I never realized that the Producers’ Guild of America announces their TV nominations separately from their film ones, but I suppose it makes sense — the buzz around the feature film nominees sucks up a lot of oxygen, so this way, everyone gets to feel special for a time. (The PGA actually announced their documentary nominees last week, so they really are spreading the joy.)
Anyway, today’s announcement made nominees of Bryan Cranston, Tina Fey, Kevin Spacey, David Fincher and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, among others. I don’t watch or follow enough TV to say comment with any authority on the selections, but it seems most of the usual suspects are present, including Emmy favorites “Breaking Bad,” “Homeland,” “Modern Family” and “Breaking Bad.”
In the drama category, four of the five series nominated last year by the Guild return to the fold, including reigning winner “Homeland.” The new entry is Netflix’s “House of Cards,” filling the slot previously held by three-time winner “Mad Men” — which falls out after five consecutive nominations.
Over in comedy, “Modern Family” is gunning for a fourth consecutive win, while the departing “30 Rock” — which itself earned a hat-trick of wins before “Modern Family” took over — is aiming to end on top. “Veep” is a new entry; “Arrested Development,” which never managed a PGA win in its initial run, is back in the mix. (Producers, meanwhile, don’t seem to dig “Girls” as much as directors and writers do.)
Anyway, plenty of other categories in the list below, but beyond scripted American television, my already limited knowledge dries up entirely. I’ll just let the “iCarly” and “Dora the Explorer” fans hash it out among themselves.
Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama
“Breaking Bad” (Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons, Michelle MacLaren, George Mastras, Diane Mercer, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett)
“Downton Abbey” (Julian Fellowes, Nigel Marchant, Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge)
“Game of Thrones” (David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield, Christopher Newman, Greg Spence)
“Homeland” (Alex Gansa, Michael Cuesta, Alexander Cary, Henry Bromell, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Meredith Stiehm, Michael Klick)
“House of Cards” (Karyn McCarthy, Beau Willimon, John Melfi, Kevin Spacey, Joshua Donen, Eric Roth, David Fincher)
Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy
“Arrested Development” (pending eligibility)
“The Big Bang Theory” (Bill Prady, Chucke Lorre, Steve Molaro, Faye Oshima Belyeu)
“Modern Family” (Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeffrey Morton, Dan O”Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Chris Smirnoff, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker)
“30 Rock” (Jack Burditt, Robert Carlock, Luke Del Tredici, Tina Fey, Matt Hubbard, Marci Klein, Jerry Kupfer, Colleen McGuinness, Lorne Michaels, David Miner, Dylan Morgan, Jeff Richmond, Josh Siegal, Tracey Wigfield)
“VEEP” (Simon Blackwell, Christopher Godsick, Armando Iannucci, Stephanie Laing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Frank Rich, Tony Roche)
Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television
“Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” (Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig)
“Duck Dynasty” (pending eligibility)
“Inside The Actors Studio” (James Lipton, Shawn Tesser, Jeff Wurtz)
“Shark Tank” (pending eligibility)
“30 for 30” (pending eligibility)
Outstanding Producer of Competition Television
“The Amazing Race” (Jerry Bruckheimer, Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster, Mark A. Vertullo)
“Dancing With The Stars” (Ashley Edens-Shaffer, Conrad Green, Joe Sungkur)
“Project Runway” (pending eligibility)
“Top Chef” (Daniel Cutforth, Nan Strait, Jane Lipsitz, Casey Kriley, Tom Colicchio, Andrew Wallace, Erica Ross)
“The Voice” (Stijn Bakkers, Mark Burnett, John de Mol, Chad Hines, Lee Metzger, Audrey Morrissey, Jim Roush, Kyra Thompson, Nicolle Yaron, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker)
Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television
“The Colbert Report” (Meredith Bennett, Stephen T. Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Matt Lappin, Emily Lazar, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Tom Purcell, Jon Stewart)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (pending eligibility)
“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (Michael Shoemaker, Lorne Michaels, Gavin Purcell, Hillary Hunn)
“Real Time with Bill Maher” (Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Dean Johnsen, Bill Maher, Billy Martin, Matt Wood)
“Saturday Night Live” (Ken Aymong, Erin Doyle, Steve Higgins, Erik Kenward, Lorne Michaels, Lindsay Shookus)
Outstanding Sports Program
“Hard Knocks”
“Monday Night Football”
“Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel”
“SportsCenter”
“24/7”
Outstanding Children”s Program
“Dora the Explorer”
“iCarly”
“Phineas and Ferb”
“Sesame Street”
“SpongeBob Squarepants”
Outstanding Digital Series
“Burning Love”
“Epic Rap Battles of History”
“The Lizzie Bennet Diaries”
“Video Game High School”
“Wired: What”s Inside”