A scene from The Pacific, the HBO show that leads the way with 24 Emmy nominations.
The epic miniseries The Pacific, the teen-musical comedy Glee and the period drama Mad Men have a combined, astounding, 60 Emmy nominations.
HBO's eight-part wartime saga The Pacific, which was co-executive produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, garnered the most Emmy action with 24 nominations.
The rookie show Glee earned 19 nominations, including best comedy series and honours for leads Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele. Mad Men collected 17 nominations, including another nod for best drama, an award the show has won the past two seasons.
Yesterday's nominations also provided some vindication for Conan O'Brien. The lanky comic's six-month stint hosting The Tonight Show earned him a nomination for best variety, music or comedy series. O'Brien's Tonight Show predecessor and eventual replacement Jay Leno was not nominated in the category, nor was David Letterman's late-night talkfest.
The Emmy nominations also extended the hot streak of Betty White. The 88-year-old was nominated for hosting Saturday Night Live in early May.
White is currently the only female performer to win an Emmy in all female performing comedic categories, including one for lead actress ( The Golden Girls), two for supporting actress ( The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and one for guest actress ( The John Larroquette Show).
All told, SNL was nominated in 12 Emmy categories for a total of 126 nominations during its 35-season run, which surpasses ER's all-time record of 124 nominations.
Aside from Glee, there was ample Emmy recognition for other first-year TV programs. The much-admired sitcom Modern Family is in contention for best comedy series, with nominations going to five cast members.
Likewise, the rookie legal drama The Good Wife is a nominee for best drama, with series star Julianna Margulies up for best dramatic actress.
Competing against Glee and Modern Family for best comedy series are Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nurse Jackie, The Office and last year's winner 30 Rock.
The sendoff season of Lost earned nominations for best drama series and a best-actor nod for lead Matthew Fox. The castaway drama also collected supporting actor nominations for Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson, both previous Emmy-winners in the same category.
For best drama series, Lost and The Good Wife are up against Breaking Bad, True Blood, Dexter and Mad Men, which has won the award the last two years in a row.
Elsewhere, HBO's The Pacific - a companion piece to the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers - earned most of its two-dozen Emmy nominations in visual effects and other technical categories. The Pacific's only competition in its category is the PBS miniseries Return to Cranford.
In other categories, film fixture Al Pacino's performance as infamous suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian in the HBO movie You Don't Know Jack was deemed worthy of an Emmy nomination, as was the movie itself. Recent Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges was also nominated in the same category for the HBO film A Dog Year.
In the closely watched dramatic vein, last year's lead-actor winner Bryan Cranston received another nomination for his role in AMC's Breaking Bad. Besides Fox, other competition includes Michael C. Hall ( Dexter), Kyle Chandler ( Friday Night Lights), Hugh Laurie ( House) and Jon Hamm ( Mad Men).
In the female dramatic field, last year's recipient Glenn Close ( Damages) was nominated again, along with Margulies, Kyra Sedgwick ( The Closer), Connie Britton ( Friday Night Lights), Mariska Hargitay ( Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) and January Jones ( Mad Men).
The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards will air Aug. 29 on NBC and CTV.