Emmy Nominations Announced: ‘House of Cards’ Makes History
Netflix series “House of Cards” and “Arrested Development” broke through to become the first digitally distributed series to earn a major nomination for the 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
65th Primetime Emmy Nominations: Complete List
“House of Cards” had nine nominations overall. Lead acting nominations for the series went to Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, and David Fincher was nominated for directing the opening episode. “Arrested Development” had three noms, including lead comedy actor for Jason Bateman. Netflix totaled 14 nominations.
“American Horror Story” had 17 nominations for the second year in a row, leading all programs. “Game of Thrones” had 16 to lead all series.
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HBO film “Behind the Candelabra” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” had 15 nominations, followed by 13 each for AMC’s “Breaking Bad” and NBC’s “30 Rock.”
HBO had 108 nominations — 27 more than last year — to lead all networks, followed in cable by Showtime with 31 and AMC and FX with 26. CBS and NBC tied for the broadcast network lead with 53 noms apiece, followed by ABC with 45, PBS with 25 and Fox with 19.
The milestone for the Netflix series comes on the 20th anniversary of the first cable show to earn a series nomination: HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show” in 1993. Garry Shandling also received a lead comedy actor nom that year.
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Digitally distributed shows have been eligible to enter the main Emmy categories for seven years, according to TV Academy senior vice president of awards John Leverence.
Except for “House of Cards” replacing “Boardwalk Empire,” the drama series nominations remained the same as last year: were 2012 winner “Homeland,” “Breaking Bad,” “Downton Abbey,” “Game of Thrones” and “Mad Men.”
EMMYS SCORECARD: Broadcast & Cable Networks
In comedy series, five of six nominees also returned: “30 Rock,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Girls,” “Modern Family” and “Veep,” with “Louie” replacing “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Nominations for reality-competition series went to longtime behemoth “The Amazing Race,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “Project Runway,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Top Chef” and “The Voice.” In reality program, the noms were “Antiques Roadshow,” “Deadliest Catch,” “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” “MythBusters,” “Shark Tank” and “Undercover Boss.”
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Lead drama actor nominations went to defending champ Damian Lewis of “Homeland,” Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”), Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), Jeff Daniels (“The Newsroom”), Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) and Spacey.
In lead drama actress, new-show nominees Connie Britton (“Nashville”), Vera Farmiga (“Bates Motel”) and Wright joined 2012 winner Claire Danes (“Homeland”), Michelle Dockery (“Downton Abbey”), Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”) and Kerry Washington (“Scandal”).
Moss was also nominated as a lead miniseries-movie actress for “Top of the Lake.”
Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin of departing NBC series “30 Rock” each completed their streak of acting nominations for all seven years of the show’s run. They were joined on the comedy lead actor side by Bateman, Louis C.K. (“Louie”), Don Cheadle (“House of Lies”), Matt LeBlanc (“Episodes”) and Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”) and on the actress side by HBO thesps Laura Dern (“Enlightened”), Lena Dunham (“Girls”) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (last year’s winner for “Veep”), along with Edie Falco (“Nurse Jackie”) and Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation.”)
The most notable omission in the supporting acting categories was last year’s supporting comedy actor winner, Eric Stonestreet, who was left out while co-stars Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Ed O’Neill nabbed spots.
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Last year, “American Horror Story” tied “Mad Men” with 17 nominations, but while the FX project, which went with some amount of controversy into the movies-miniseries category, managed to pull two wins (hairstyling and supporting actress), “Mad Men” was shut out.
“Game of Thrones” (11 nominations in 2012) and “Homeland” (nine) won the most Emmys last September with six apiece.
Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”) and Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”) made this morning’s nominations announcement with TV Academy Chairman & CEO Bruce Rosenblum at the Academy’s Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood. Kate Mara (“House of Cards”) was scheduled to join but was unable to arrive because her scheduled flight from Santa Fe, where she is shooting on location, had a mechanical malfunction— echoing last year when travel issues prevented Nick Offerman from presenting with Kerry Washington.
Academy COO Alan Perris, who is retiring at the end of the year, made pre-presentation remarks.
The Emmys themselves will return to the Nokia Theatre at Los Angeles’ L.A. Live on Sept. 22.
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