The 40th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on August 28, 1988. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

, from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California

Pasadena, California

Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

. The ceremony was pushed back from its newly established September date because of the 1988 Summer Olympics

1988 Summer Olympics

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

 in Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

.

Outstanding Comedy Series

• The Wonder Years
  The Wonder Years
  The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
  
  
  • Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
    
    
  • Frank's Place
    Frank's Place
    Frank's Place is an American comedy-drama series which aired on CBS for 22 episodes during the 1987-1988 television schedule. The series was created by Hugh Wilson and executive produced by Wilson and series star Tim Reid.-Plot:Set in New Orleans, Frank's Place chronicles the life of Frank Parrish...
    
    
  • The Golden Girls
    The Golden Girls
    The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
    
    
  • Night Court
    Night Court
    Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984, to May 20, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan court, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone...
    
    

Outstanding Drama Series

• Thirtysomething
  • Beauty and the Beast
    Beauty and the Beast (TV series)
    Beauty and the Beast is an American drama series which first aired on CBS in 1987. Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairy tale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent , a mythic, noble man-beast, and his Catherine , a savvy assistant District attorney in New York; and a...
    
    
  • L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    
  • Rumpole of the Bailey, Mystery!
  • St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
    
    

Rumpole was originally nominated in miniseries but was ruled inelgible and moved to the Drama series category.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

• Michael J. Fox
  Michael J. Fox
  Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
  
  for playing "Alex P. Keaton" in Family Ties
  Family Ties
  Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
  
  
  • Dabney Coleman
    Dabney Coleman
    Dabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor, best known for his roles in 9 to 5, WarGames, You've Got Mail, Sworn to Silence, The Beverly Hillbillies and as the voice of Principal Peter Prickly in Recess and Recess: School's Out.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary...
    
    for playing "Slap Maxwell" in The Slap Maxwell Story
    The Slap Maxwell Story
    The Slap Maxwell Story was a situation comedy broadcast in the United States by ABC as part of its 1987-88 lineup....
    
    
  • Ted Danson
    Ted Danson
    Edward Bridge “Ted” Danson III is an American actor best known for his role as central character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm and starred alongside Glenn Close...
    
    for playing "Sam Malone" in Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
    
    
  • Tim Reid
    Tim Reid
    Timothy L. "Tim" Reid is an American actor, comedian and film director best known for his roles in prime time American television programs, such as Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati , Marcel "Downtown" Brown on Simon & Simon , Ray Campbell on Sister, Sister and William Barnett on That 70's Show...
    
    for playing "Frank Paris" in Frank's Place
    Frank's Place
    Frank's Place is an American comedy-drama series which aired on CBS for 22 episodes during the 1987-1988 television schedule. The series was created by Hugh Wilson and executive produced by Wilson and series star Tim Reid.-Plot:Set in New Orleans, Frank's Place chronicles the life of Frank Parrish...
    
    
  • John Ritter
    John Ritter
    Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...
    
    for playing "Harry Hooperman" in Hooperman
    Hooperman
    Hooperman is a U.S. television series starring John Ritter. It ran for two seasons on ABC, from 1987 to 1989. A comedy-drama, the series was created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher who were the team responsible for creating L.A. Law....
    
    

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

• Richard Kiley for playing "Joe Gardner" in A Year in the Life
  A Year in the Life
  A Year in the Life was a 1986 Emmy Award–winning miniseries and a one hour dramatic series which ran on NBC during the 1987–1988 television season, created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey A Year in the Life was a 1986 Emmy Award–winning miniseries and a one hour dramatic series which ran on NBC...
  
