Glee, Mad Men lead Emmy nominations

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Quirky musical comedy Glee and 1960s advertising drama series Mad Men led the nominations on Thursday for primetime Emmy Awards in a cross section of new faces and old TV favourites.
Newcomer Glee, which features a group of high school misfits in a show choir, garnered 19 nominations including best comedy series and acting nods for its stars Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele and Jane Lynch and guest performers Neil Patrick Harris and Kristin Chenoweth.
Two-time Emmy champion Mad Men claimed 17 nods for the television industry’s highest honours. It will defend its best drama series crown against HBO’s vampire show True Blood, lawyer drama The Good Wife with Julianna Margulies, Dexter, Breaking Bad and the final season of sci-fi favourite Lost.
The Emmys will be handed out in Los Angeles on August 29 in a live ceremony hosted by Jimmy Fallon. The HBO WWII series The Pacific got the largest number of nominations, with a record 24 mentions in the mini-series category.
The cable channel was also the leading network with 101 nominations overall, followed by networks ABC with 63, CBS with 57, NBC with 48 and Fox with 47.
One of the biggest surprises came in the variety show nominations. Although both Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien’s version of The Tonight Show were both submitted for consideration, only O’Brien’s episode
will compete for the Emmy.
Five of the 12 comedy and drama series were first-time nominees in a move that should inject new excitement into a race that has been dominated for two years by the same faces.
Comedies got the biggest shake-up. ABC’s new hit Modern Family, with 14 nominations including supporting acting nods for five of its cast, will challenge NBC’s reigning champion 30 Rock and its Emmy-winning stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.
After a strong season that included a long hoped-for Seinfeld cast reunion, actor and writer Larry David’s wry Curb Your Enthusiasm earned best comedy and best actor nods.