'Thrones,' 'O.J.,' 'Veep' lead Emmy nominations in key categories

The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,Game of Thrones and Fargo emerged as favorites among Emmy voters' in nominations for the 68th Primetime awards announced Thursday.Thrones topped the list with 23 in total, followed by 22 for O.J., an acclaimed FX miniseries about the murder trial of the former football star and another FX limited series, Fargo, with 18. HBO's Veep led comedy contenders with 17.

FX's O.J. snared nods for best limited series and actors Sarah Paulson, Courtney B. Vance and Cuba Gooding Jr., among others, while USA's Mr. Robot earned nominations as best drama and star Rami Malek as lead actor in its first season.   FX's The Americans, long snubbed by Emmy voters but adored by critics, will compete for best drama and stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell for its fourth season.

Other top drama nominees include HBO's Game of Thrones, AMC's Better Call Saul,Netflix's House of Cards, PBS's Downton Abbey and Showtime's Homeland.

Aside from Veep, for which Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a multiple winner, top comedy contenders are its companion series, HBO's Silicon Valley,  Amazon's Transparent, ABC's Black-ish and Modern Family and Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. 

The Television Academy embraced diversity in several categories, handing nominations to Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder) and Taraji P. Henson (Empire)  in the lead drama acting category, Gooding, Idris Elba (Luther), Audra McDonald and Kerry Washington in movies/miniseries, and Aziz Ansari (Master of None) and Black-ish's Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross in comedies.

And the broadcast networks were often sidelined in top categories as voters continued to embrace streaming and cable outlets. ABC was the prime beneficiary in major categories for Black-ish and limited series American Crime, though Henson and Will Forte, of Last Man on Earth, won nods for Fox.

Among other categories, Comedy Central's The Daily Show was snubbed in its first season without Jon Stewart, with variety/talk contenders instead including shows led by Bill Maher, John Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel, James Corden, Jimmy Fallon and the web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, starring Jerry Seinfeld.

NBC's American Ninja Warrior and The Voice, ABC's Dancing with the Stars, Bravo'sTop Chef, Lifetime's Project Runway and CBS's nearly perennial winner The Amazing Race are competing for best reality/competition series.

HBO, as usual, topped the nominations tally with 94 (down from last year's 126), followed by FX with 56 and Netflix with 54.

Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls) and Anthony Anderson (Black-ish) announced the nominations. The awards will be televised live, Sept. 18 on ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel as host.