Emmy Nominees Announced

The nominees for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards were announced Thursday morning at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theater in North Hollywood. Melissa McCarthy of Mike and Molly and Joshua Jackson (Fringe) co-hosted the event.

HBO's miniseries Mildred Pierce earned a leading 21 nominations today for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, while Mad Men collected 19, including nods for best drama series, best actor for Jon Hamm and best actress for Elisabeth Moss. 

Mad Men will be looking for its fourth consecutive Emmy for best drama, while Modern Family will look to repeat as best comedy, an award it won last year after three consecutive wins by 30 Rock. Mad Men will compete with Boardwalk Empire, Friday Night Lights, Game of Thrones, Dexter and The Good Wife.

Modern Family will be challenged for best comedy by 30 Rock, Glee, The Office, The Big Bang Theory, and Parks and Recreation. Boardwalk Empire earned 18 nominations, while Modern Family earned 17.

Hamm will compete for best actor in a drama series with Steve Buscemi of Boardwalk Empire, Michael C. Hall of Dexter,'Kyle Chandler of Friday Night Lights, Hugh Laurie of House and Timothy Olyphant of Justified.

Up for best actress in a drama series along with Moss are Connie Britton of Friday Night Lights, Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife, Kathy Bates of Harry's Law, Mireille Enos of The Killing and Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

AMC's Breaking Bad, a nominee for best drama each of the past two seasons, was ineligible to be nominated this year because it did not air enough new episodes during the eligibility period of June 1, 2010 to May 31. Breaking Bad's ineligibility also left Bryan Cranston out of the best dramatic actor category, an award he has won the past three years.

Last year's winner for best actor in a comedy series, Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory, was nominated again in the category, along with his co-star Johnny Galecki, Matt LeBlanc of Episodes, Steve Carell of The Office,'' Louis C.K. of Louie and Alec Baldwin of 30 Rock.

Edie Falco will look to repeat last year's win for best actress in a comedy series for her work in ``Nurse Jackie.'' She will square off against Laura Linney of The Big C, Amy Poehler from Parks and Recreation, Melissa McCarthy of Mike & Molly, Martha Plimpton of Raising Hope and Tina Fey of 30 Rock.

McCarthy, who helped announce the Emmy nominations, was visibly moved when her name was announced.

"I didn't see it coming in a million years,'' she said afterward. "I was just excited to be here and announcing. I was rooting for the show. It literally didn't occur to me, that's why I got so confused when I saw my name."
  
Supporting comedy actress nods went to Jane Lynch for Glee, Betty White for Hot in Cleveland, Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara for Modern Family, Kristin Wiig for Saturday Night Live and Jane Krakowski for 30 Rock.

Nominated for supporting comedy actor were Jon Cryer of Two and a Half Men, Chris Colfer for Glee and four stars of Modern Family: Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O'Neill, Eric Stonestreet and Ty Burrell.

Mildred Pierce was nominated for best miniseries or made-for-television movie, along with Downtown Abbey, The Kennedys, CinemaVerite, Too Big to Fail and The Pillars of the Earth.

Kate Winslet was nominated as best actress in a miniseries or television movie for her lead role in Mildred Pierce, along with Elizabeth McGovern for Downton Abbey, Diane Lane for Cinema Verite, Taraji P. Henson for Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story and Jean Marsh for Upstairs Downstairs.

Mildred Pierce also earned supporting-actress nominations for three performers: Evan Rachel Wood, Melissa Leo and Mare Winningham. Also nominated in the category were Maggie Smith of Downton Abbey and Eileen Atkins of Upstairs Downstairs.

Greg Kinnear and Barry Pepper each received lead-actor nods for a miniseries or television movie for The Kennedys, along with Edgar Ramirez of Carlos, William Hurt from Too Big to Fail, Idris Elba from
Luther and Laurence Fishburne in Thurgood.

Miniseries or TV movie supporting-actor nominations went to Guy Pearce and Brian F. O'Byrne of Mildred Pierce, Tom Wilkinson of The Kennedys and Paul Giamatti and James Woods for Too Big to Fail.

Bravo's Top Chef, which last year ended the seven-year winning streak of CBS' The Amazing Race as outstanding reality-competition program, was nominated again in the category. The Amazing Race was also nominated, along with So You Think You Can Dance, Project Runway, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.

The Amazing Race's Phil Keoghan was nominated for best host of a reality-competition program, along with Jeff Probst of Survivor, Cat Deeley of So You Think You Can Dance, Tom Bergeron of Dancing with the Stars and Ryan Seacrest of American Idol.

The 63rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be presented Sept. 18 at the Nokia Theatre, with Glee star Jane Lynch hosting the ceremony, which will be aired on Fox. The bulk of the Primetime Emmys will be presented at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony Sept. 10, also at the Nokia Theatre.

- City News Service.