“Breaking Bad” is favored to come away with the outstanding drama series prize for its critically acclaimed final season at tonight’s 66th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, but star Bryan Cranston is considered less likely to win his fourth Emmy for outstanding lead drama actor.
The AMC series about a cancer-stricken high school chemistry teacher who turns to making and selling methamphetamine won in the category for the first time last year. The online betting site Bovada has installed it as the 1-5 favorite, with HBO’s “True Detective” the second choice at 7-1.
The other nominees are AMC’s “Mad Men,” a four-time winner in the category; the Netflix political drama “House of Cards”; HBO’s medieval fantasy “Game of Thrones”; and the Public Broadcasting Service British period drama “Downton Abbey.”
Mark Johnson, an executive producer of “Breaking Bad,” does not consider his show the favorite, saying that with six nominees, its chances are one in six.
“There are so many good shows,” said Johnson, a producer of the 1998 best picture Oscar winner “ Rain Man.” “I’ve learned a long time ago you don’t take anything for granted. Until `Rain Man’ was called, I never thought that we were going to win.”
CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler said she was “really pissed” that her network’s “The Good Wife” did not receive a nomination.
This is the third consecutive year that none of the outstanding drama nominees came from a major broadcast network. A series from the major broadcast networks has not won in the category since Fox’s “24” in 2006.
Bruce Rosenblum, the chairman and CEO of the Television Academy, said he believes “we’re in a golden age of television,” with “far more terrific programming” than five or 10 years ago.
“When you look at the dramas that were nominated, I’m not sure which one of those you would move out” to accommodate another series, Rosenblum said during NBC’s portion of last month’s Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour.
“While we’ll get criticism for one particular show or two particular shows not getting nominated, I think the membership as a whole did a terrific job in identifying the best of television this year,” he said.
Rosenblum said the academy leadership looks every year at possible rule changes, including enlarging the field of nominees in the outstanding drama series and outstanding comedy series categories.
“There were 40 percent more dramas that were submitted for nominations this year, … there were 60 percent more comedies submitted,” Rosenblum said.
Asked about the possibility of creating new categories so both broadcast network series, which generally air about 22 episodes in a season, and cable and online series, which generally have 13 or less, could both be properly accommodated, Rosenblum replied: “New categories is always challenging because the show will run five hours long and that’s not anything anybody wants.”
Bypassing “The Good Wife” was among the complaints from fans, television critics and industry figures concerning this year’s nominations, which also included “True Detective” being in the drama series category instead of the miniseries category, and the switch of Showtime’s “Shameless” from the drama categories to comedy.
Bovada has made Cranston the second choice as outstanding lead actor in a drama series at 3-1 behind Matthew McConaughey of “True Detective” at 1-3.
The other nominees are last year’s winner Jeff Daniels of HBO’s “The Newsroom”; Jon Hamm from “Mad Men”; Woody Harrelson of “True Detective”; and Kevin Spacey of “House of Cards.”
“Modern Family” is seeking its fifth outstanding comedy series Emmy in its five seasons. The other nominees are Netflix’s “Orange is the New
Black”; HBO’s “Veep” and “Silicon Valley”; CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory”; and FX’s “Louie.”
Co-creator Christopher Lloyd said “Modern Family” is not the favorite “for a number of reasons,” including that it trailed “Orange is the New Black,” 12-10 in the race for the most nominations and its past victories could make it more likely that some voters would choose another nominee.
“That’s human nature,” said Lloyd, who said he does not not know what series should be considered the favorite because he has not seen all of them. “I don’t want that to sound like that’s a pre-excuse if we don’t win, but there is a tendency for people to reward the new kid in town. That may be a factor. It also may be that people think there are other shows that are better.”
FX’s “American Horror Story: Coven” and “Fargo” are among the nominees for best miniseries, along with Lifetime’s “Bonnie & Clyde”; BBC America’s “Luther”; Starz’s “The White Queen”; and HBO’s “Treme.”
Nominees for outstanding made-for-TV movie are National Geographic Channel’s “Killing Kennedy”; HBO’s “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight”; PBS’ “Sherlock: His Last Vow (Masterpiece)”; HBO’s “The Normal Heart”; and Lifetime’s “The Trip to Bountiful.”
