Emmy nominations: Mad Men, 30 Rock, and John Adams lead the pack

Posted by: Paul Little  •  July 18, 2008 @ 4:36am

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the nominess for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards on Thursday morning. Critically-acclaimed darling Mad Men, airing on cable channel AMC, took in 16 nominations including Best Drama and Lead Actor in a Drama Series (star Jon Hamm). NBC's 30 Rock managed to surpass Mad Man, receiving 17 nominations including Best Comedy, Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Alec Baldwin), and Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Tina Fey). HBO mini-series John Adams took home the most nominations of any program, grabbing 23 in total.

Lost also came back after a year where it took in very few accolades across the board by grabbing nominations for Best Drama and Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Michael Emerson). Amongst the other mostly-pleasant surprises were nominations for Lee Pace and Kristin Chenoweth on Pushing Daisies, and Michael C. Hall on Dexter (while he had twice been nominated for a Golden Globe, he had previously been ignored by Emmy voters). Not so surprising were same-old, same-old nominations for Tony Shalhoub, James Spader, and Two and a Half Men. (But at least two of them are actually good!)

Read below for the major nominees, or visit Emmys.tv for the complete list.

Outstanding Drama Series

• Boston Legal (ABC)
• Damages (FX)
• Dexter (Showtime)
• House (FOX)
• Lost (ABC)
• Mad Men (AMC)

Outstanding Comedy Series

• 30 Rock (NBC)
• Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
• Entourage (HBO)
• The Office (NBC)
• Two and a Half Men (CBS)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

• James Spader – Boston Legal (ABC)
• Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad (AMC)
• Michael C. Hall – Dexter (Showtime)
• Hugh Laurie – House (FOX)
• Gabriel Byrne – In Treatment (HBO)
• Jon Hamm – Mad Men (AMC)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

• Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock (NBC)
• Tony Shalhoub – Monk (USA)
• Lee Pace – Pushing Daisies (ABC)
• Steve Carell – The Office (NBC)
• Charlie Sheen – Two and a Half Men (CBS)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

• Sally Field – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
• Glenn Close – Damages (FX)
• Mariska Hargitay – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)
• Holly Hunter – Saving Grace (TNT)
• Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer (TNT)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

• Tina Fey – 30 Rock (NBC)
• Christina Applegate – Samantha Who? (ABC)
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus – The New Adventures Of Old Christine (CBS)
• America Ferrera – Ugly Betty (ABC)
• Mary-Louise Parker – Weeds (Showtime)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

• William Shatner – Boston Legal (ABC)
• Ted Danson – Damages (FX)
• Zeljko Ivanek – Damages (FX)
• Michael Emerson – Lost (ABC)
• John Slattery – Mad Men (AMC)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

• Jeremy Piven – Entourage (HBO)
• Kevin Dillon – Entourage (HBO)
• Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
• Rainn Wilson – The Office (NBC)
• Jon Cryer – Two and a Half Men (CBS)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

• Candice Bergen – Boston Legal (ABC)
• Rachel Griffiths – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
• Chandra Wilson – Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
• Sandra Oh – Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
• Dianne Wiest – In Treatment (HBO)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

• Kristin Chenoweth – Pushing Daisies (ABC)
• Jean Smart – Samatha Who? (ABC)
• Amy Poehler – Saturday Night Live (NBC)
• Holland Taylor – Two and a Half Men (CBS)
• Vanessa Williams – Ugly Betty (ABC)

Outstanding Miniseries

• Cranford (Masterpiece) (PBS)
• John Adams (HBO)
• The Andromeda Strain (A&E)
• Tim Man (Sci-Fi)

Tags: Emmys, Emmy Awards, awards, 30 Rock, Mad Men

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Paul Little is the founder and Managing Editor of ShowbizMonkeys.com. When not interviewing his favourite musicians and comedians, he can also be found putting on and promoting music and comedy events with The Purple Room in Winnipeg, or co-producing the live comedy game show Pants on Fire. (@comedygeek)

Original Comments Posted (3)

Ariana says...

I think for every category, I watch one or fewer of the shows represented. And I watch a lot of TV. I just don't think this is very indicative of, you know, people who watch and enjoy television. Not that this is surprising.

Jul 22, 2008 1:21pm

Antalya says...

Really, if you took out the Two and a Half Men noms and rectified the ridiculous Phil Keoghan snub (seriously, Emmy voters, WTF?), this would be a pretty decent list, certainly a lot better than last year's. The picks for drama series and for lead and supporting actor in a drama are particularly strong. My only quibble of the lot of them would be Shatner who's less of a great actor and more of a force of nature, but if he submitted the episode I'm thinking of, his nomination is not undeserved, no matter how much boohooing there may be from critics, professional and otherwise.

Jul 27, 2008 2:36pm

Antalya says...

Really, if you took out the Two and a Half Men noms and rectified the ridiculous Phil Keoghan snub (seriously, Emmy voters, WTF?), this would be a pretty decent list, certainly a lot better than last year's. The picks for drama series and for lead and supporting actor in a drama are particularly strong. My only quibble of the lot of them would be Shatner who's less of a great actor and more of a force of nature, but if he submitted the episode I'm thinking of, his nomination is not undeserved, no matter how much boohooing there may be from critics, professional and otherwise.

Jul 27, 2008 2:37pm

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