NBC.Com Leads The Digital Race With Six Nominations

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences today announced nominations for its 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards during which NBC’s record-setting comedy “30 Rock” – winner for the past two years as Outstanding Comedy Series – again set a new, single awards year record for a comedy series with 22 nominations, surpassing its own record of 17 set last year. Last year’s haul of seven statuettes earned “30 Rock” a place in the record books as it tied the previous record holder, “All in the Family,” which set the record in 1972.

NBC earned a total of 67 nominations that rank the Peacock Network as the top-nominated broadcast network and stands as the second-highest number of nominations for any broadcast service.

“I am extremely pleased with today’s Emmy nominations for NBC’s extraordinarily talented people in front of and behind the cameras,” said Ben Silverman, Co-Chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. “I am thrilled for the producers, cast and crew of ’30 Rock’ and `The Office’ for their nominations in the Outstanding Comedy category and it is especially gratifying to all of us at NBC that the TV Academy has again recognized the quality work that we broadcast to our NBC audience throughout the past season. I want to congratulate everyone in the NBC family who earned a much-deserved nomination.”

“The Television Academy has honored us with their highest form of praise by recognizing our superb comedy and drama programs and respective peer group achievements with well-deserved nominations for both the network and studio,” said Marc Graboff, Co-Chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. “In addition, we want to compliment Angela Bromstad, Paul Telegdy and Rick Ludwin, as well as their wonderful programming teams, for their leadership and creative insight in bringing these nominated shows to the screen.”

Emmy voters turned out in force for Universal Media Studios with an industry-leading 55 overall nominations (the leader for all production companies) which not only included “30 Rock’s” 22 and nine for “The Office,” but also a spike for “Saturday Night Live” with 13 including Outstanding Variety/Music/Comedy series — setting the record for most nominations for a variety program in a single season. “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” a 2007 writing winner, picked up its 14th-consecutive writing nomination. Other Universal Media Studios nominees include “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s” Mariska Hargitay, a winner in 2006, getting her sixth-consecutive nomination.

“30 Rock’s” record-setting tally was spearheaded by executive producer/writer/lead actress Tina Fey, who again was nominated for producing and starring in the hit series. She also picked up a Guest Actress in a Comedy Series nomination for her portrayal of Governor Sarah Palin in “‘Saturday Night Live’s’ Presidential Bash 2008.” This brings Fey’s total career Emmy nominations to 12, which include five wins.

Last year’s winner for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Alec Baldwin, was again nominated for his role as Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock.” This is the eighth overall Emmy nomination for the Oscar-nominated actor (“The Cooler”). The entire regular cast was nominated as first-time “30 Rock” nominees include Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer in their respective supporting roles.

Winner of Outstanding Comedy Series in 2006, “The Office” again showed strength with nine nominations bringing to 31 its career total with three wins. This year’s nominations include Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor for Steve Carell (his fourth as a performer; he also has one nomination as a producer on “The Office”), Outstanding
Supporting Actor for Rainn Wilson (his third consecutive nomination), and a directing nod.

“House” won three nominations, paced by its fourth as Outstanding Drama Series and another nod for title star Hugh Laurie, who also was honored for a fourth time as a nominee for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama. Other key studio nominations include four for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

Additional acting nominations for Universal Media Studios include “30 Rock’s” domination of the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category with three of the five nominees including Steve Martin, Jon Hamm and Alan Alda. “30 Rock” also scored in the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series bracket with nominations for Jennifer Aniston and 2007 “30 Rock” winner Elaine Stritch. On the drama side, “Law & Order: SVU” claimed three Guest Actress nominations – Ellen Burstyn, Brenda Blethyn and Carol Burnett.

“ER,” the former Outstanding Drama Series (1996), continued to extend its record number of nominations in its final season as it picked up two additional nods, one for guest actor (Stanley Tucci) and one for directing, bringing to 124 its all-time industry-leading total for any show in any genre.

NBC also picked up six broadband nominations including “The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Digital Experience,” “The Office Digital Experience,” “The Saturday Night Live Digital Experience,” “The 30 Rock Digital Experience,” “30 Rock’s Kenneth the Web Page” and “Jay Leno’s Garage.”

The 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony will take place Sunday, September 20 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Creative Arts Emmys will be handed out Saturday, September 13, also at the Nokia.

A breakdown of NBC’s nominations follows:

30 ROCK – 22
BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES OPENING CEREMONY – 4
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW – 4
THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE – 1
CHUCK – 1
ER – 2
FARRAH’S STORY – 1
HEROES – 2
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN – 1
LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT – 4
A MUPPETS CHRISTMAS: LETTERS TO SANTA – 1
MY NAME IS EARL – 2
THE OFFICE – 9
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE – 13

A breakdown of Universal Media Studios nominations follows:

30 ROCK – 22
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE – 13
THE OFFICE – 9
LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT – 4
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS – 1
HEROES – 2
HOUSE – 3
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN – 1