) Beau Bridges in Desperate Housewives, Justin Timberlake in Saturday Night Live, Steve Martin in 30 Rock, Jon Hamm in 30 Rock, Alan Alda in 30 Rock, Christine Baranski in The Big Bang Theory, Gena Rowlands in Monk, Betty White in My Name Is Earl, Tina Fey in Saturday Night Live, and Jennifer Anniston in 30 Rock.
Additional first-time nominees in Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie are Kevin Bacon in Taking Chance, Kevin Kline in Cyrano De Bergerac (Great Performances) and Brendan Gleeson in Into the Storm. Additional first-time nominees in Supporting Actor/Actress in a Miniseries or Movie are Ken Howard for Grey Gardens, Tom Courtenay for Little Dorrit, Jeanne Tripplehorn for Grey Gardens and Shohreh Aghdashloo for House of Saddam.
On Sunday, September 20 at 8:00 pm (ET/PT) the telecast awarding Primetime Emmys hosted by Neil Patrick Harris will be presented before a black-tie audience and televised by the CBS Television Network from the NOKIA Theatre LA Live.
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