Cable gets plenty of accolades this year, with HBO’s 104 Primetime Emmy nominations leading the nets, followed by AMC’s 29 and Showtime’s 21. With 19 nods, AMC’s “Mad Men” has the highest number of nominations for a single series, including Jon Hamm’s 6th nomination (though without a win) for lead actor in a drama series category. He competes with Steve Buscemi this year, from HBO’s new prohibition-era drama series “Boardwalk Empire,” which took a close second in number of noms with 18. ABC’s “Modern Family” leads in the comedy category with 17 nominations.
 
On the reality competition front, broadcast shines, with FOX’s “American Idol” landing 10 nominations and “So You Think You Can Dance” getting 8. HBO leads in the miniseries or movie category, with “Mildred Pierce” garnering 21, “Too Big To Fail” getting 11 and “Cinema Verite” landing 9. Miniseries “The Kennedy’s,” dropped by the History Channel at the start of 2011 and picked up and aired by ReelzChannel in April, earned 3 acting and 7 production nominations, helping the net to rank 5th overall in cable noms.
 

Interestingly, the big four’s accolades have declined or stayed flat year-to-year. ABC’s noms went from 63 in 2010 to 40, CBS moved from 57 to 50 and FOX declined from 48 to 42. Only NBC remained the same, with 46 nominations both years.

The Daily

Subscribe

Carriage

TCLtv+ users now have access to INSP FAST channel Western Bound . Switch to channel 2022 for

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Sep 11
2025 Faxies Awards Faxies Nominations Open! Final deadline: 4/4/25
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB or hiring for one?
VIEW JOBS

In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors. The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact Carley Ashley, [email protected], for more information about posting a job on the website and our Jobs newsletter, sent twice weekly to 85,000 media professionals.