LOS ANGELES -- Game of Thrones roared back onto the Emmy battlefield, topping Thursday's nominations with 22 bids but with a formidable opponent -- The Handmaid's Tale.
Also this year a streaming platform made history by earning the most bids for the first time ever.
Netflix's 112 nominations took away the front-runner title that HBO held since 2001, giving cable and broadcast networks more reason to fear as the TV industry continues to change.
HBO claimed 108 bids. Game of Thrones helped boost the premium cable service's total and became the most-nominated series of all time, with its 129 nods topping the 124 nominations earned by ER.
Donald Glover's Atlanta was the top comedy series nominee with 16 bids, poised to take advantage of the absence this time around of three-time winner Veep. Atlanta will face newcomers including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, GLOW and Barry. Others in the category include black-ish, Silicon Valley, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt."
The newbie comedies aced out longtime Emmy favorite Modern Family, a five-time winner and perennial nominee since it debuted in 2009 on ABC. Its absence leaves just one network contender for best comedy, ABC's black-ish, which also earned nods for co-stars Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson, who noted his urban California roots.
"Being a kid from Compton, one could only dream of moments like this, so it's truly a humbling experience right now," Anderson said.
The short-lived revival of Roseanne, canceled because of star Roseanne Barr's racially-biased tweet, drew only one major nomination, a supporting actress nod for Laurie Metcalf. Another revival, Will & Grace, was recognized with nominations for Megan Mullally and Molly Shannon but the main stars and series itself were snubbed.
Killing Eve star Sandra Oh made history of her own, becoming the first actress of Asian descent to be nominated for lead acting honors in a drama series. Oh had earned five supporting bids for Grey's Anatomy.
"I feel tremendous gratitude and joy with this nomination" and am "thrilled" for the show's cast and crew, Oh said in a statement. She added a postscript: "I think my mother at this moment may actually be satisfied."
CNN's Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, received a nomination in the category for best information series or special, which also includes shows with Leah Remini and David Letterman. The show featuring chef-writer Bourdain, who died in early June, has won four Emmys.
Among the notable first-time nominees: Issa Rae for Insecure; Darren Criss, Ricky Martin and Penelope Cruz for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story; Tiffany Haddish for Saturday Night Live; Letitia Wright for Black Museum (Black Mirror); and John Legend for Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.
Saturday Night Live, riding high with its relentless pillorying of President Donald Trump's administration, was rewarded with 21 nods.
HBO's fantasy dragons-and-swords saga is a two-time best drama winner that sat out the past year's awards because of its production schedule. Although it's up for top series honors, it drew only three supporting actor bids for cast members Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Peter Dinklage.
The Handmaid's Tale, the dystopian sci-fi series based on Margaret Atwood's novel, drew 20 bids, including one for last year's best actress winner, Elisabeth Moss, and supporting bids for Alexis Bledel, Ann Dowd, Yvonne Strahovski and Joseph Fiennes.
Other drama series contenders are Westworld, with 21 nods; The Americans, nominated for its final season and with nods for stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys; The Crown, Stranger Things and This Is Us from NBC, the only broadcast show to make the cut.
The limited series category is led by The Assassination of Gianni Versace with 18 bids. Other nominees are The Alienist, Genius: Picasso, Godless and Patrick Melrose.
Competing with Moss, Oh and Russell for lead drama actress are Claire Foy for The Crown, Tatiana Maslany of Orphan Black and Evan Rachel Wood of Westworld.
Rhys and Sterling K. Brown will be up against Brown's This Is Us castmate Milo Ventimiglia, along with Jason Bateman for Ozark, and Ed Harris and Jeffrey Wright for Westworld. Brown is also nominated for comedy series guest actor for Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Donald Glover and Anderson's competitors for best comedy series actor are Ted Danson for The Good Place, Larry David for Curb Your Enthusiasm, William H. Macy for Shameless and Bill Hader for Barry.
Actresses competing for top comedy honors are getting a break with the temporary absence of six-time Veep winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Besides Rae and Ross, the nominees are Rachel Brosnahan for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Allison Janney for Mom, Pamela Adlon for Better Things and Lily Tomlin for Grace and Frankie.
Information for this article was contributed by Jocelyn Noveck, Andrew Dalton, Nicole Evatt and Pablo Arauz Pena of The Associated Press.
A Section on 07/13/2018