  
  • Corbin Bernsen
    Corbin Bernsen
    Corbin Dean Bernsen is an American actor and director, known for his work on television. He is best known for his roles as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series L.A. Law, and as retired police detective Henry Spencer on the USA Network comedy-drama series Psych...
    
    for playing "Arnie Becker" in L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    
  • Ron Perlman
    Ron Perlman
    Ronald N. "Ron" Perlman is an American television, film and voice over actor. He is known for having played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast , a Deathstroke figure known as Slade in the animated series Teen Titans, Clarence "Clay" Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, the comic book character...
    
    for playing "Vincent" in Beauty and the Beast
    Beauty and the Beast (TV series)
    Beauty and the Beast is an American drama series which first aired on CBS in 1987. Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairy tale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent , a mythic, noble man-beast, and his Catherine , a savvy assistant District attorney in New York; and a...
    
    
  • Michael Tucker
    Michael Tucker (actor)
    Michael Tucker is an American actor and author, most widely known for his role in L.A. Law, a portrayal for which he received Emmy nominations three years in a row....
    
    for playing "Stuart Markowitz" in L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    
  • Edward Woodward
    Edward Woodward
    Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
    
    for playing "Robert McCall" in The Equalizer
    The Equalizer
    The Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
    
    

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

• Bea Arthur for playing "Dorothy Zbornak" in The Golden Girls
  The Golden Girls
  The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
  
  
  • Kirstie Alley
    Kirstie Alley
    Kirstie Louise Alley is an American actress known for her role in the TV show Cheers, in which she played Rebecca Howe from 1987–1993, winning an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991...
    
    for playing "Rebecca Howe" in Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
    
    
  • Blair Brown
    Blair Brown
    Bonnie Blair Brown is an American theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award-winning turn in the play Copenhagen on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,...
    
    for playing "Molly Dodd" in The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
    The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
    The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...
    
    
  • Rue McClanahan
    Rue McClanahan
    Rue McClanahan was an American actress, best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987.-Early life:McClanahan was born Eddie Rue...
    
    for playing "Blanche Devereaux" in The Golden Girls
    The Golden Girls
    The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
    
    
  • Betty White
    Betty White
    Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...
    
    for playing "Rose Nylund" in The Golden Girls
    The Golden Girls
    The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
    
    

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

• Tyne Daly
  Tyne Daly
  Tyne Daly is an American stage and screen actress, widely known for her work as Detective Mary Beth Lacey in the television series Cagney & Lacey and as Maxine Gray in the television series Judging Amy. She is also known for her role as Alice Henderson in television series Christy...
  
  for playing "Mary Beth Lacey" in Cagney & Lacey
  Cagney & Lacey
  Cagney & Lacey is an American television series that originally aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from October 8, 1981 to May 16, 1988...
  
  
  • Susan Dey
    Susan Dey
    Susan Dey is an American actress, known primarily for her roles in film and television. Her more prominent parts came as elder daughter, Laurie Partridge, on the 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family, and as Grace Van Owen, a California assistant district attorney and judge on the dramatic series, L.A...
    
    for playing "Grace Van Owen" in L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    
  • Jill Eikenberry
    Jill Eikenberry
    Jill Eikenberry is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is best known for her role as lawyer Ann Kelsey in L.A. Law...
    
    for playing "Ann Kelsey" in L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    
  • Sharon Gless
    Sharon Gless
    Sharon Marguerite Gless is an American character actress of stage, film and television, who is best known for her roles as Maggie Philbin on Switch , as Sgt. Christine Cagney in the police procedural drama series Cagney & Lacey and as Debbie Novotny in the Showtime cable television series Queer...
    
    for playing "Christine Cagney" in Cagney & Lacey
    Cagney & Lacey
    Cagney & Lacey is an American television series that originally aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from October 8, 1981 to May 16, 1988...
    
    
  • Angela Lansbury
    Angela Lansbury
    Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
    
    for playing "Jessica Fletcher" in Murder, She Wrote
    Murder, She Wrote
    Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
    
    

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

• John Larroquette
  John Larroquette
  John Edgar Bernard Larroquette, Jr. is an American film, television and Broadway actor. His roles include Dan Fielding on the series Night Court, Mike McBride in the Hallmark Channel series McBride, John Hemingway on The John Larroquette Show, and Carl Sack in Boston Legal.-Personal...
  
  for playing "Dan Fielding" in Night Court
  Night Court
  Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984, to May 20, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan court, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone...
  
