NEW YORK • Can it earn another crowning moment? On Tuesday, fantasy drama Game Of Thrones (GOT) got off to a great start, demolishing an Emmy record when it picked up 32 nominations, the highest for any show in a single year.
The final season of the HBO series beat hit police series NYPD Blue (1993 to 2005), which had 26 nods in 1994.
A three-time winner for Best Drama, GOT is tipped to win the category again when the envelopes are unsealed at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles on Sept 22.
While the record number of nominations augurs well, the eighth and final season of GOT, which had its finale on May 19, proved a bit much for some fans and critics.
Some complained about what they perceived as hairpin narrative turns and sudden character flip-flops as the show raced ahead of a narrative provided by a stillunfinished series of novels it is based on, A Song Of Ice And Fire by George R. R. Martin.
If GOT fails to pull off a Best Drama win, a newcomer could find itself in the role of spoiler. Of last year's nominees, only GOT and comedy drama This Is Us have a crack at the big prize this year.
Other contenders include five first-timers: spy thriller Killing Eve, satirical comedy-drama Succession, dance musical Pose and Netflix crime thrillers Bodyguard and Ozark.
HBO led all networks with 137 nominations, ahead of Netflix's 117.
The big haul came at a vital time for the network, which has been fending off competition as the go-to place for prestige TV from Netflix.
Last year, Netflix snapped HBO's 17-year streak of receiving the highest number of Emmy nominations.
Tuesday was huge for Phoebe Waller-Bridge, an executive producer of Killing Eve and creator of Amazon's comedy Fleabag.
Both series garnered a total of 20 nominations.
Some established stars and producers did not hear their names called though, on Tuesday.
In perhaps the biggest surprise, Julia Roberts was shut out of the Best Actress category for her performance in Amazon's Homecoming.
Many expected veteran TV hitmaker Chuck Lorre, who has never won an Emmy, to make a big mark. It did not happen.
His CBS hit The Big Bang Theory got the cold shoulder, despite completing its 12-season run as the most viewed network entertainment series of the 2018-2019 season.
His Netflix show The Kominsky Method also failed to make the cut in the Best Comedy category.
But actress Sandra Oh remains in favour, getting two nominations: one in the category of Best Actress for her work in Killing Eve and the second for her guest turn hosting Saturday Night Live.
The nods gave her a total of eight Emmy nominations, but she has yet to take home a statuette.
The race for Best Actor seems wide open. Bob Odenkirk, who has won two Emmys for writing, but none for acting, was nominated for his turn on AMC's crime drama Better Call Saul.
He will face off against Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) and Billy Porter, who landed his first nomination for his performance in Pose.
Also nominated were Jason Bateman (Ozark), Kit Harington (GOT) and Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us).
With Television Academy voters in the habit of rewarding the same series over and over, the Limited Series category provides Emmy night with some much-needed drama.
Showtime's prison-break drama, Escape At Dannemora, directed by Ben Stiller and starring Patricia Arquette and Benicio Del Toro, faces stiff competition from two other critical darlings - Netflix's When They See Us, a series created by Ava DuVernay about the 1989 Central Park jogger case, and HBO's Chernobyl, a show from screenwriter-director Craig Mazin about the 1986 nuclear reactor disaster.
NYTIMES
