Nominations to 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards for the best television programming between June 2011 and June 2012 were announced earlier today. Shows and artists will be awarded during ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel in L.A on September 23, 2012 and televised live by ABC. Nominations as usual have several baffling classifications, for example the cast of “Nurse Jackie” is nominated in “comedy series” groups (Ef me sideways, that’s a drama, if I ever saw one!), entire series “Sherlock” received nomination for seemingly just the first episode of season two while “Luther” currently in pre-production of 3rd season and regular 13 piece TV series “American Horror Story” currently awaiting second season have been nominated as “mini series”. HBO leads the list with 81 nominations in total, followed by CBS with 60 nominees and PBS, listed 58 times. Among series, “American Horror Story” and “Mad Men” stay up top with 17 nominations each, closely trailed by “Downton Abbey” and “Hatfields & Mccoys” both with 16 nominations and “Hemingway & Gellhorn” with 15.
The nominees in main categories are (little flags indicate mainly British productions or actors):
Playing chicken. Giancarlo Esposito as Gus vs Bryan Cranston as Walter in AMC’s “Breaking Bad”
Outstanding Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey 
Game of Thrones
Homeland
Mad Men
All the vice-president’s men. The cast of HBO’s “Veep”
Outstanding Comedy Series
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Girls
Modern Family
Veep
Nominated 17 times. American Horror Story
Outstanding Miniseries or TV Movie
American Horror Story
Game Change
Hatfields & McCoys
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Luther
Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia
Prisoner of war. Nominated to Emmy 2012 Damian Lewis in “Homeland”
Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Hugh Bonneville as Robert, Earl of Grantham on “Downton Abbey’
Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson on “Boardwalk Empire”
Bryan Cranston as Walter White on “Breaking Bad’
Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan on “Dexter”
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on “Mad Men”
Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody on ‘Homeland”
Man on The Wire. Idris Elba as a cop in BBC’s “Luther”
Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Kevin Costner as ‘Devil’ Anse Hatfield in “Hatfields & McCoys”
Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in “Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia”
Idris Elba as John Luther in “Luther”
Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt in “Game Change”
Clive Owen as Ernest Hemingway in “Hemingway & Gellhorn”
Bill Paxton as Randall McCoy in “Hatfields & McCoys”
Mama grizzly. Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in “Game Change”
Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
Connie Britton as Vivien Harmon in American Horror Story
Ashley Judd as Rebecca Winstone in “Missing”
Nicole Kidman as Martha Gellhorn in “Hemingway & Gellhorn”
Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in “Game Change”
Emma Thompson as She in “The Song of Lunch”
The Good Wife. Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick
Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Kathy Bates as Harriet “Harry” Korn on “Harry’s Law”
Glenn Close as Patricia “Patty” Hewes on “Damages”
Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison on “Homeland”
Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley on “Downton Abbey”
Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick on “The Good Wife”
Elisabeth Moss as Margaret “Peggy” Olson on “Mad Men”
40 years old next year. Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Cooper on CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory”
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock’
Louis C.K. as Louie on “Louie’
Don Cheadle as Marty Kaan on “House of Lies”
Jon Cryer as Dr. Alan Harper on “Two and a Half Men”
Larry David as Himself on “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Cooper on “The Big Bang Theory”
Nurse on steroids. Edie Falco is Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie”
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 
Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day on “New Girl”
Lena Dunham as Hannah Horvath on “Girls”
Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton on “Nurse Jackie”
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon on “30 Rock”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer on “Veep”
Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn on “Mike & Molly”
Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope on “Parks and Recreation”
Full list of nominees in other categories can be found here