NBC’s “The Voice,” which won the Emmy last year for best reality-competition series, is nominated in the category again, along with CBS’ nine-time winner “The Amazing Race” and Bravo’s “Top Chef,” the only other program to win in the category. Also nominated are ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars”; Lifetime’s “Project Runway”; and Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”
The 66th annual Primetime Emmy Awards honor programming initially airing between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. from June 1, 2013, to May 31, 2014. NBC will televise the ceremony from the Nokia Theatre with Seth Meyers as the host.
The ceremony annually rotates among the four major broadcast networks.
It is typically held in mid-September, except when it is NBC’s turn to air it, when it occurs in August to avoid a conflict with “Sunday Night Football.”
Here is a complete list of nominees for the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be presented today at the Nokia Theatre.
Drama series
— “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
— “Downton Abbey” (PBS)
— “Game of Thrones” (HBO)
— “House of Cards” (Netflix)
— “Mad Men” (AMC)
— “True Detective” (HBO)
Comedy series
— “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)
— “Louie” (FX)
— “Modern Family” (ABC)
— “Orange is the New Black” (Netflix)
— “Silicon Valley” (HBO)
— “Veep” (HBO)
Miniseries
— “American Horror Story: Coven” (FX)
— “Bonnie and Clyde” (A&E)
— “Fargo” (FX)
— “Luther” (BBC America)
— “Treme” (HBO)
— “The White Queen” (BBC America)
TV Movie
— “Killing Kennedy” (National Geographic)
— “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight” (HBO)
— “The Normal Heart” (HBO)
— “Sherlock: His Last Vow” (BBC America)
— “The Trip to Bountiful” (Lifetime)
Variety Series
— “The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)
— “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” (Comedy Central)
— “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC)
— “Real Time With Bill Maher” (HBO)
— “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
— “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC)
Reality-Competition Program
— “The Amazing Race” (CBS)
— “Dancing With The Stars” (ABC)
— “Project Runway” (Lifetime)
— “So You Think You Can Dance” (FOX)
— “Top Chef” (Bravo)
— “The Voice” (NBC)
Actor in a drama
— Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”
— Jeff Daniels, “The Newsroom”
— Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
— Woody Harrelson, “True Detective”
— Matthew McConaughey, “True Detective”
— Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”
Actress in a drama
— Lizzy Caplan, “Masters of Sex”
— Claire Danes, “Homeland”
— Michelle Dockery, “Downton Abbey”
— Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”
— Kerry Washington, “Scandal”
— Robin Wright, “House of Cards”
Actor in a comedy
— Louis C.K, “Louie”
— Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
— Ricky Gervais, “Derek”
— Matt LeBlanc, “Episodes”
— William H. Macy, “Shameless”
— Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”
Actress in a comedy
— Lena Dunham, “Girls”
— Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
— Melissa McCarthy, “Mike & Molly”
— Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation”
— Taylor Schilling, “Orange is the New Black”
Actor in a miniseries or a movie
— Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Dancing On The Edge”
— Martin Freeman, “Fargo”
— Billy Bob Thornton, “Fargo”
— Idris Elba, “Luther”
— Mark Ruffalo, “The Normal Heart”
— Benedict Cumberbatch, “Sherlock: His Last Vow”
Actress in a miniseries or a movie
— Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story: Coven”
— Sarah Paulson, “American Horror Story: Coven”
— Helena Bonham Carter, “Burton And Taylor”
— Minnie Driver, “Return To Zero”
— Kristen Wiig, “The Spoils Of Babylon”
— Cicely Tyson, “The Trip To Bountiful”
Supporting actor in a drama series
— Aaron Paul, “Breaking Bad”
