Cable series exploit strike to take Emmy nominations
Cable TV had a breakout summer in 2007, and with the help of the midseason writers' strike it converted that into a record number of prime-time Emmy Award nominations when they were announced for the 2007-2008 season on Thursday.
AMC's "Mad Men" led all dramas with 16 nominations, and along with FX's "Damages" became the first basic-cable shows to be nominated for a series Emmy. Joined by Showtime's "Dexter," it found cable channels splitting six nominations for outstanding drama with the major broadcast networks. ABC's "Lost" and "Boston Legal" and Fox's "House" got the other nods.
Cable's drama dominance was even more telling in the lead acting categories, where Jon Hamm of "Mad Men," Michael C. Hall of "Dexter," Gabriel Byrne of HBO's "In Treatment" and Bryan Cranston of AMC's "Breaking Bad" all received nominations, along with Hugh Laurie of "House" and James Spader of "Boston Legal."
Cable dominated the dramatic lead-actress nominations as well, with Glenn Close of "Damages" cited along with TNT's Holly Hunter of "Saving Grace" and Kyra Sedgwick of "The Closer." Defending Emmy winner Sally Field of ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" and Mariska Hargitay of NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" received the other nominations.
Cable has been challenging network dominance for years, in the Emmys as in the Nielsen ratings, but with deserving series like "The Shield" being slighted it's mostly been HBO doing the heavy work. The premium-cable channel again led all networks with 85 nominations, including 23 for the miniseries "John Adams," most for any one program. HBO also swept all 10 nominations for lead actor and actress in a miniseries or movie, led by the fine Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes in "Bernard and Doris." ABC earned 76, CBS 51, NBC 50 and PBS 33.
Yet Showtime earned 21 nominations, AMC 20, the Sci Fi Channel 15 and FX and Bravo 11 apiece, all up from a year ago.
The major networks fared better in the comedy categories, with NBC's "30 Rock" earning a record 17 for a sitcom (padded by several nominations for guest-star appearances). Yet even there HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Entourage" earned nods for outstanding comedy, alongside NBC's "30 Rock" and "The Office" and CBS' "Two and a Half Men."
The 100-day writers' strike at midseason clearly hurt shows like ABC's "Ugly Betty" and "Grey's Anatomy," which were snubbed in the outstanding series categories while garnering a few acting nominations.
It also hurt new shows, although ABC's "Pushing Daisies" led rookie series with 12 nominations, including one for supporting actress Kristin Chenoweth, who announced this year's top nominations along with fellow nominee Neil Patrick Harris of "How I Met Your Mother" in a predawn ceremony in North Hollywood, Calif.
Otherwise, however, the more things changed the more they stayed the same with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the so-called "blue ribbon" panels selecting the final nominees. "The Simpsons" and "South Park" again were snubbed for lead comedy, and "South Park" didn't even get named for outstanding animated program. Instead, the ATAS continued its love affair with David E. Kelley, whose "Boston Legal" earned a series nod as well as its annual citations for Spader, William Shatner and Candice Bergen.
HBO's excellent "The Wire," meanwhile, was of course ignored as usual in the major categories in its final season, as was the entire CW network, which couldn't even get a nomination for Ray Wise's wicked take on the devil in "Reaper."
The 60th annual prime-time Emmy Awards will be presented Sept. 21 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles in a ceremony broadcast locally on ABC's WLS Channel 7.
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