If you had Downton Abbey or Girls mania this spring, you were in exalted company: both of those water-cooler-y series were among the ever-more-nichey Emmy nominations. PBS’s Downton Abbey joined a slew of cable shows (Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones on HBO, Mad Men and Breaking Bad on AMC, Homeland on Showtime) in the Best Drama field, meaning that not a single traditional broadcast network series broke in. Broadcast had slightly better luck in the Best Comedy field, with three HBO series (Girls, Veep, and Curb Your Enthusiasm) and three broadcast series (ABC’s Modern Family, NBC’s 30 Rock, and CBS’s The Big Bang Theory).
A full list of nominees is available here: nominees of note include Lena Dunham, nominated as a producer, actress, and writer for Girls, as well as the thirteenth career nomination for Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Veep and the cementing of Claire Danes’s career comeback with a Best Actress in a Drama nomination for Homeland.