  
  • Kelsey Grammer
    Kelsey Grammer
    Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
    
    for playing "Dr. Frasier Crane" in Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
    
    
  • Woody Harrelson
    Woody Harrelson
    Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson is an American actor.Harrelson's breakthrough role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd...
    
    for playing "Woody Boyd" in Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
    
    
  • Peter Scolari
    Peter Scolari
    Peter Scolari is an American television, film and stage actor best known for his roles in the television shows Newhart, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Bosom Buddies.-Career:...
    
    for playing "Michael Harris" in Newhart
    Newhart
    Newhart is a television situation comedy starring comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and wife who owned and operated an inn located in a small, rural Vermont town that was home to many eccentric characters. The show aired on the CBS network from October 25, 1982 to May 21, 1990...
    
    
  • George Wendt
    George Wendt
    George Robert Wendt III is an American actor, best known for the roles of Norm Peterson and Tug Clarke on the television shows Cheers and Modern Men.-Early life:...
    
    for playing "Norm Peterson" in Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
    
    

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

• Larry Drake
  Larry Drake
  Larry Drake is an American actor.Drake was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Lorraine, a homemaker, and Raymond Drake, a drafting engineer for an oil company. Drake is renowned for his portrayal of developmentally disabled Benny Stulwicz on the television show L.A...
  
  for playing "Benny Stulwicz" in L.A. Law
  L.A. Law
  L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
  
  
  • Ed Begley Jr. for playing "Dr. Victor Ehrlich" in St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
    
    
  • Timothy Busfield
    Timothy Busfield
    Timothy "Timmy B" Busfield is an American actor and director best known for his role as Eliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing...
    
    for playing "Elliot Weston" in Thirtysomething
  • Alan Rachins
    Alan Rachins
    Alan Rachins is an American television actor, best known for his role as Douglas Brackman in L.A. Law, which earned him both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, as well as for his portrayal of Dharma's hippie father, Larry, on the hit television series, Dharma & Greg...
    
    for playing "Douglas Brackman, Jr." in L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    
  • Jimmy Smits
    Jimmy Smits
    Jimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman Matt Santos on The West Wing...
    
    for playing "Victor Sifuentes" in L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

• Estelle Getty
  Estelle Getty
  Estelle Scher-Gettleman , better known by her stage name Estelle Getty, was an American actress, who appeared in film, television, and theatre...
  
  for playing "Sophia Petrillo" in The Golden Girls
  The Golden Girls
  The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
  
  
  • Julia Duffy
    Julia Duffy
    Julia Duffy is an American actress from Minneapolis, Minnesota, specializing in character roles, best known as the spoiled rich girl and Dick Loudon's inn maid, Stephanie Vanderkellen, on the 1980s sitcom, Newhart.-Career:Duffy's early caeer included parts in soap operas such as One Life to Live,...
    
    for playing "Stephanie Vanderkellen" in Newhart
    Newhart
    Newhart is a television situation comedy starring comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and wife who owned and operated an inn located in a small, rural Vermont town that was home to many eccentric characters. The show aired on the CBS network from October 25, 1982 to May 21, 1990...
    
    
  • Jackée Harry
    Jackée Harry
    Jacqueline Yvonne "Jackée" Harry , better known by her professional name Jackée, is an American actress and television personality, primarily known for her roles on sitcoms and other types of television shows...
    
    for playing "Sandra Clark" in 227
    227 (TV series)
    227 is an American situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, until May 6, 1990. The series starred Marla Gibbs as a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, Mary Jenkins...
    
