House of Cards, the political thriller starring Kevin Spacey and streamed on Netflix, joined last year’s incumbentsBreaking Bad,Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Homelandand Mad Menas Emmy nominees for best drama series.
Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Girls, Louie, Veep and the departed 30 Rock were named best-comedy contenders. This marks the first time that shows not aired on traditional broadcast or cable networks were nominated in the top Emmy categories. Arrested Development’s Jason Bateman, also on Netflix, and Cards’ Spacey and Robin Wright also won nominations as lead actors. But FX miniseries American Horror Story: Asylum, entered in the movies and miniseries category, won the most nominations, with 17 in all. Other nominees in that category were HBO’s Behind the Candelabra and Phil Spector, History’s The Bible, Sundance’s Top of the Lake and USA’s Political Animals.
Homeland and Modern Family were the top drama and comedy winners, respectively, in 2012. The 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will air Sept. 22 on CBS, with Neil Patrick Harris hosting.
