Season 63
Celebrity hosts Melissa McCarthy of Mike & Molly and Joshua Jackson of sci-fi drama Fringe revealed this year's nominations for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, along with Television Academy Chairman and CEO John Shaffner, live from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in North Hollywood, California, on 14 July, 2011.
The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards eligibility period covers 1 June, 2010 to 31 May, 2011.
Five of the 12 nominated Comedy and Drama series are first time nominees this year, and seven of the 12 are network programs.
New among the outstanding drama series nominees are Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones and Friday Night Lights; for outstanding comedy series, first time nominees are The Big Bang Theory and Parks and Recreation.
Programs receiving 10 or more nominations are Mildred Pierce, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Modern Family, Saturday Night Live, Game of Thrones, 30 Rock, Glee, Downton Abbey, Too Big To Fail, American Idol and The Kennedys.
This year's outstanding comedy series performer categories feature a slew of familiar faces being recognised with an Emmy nomination for the first time, or for the first time in these particular comedy roles. They include:
Lead Roles
Melissa McCarthy in Mike & Molly, Martha Plimpton in Raising Hope, Laura Linney in The Big C, Johnny Galecki in The Big Bang Theory, Matt LeBlanc in Episodes, and Louis C.K. in Louie.
Supporting Performers
Betty White in Hot in Cleveland and Ed O'Neill in Modern Family.
Guests
Elizabeth Banks and Matt Damon in 30 Rock, Gwyneth Paltrow and Dot-Marie Jones in Glee, Cloris Leachman in Raising Hope, Idris Elba in The Big C, Nathan Lane in Modern Family and Zach Galifianakis in Saturday Night Live.
Similar to the comedy categories, the outstanding drama series performer categories are comprised of many new nominees, including:
Lead Roles
Kathy Bates in Harry's Law, Mireille Enos in The Killing, Steve Buscemi in Boardwalk Empire and Timothy Olyphant in Justified.
Supporting Performers
Margo Martindale and Walton Goggins in Justified, Kelly Macdonald in Boardwalk Empire, Michelle Forbes in The Killing, Josh Charles and Alan Cumming in The Good Wife and Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones.
Guests
Mary McDonnell in The Closer, Julia Stiles in Dexter, Loretta Devine in Grey's Anatomy, Randee Heller and Cara Buono in Mad Men, Joan Cusack in Shameless, Alfre Woodard in True Blood, Bruce Dern in Big Love, Beau Bridges in Brothers & Sisters, Michael J. Fox in The Good Wife, Paul McCrane in Harry's Law and Jeremy Davies in Justified.
This year the Primetime Emmy Awards merged the miniseries and movie program categories to be consistent with the longstanding consolidation in longform individual achievement categories; e.g., lead and supporting actor and actress in movies and miniseries. The merger resulted in four nominations for miniseries and two for movies.
First-time nominees in performance categories for miniseries and movie include:
Lead Roles
Elizabeth McGovern in Downton Abbey (Masterpiece), Kate Winslet in Mildred Pierce, Taraji P. Henson in Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story, Edgar Ramirez in Carlos, Greg Kinnear in The Kennedys and Idris Elba in Luther.
Supporting Performers
Evan Rachel Wood, Melissa Leo, Guy Pearce and Brian F. O'Byrne in Mildred Pierce, and Paul Giamatti and James Woods in Too Big To Fail.
Betty White's nod for her role on the recently re-upped Hot In Cleveland marks her 17th Emmy nomination. Cloris Leachman's for Raising Hope is her 22nd career nomination.