    
  • Katherine Helmond
    Katherine Helmond
    Katherine Marie Helmond is an American film, theater and television actress, who played Emily Dickinson on Meeting of Minds, as well as such fictional characters as Jessica Tate on Soap, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss?, Doris Sherman on Coach, and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves...
    
    for playing "Mona Robinson" in Who's the Boss?
    Who's the Boss?
    Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992...
    
    
  • Rhea Perlman for playing "Carla Tortelli" in Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
    
    

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

• Patricia Wettig
  Patricia Wettig
  Patricia Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her roles in the television series Thirtysomething, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters...
  
  for playing "Nancy Krieger Weston" in Thirtysomething
  • Bonnie Bartlett
    Bonnie Bartlett
    Bonnie Bartlett is an American television and film actress. Her career spans over 50 years, with her first major role being on a 1950s daytime drama, Love of Life. She is best known for her role as Ellen Craig on the medical drama series St. Elsewhere. She and her husband, actor William Daniels,...
    
    for playing "Ellen Craig" in St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
    
    
  • Polly Draper
    Polly Draper
    Polly Carey Draper is an American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director. She is renowned for her ensemble role in ABC's hit series Thirtysomething. In 1998, Draper starred in her screenwriting debut The Tic Code, featuring Gregory Hines which was inspired by her husband Michael...
    
    for playing "Ellyn Warren" in Thirtysomething
  • Christina Pickles
    Christina Pickles
    Christina Pickles is an English actress, best known for her long-running role of Nurse Helen Rosenthal in the hospital drama St. Elsewhere, for which she was nominated for four Emmys.-Life and career:...
    
    for playing "Helen Rosenthal" in St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
    
    
  • Susan Ruttan
    Susan Ruttan
    Susan Ruttan is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Roxanne Melman on L.A. Law . She reprised the role in 2002 for the TV reunion L.A...
    
    for playing "Roxanne Melman" in L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series

• Thirtysomething (Paul Haggis
  Paul Haggis
  Paul Edward Haggis is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, and director. He spent his early career producing and directing various American and Canadian television network series.-Early life and education:...
  
  , Marshall Herskovitz
  Marshall Herskovitz
  Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz is an American film director, writer and producer, and currently the President Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America. Among his productions are Traffic, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and I Am Sam. Herskovitz has directed two feature films, Jack the Bear and...
  
  )
  • Beauty and the Beast
    Beauty and the Beast (TV series)
    Beauty and the Beast is an American drama series which first aired on CBS in 1987. Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairy tale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent , a mythic, noble man-beast, and his Catherine , a savvy assistant District attorney in New York; and a...
    
    (Ron Koslow)
  • China Beach
    China Beach
    China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
    
    (John Sacret Young
    John Sacret Young
    John Sacret Young is an author, producer, director, and screenwriter primarily in television. Young has been nominated for seven Emmys and seven Writers Guild of America Awards, winning two WGA Awards....
    
    )
  • L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    (Terry Louise Fisher
    Terry Louise Fisher
    Terry Louise Fisher is an Emmy Award-winning American television producer, screenwriter and novelist.-Early career:...
    
    , David E. Kelley
    David E. Kelley
    David Edward Kelley is an American television writer and producer, known as the creator of Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Boston Legal and Harry's Law, as well as several films. Kelley is one of the only screenwriters to have had a show created by him run on...
    
    )
  • L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    (Steven Bochco
    Steven Bochco
    Steven Ronald Bochco is a US television producer and writer. He has developed a number of popular television hits including Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue, as well as some notable flops such as Cop Rock....
    
    , Terry Louise Fisher
    Terry Louise Fisher
    Terry Louise Fisher is an Emmy Award-winning American television producer, screenwriter and novelist.-Early career:...
    
    , David E. Kelley
    David E. Kelley
    David Edward Kelley is an American television writer and producer, known as the creator of Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Boston Legal and Harry's Law, as well as several films. Kelley is one of the only screenwriters to have had a show created by him run on...
    
