Emmy nominations HBO, CBS, PBS top list

July 20, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

By Susan King and Rene Lynch

Los Angeles Times

HBO dominated the Emmy nominations announced Thursday morning, picking up 81 nods for viewer favorites such as “Boardwalk Empire” and “Game of Thrones” as well as comedy newcomers “Girls” and “Veep.”

HBO heads into the 64th Prime Time Emmy Awards as the most lauded network, with second place going to CBS, which earned 60 nods, followed by PBS with 58 nominations.

As a result, there was a sense of deja “view” with the announcement: Many of the nominees have been perennial favorites in recent years, such as “Mad Men,” “30 Rock” and “Modern Family,” as well as Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Michael C. Hall and Jim Parsons.

But there were also some newcomers in the mix, including Showtime’s freshman drama series “Homeland” and its stars, Damian Lewis and Claire Danes.

AMC’s period drama “Mad Men” was one of the big winners of the morning, earning 17 nominations including nods for best drama, best actor for Jon Hamm and best actress for Elisabeth Moss. “Downton Abbey” had 16 nominations and is another contender for best drama. The impressive showing for the historical British drama indicates that it got a boost from the strategic decision to move it from the miniseries category — which it won last year — to the dramatic series category.

Rounding out the best drama nominees are: “Boardwalk Empire,” “Breaking Bad,” “Game of Thrones” and “Homeland.”

On the funny side of the aisle, “Modern Family” earned the most nominations with 14, including best comedy series and best supporting actress nominations for Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara, and supporting actor nominations for Youngstown native Ed O’Neill, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ty Burrell and Eric Stonestreet.

Other nominees in the best comedy series category are “The Big Bang Theory,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Girls” and “Veep.”

The nominations underscore the growing gap between network television and cable television, which raked in the majority of the nods in the marquee categories.

The Emmys are to be broadcast live on ABC on Sept. 23 at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, with comedian Jimmy Kimmel as host.