Winners
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Connie Britton as Tami Taylor, Friday Night Lights
Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife
Kathy Bates as Harriet "Harry" Korn, Harry's Law
Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden, The Killing
Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson, Mad Men
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, Boardwalk Empire
Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, Dexter
Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor, Friday Night Lights
Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, House
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, Justified
Jon Hamm as Don Draper, Mad Men
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Kelly Macdonald as Margaret Schroeder, Boardwalk Empire
Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma, The Good Wife
Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, The Good Wife
Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett, Justified
Michelle Forbes as Mitch Larsen, The Killing
Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris, Mad Men
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones
Josh Charles as Will Gardner, The Good Wife
Alan Cumming as Eli Gold, The Good Wife
Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder, Justified
John Slattery as Roger Sterling, Mad Men
Andre Braugher as Owen, Men of a Certain Age
Outstanding Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Game Of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
Laura Linney as Cathy Jamison, The Big C
Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn, Mike & Molly
Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton, Nurse Jackie
Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, Parks And Recreation
Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance, Raising Hope
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, 30 Rock
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory
Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter, The Big Bang Theory
Matt LeBlanc as Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Louis C.K. as Louie, Louie
Steve Carell as Michael Scott, The Office
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester, Glee
Betty White as Elka Ostrosky, Hot in Cleveland
Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Modern Family
Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Modern Family
Kristen Wiig as Various characters, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney, 30 Rock
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel, Glee
Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Modern Family
Ed O'Neill as Jay Pritchett, Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker, Modern Family
Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Modern Family
Jon Cryer as Alan Harper, Two and a Half Men
Outstanding Comedy Series
The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
The Office
Parks And Recreation
30 Rock
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)
Conan (TBS)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Diane Lane as Patricia Loud, Cinema Verite
Elizabeth McGovern as Cora, Countess of Grantham, Downton Abbey
Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce, Mildred Pierce
Taraji P. Henson as Tiffany Rubin, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story
Jean Marsh as Rose Buck, Upstairs Downstairs (Masterpiece)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Edgar Ramirez as Carlos, Carlos
Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy, The Kennedys
Barry Pepper as Bobby Kennedy, The Kennedys
Idris Elba as John Luther, Luther
Laurence Fishburne as Thurgood Marshall, Thurgood
William Hurt as Henry 'Hank' Paulson, Too Big Too Fail
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Maggie Smith as Violet in Downton Abbey
Evan Rachel Wood as Veda Pierce in Mildred Pierce
Melissa Leo as Lucy Gessler in Mildred Pierce
Mare Winningham as Ida in Mildred Pierce
Eileen Atkins as Lady Maud Holland in Upstairs Downstairs
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Tom Wilkinson as Joe Kennedy in The Kennedys
Guy Pearce as Monty Beragon in Mildred Pierce
Brian F. O'Byrne as Bert Pierce in Mildred Pierce
Paul Giamatti as Ben Bernanke in Too Big To Fail
James Woods as Richard Fuld in Too Big To Fail
Outstanding Miniseries Or Movie
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Kennedys
Mildred Pierce
The Pillars Of The Earth
Too Big To Fail
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
The Amazing Race - CBS
American Idol - FOX
Dancing With The Stars - ABC
Project Runway - Lifetime
So You Think You Can Dance - FOX
Top Chef - Bravo
About the Emmys
The Emmy Awards are administered by three sister organisations; the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
The Awards recognise excellence within various areas of the television industry, and are a symbol of peer recognition from over 12,000 members of the Academy, where each member casts a ballot for the category of competition in their field of expertise.
The Awards are divided into three categories - The Primetime Awards, The Daytime Awards and the L.A. Area Awards.
Only the Primetime Awards are screened in South Africa, which celebrate excellence in national prime-time programming, awarding top honours during the creative arts awards and the prime-time telecast.
The first Emmy Awards were presented on January 25, 1949 at the Hollywood Athletic Club. The name "Emmy" was a feminisation of "immy", a nickname used for the image orthicon tubes that were commonplace in early television cameras.
The Emmy Awards trophies are currently made by a private company with a manufacturing site at the maximum security El Dorado Correctional Facility, in El Dorado, Kansas.
The statuette of a winged woman holding an atom has since become the symbol of the TV Academy's goal of supporting and uplifting the art and science of television.
The wings represent the muse of art, and the atom represents the electron of science. It was created by television engineer Louis McManus, using his wife as a model.