— Jim Carter, “Downton Abbey”
— Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”
— Josh Charles, “The Good Wife”
— Mandy Patinkin, “Homeland”
— Jon Voight, “Ray Donovan”
Supporting actress in a drama series
— Anna Gunn, “Breaking Bad”
— Maggie Smith, “Downton Abbey”
— Joanne Froggatt, “Downton Abbey”
— Lena Headey, “Game of Thrones”
— Christine Baranski, “The Good Wife”
— Christina Hendricks, “Mad Men”
Supporting actor in a comedy series
— Andre Braugher, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”
— Adam Driver, “Girls”
— Jesse Tyler Ferguson, “Modern Family”
— Ty Burrell, “Modern Family”
— Fred Armisen, “Portlandia”
— Tony Hale, “Veep”
Supporting actress in a comedy series
— Mayim Bialik, “The Big Bang Theory”
— Julie Bowen, “Modern Family”
— Allison Janney, “Mom”
— Kate Mulgrew, “Orange is the New Black”
— Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”
— Anna Chlumsky, “Veep”
Supporting actor in a miniseries or a movie
— Colin Hanks, “Fargo”
— Jim Parsons, “The Normal Heart”
— Joe Mantello, “The Normal Heart”
— Alfred Molina, “The Normal Heart”
— Matt Bomer, “The Normal Heart”
— Martin Freeman, “Sherlock: His Last Vow”
Supporting actress in a miniseries or a movie
— Frances Conroy, “American Horror Story: Coven”
— Kathy Bates, “American Horror Story: Coven”
— Angela Bassett, “American Horror Story: Coven”
— Allison Tolman, “Fargo”
— Ellen Burstyn, “Flowers In The Attic”
— Julia Roberts, “The Normal Heart”
Writing for a drama series
— Moira Walley-Beckett, “Breaking Bad”
— Vince Gilligan, “Breaking Bad”
— David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, “Game of Thrones”
— Beau Willimon, “House of Cards”
— Nic Pizzolatto, “True Detective”
Writing for a comedy series
— David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, “Episodes”
— Louis C.K., “Louie”
— Liz Friedman and Jenji Kohan, “Orange is the New Black”
— Alec Berg, “Silicon Valley”
— Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche and Armando Iannucci, “Veep”
Writing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special
— Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, “American Horror Story: Coven”
— Noah Hawley, “Fargo”
— Neil Cross, “Luther”
— Larry Kramer, “The Normal Heart”
— Steven Moffat, “Sherlock: His Last Vow (Masterpiece)”
— David Simon, Eric Overmyer, “Treme”
Writing For A Variety Special
— Ken Ehrlich, David Wild, “The Beatles: The Night That Changed
America,” CBS
— Billy Crystal, “Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays,” HBO
— Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Jon Macks, Dave Boone, Alex Baze, Robert
Carlock, Sam Means, Seth Meyers, Mike Shoemaker, “The 71st Annual Golden Globe
Awards,” NBC
— Sarah Silverman, “Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles,” HBO
— Dave Boone, Paul Greenberg, “67th Annual Tony Awards,” CBS
Directing for a drama series
— Tim Van Patten, “Boardwalk Empire”
— Vince Gilligan, “Breaking Bad”
— David Evans, “Downton Abbey”
— Neil Marshall, “Game Of Thrones”
— Carl Franklin, “House Of Cards”
— Cary Joji Fukunaga, “True Detective”
Directing for a comedy series
— Iain B. MacDonald, “Episodes”
— Paris Barclay, “Glee”
— Louis C.K., “Louie”
— Gail Mancuso, “Modern Family”
— Jodie Foster, “Orange is the New Black”
— Mike Judge, “Silicon Valley”
Directing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special
— Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, “American Horror Story: Coven”
— Adam Bernstein, “Fargo”
— Colin Bucksey, “Fargo”
— Stephen Frears, “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight”
— Ryan Murphy, “The Normal Heart”
— Nick Hurran, “Sherlock: His Last Vow (Masterpiece)”
Directing For A Variety Special
— Gregg Gelfand, “The Beatles: The Night That Changed America,” CBS
— Louis J. Horvitz, “The Kennedy Center Honors,” CBS
— Hamish Hamilton, “The Oscars,” ABC
— James Lapine, “Six By Sondheim,” HBO
— Beth McCarthy Miller, Rob Ashford, “The Sound Of Music Live!,” NBC
— Glenn Weiss, “67th Annual Tony Awards,” CBS