    )
  • St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere
    St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
    
    (Tom Fontana
    Tom Fontana
    Tom Fontana is an American writer and producer.-TV career:Fontana has been a writer/producer for such series as Oz , The Jury, The Beat, The Bedford Diaries, Homicide: Life on the Street, St...
    
    , Channing Gibson
    Channing Gibson
    Channing Gibson is an Emmy Award winning American television writer and producer. He worked in both capacities with St. Elsewhere and NYPD Blue. He is one of the creators of acclaimed drama series Murder One and the short-lived The Byrds of Paradise.-Career:Gibson began working in television as a...
    
    , Bruce Paltrow
    Bruce Paltrow
    Bruce Weigert Paltrow was an American television and film director and producer. He was the husband of actress Blythe Danner, and was the father of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrow.-Life and career:...
    
    , John Tinker
    John Tinker (producer)
    John Tinker is an Emmy award winning American television producer and writer. Tinker is the co-creator of the CBS drama Judging Amy, and has been an executive producer and writer on American television shows such as the CBS drama Chicago Hope, the ABC drama The Practice, and the NBC drama The Book...
    
    , Mark Tinker
    Mark Tinker
    Mark Tinker is an American television producer and director. Tinker was an executive producer and regular director on the HBO original series, Deadwood. Prior to Deadwood, Tinker served as a director/producer on NYPD Blue which was co-created by Deadwood writer, David Milch. Tinker has also...
    
    )

Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series

• St. Elsewhere
  St. Elsewhere
  St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
  
  (Mark Tinker
  Mark Tinker
  Mark Tinker is an American television producer and director. Tinker was an executive producer and regular director on the HBO original series, Deadwood. Prior to Deadwood, Tinker served as a director/producer on NYPD Blue which was co-created by Deadwood writer, David Milch. Tinker has also...
  
  )
  • China Beach
    China Beach
    China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
    
    (Rod Holcomb
    Rod Holcomb
    Rod Holcomb is an American television director and producer. He has directed episodes of television series such as Quincy, M.E., The Six Million Dollar Man, Battlestar Galactica, Fantasy Island, The A-Team , ER, The District, The Lyon's Den, Lost, Invasion, Moonlight, Shark, The Pentagon Papers,...
    
    )
  • L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    (Kim Friedman
    Kim Friedman
    Kim Friedman is American television director and producer.Friedman's career began in 1977, directing episodes of the sitcom, Alice she then moved on to directing episodes of Family, Knots Landing, Square Pegs, The Love Boat, Dynasty, A Different World, Head of the Class, Beverly Hills, 90210,...
    
    )
  • L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    (Gregory Hoblit
    Gregory Hoblit
    Gregory King Hoblit is an American Hollywood film director and TV producer.Hoblit was born in Abilene, Texas, the son of Elizabeth Hubbard King and Harold Foster Hoblit, an FBI agent. Much of Hoblit's work is oriented towards police, attorneys, and legal cases...
    
    )
  • L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    (Win Phelps)
  • L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
    
    (Sam Weisman
    Sam Weisman
    Sam Weisman is an American film director. He has directed the films D2: The Mighty Ducks, Bye Bye Love, George of the Jungle, The Out-of-Towners, What's the Worst That Could Happen?, and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star....
    
    )

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series

• Frank's Place
  Frank's Place
  Frank's Place is an American comedy-drama series which aired on CBS for 22 episodes during the 1987-1988 television schedule. The series was created by Hugh Wilson and executive produced by Wilson and series star Tim Reid.-Plot:Set in New Orleans, Frank's Place chronicles the life of Frank Parrish...
  
  (Hugh Wilson)
  • Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
    
    (Glen Charles
    Glen Charles
    Glen Gerald Charles was born on February 18, 1943 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He attended the University of Redlands, California and earned a B.A. in English. Charles began his professional life as an advertising copywriter, but moved into television. He began his television career with his brother, Les...
    
    , Les Charles
    Les Charles
    Les Charles was born in Henderson, Nevada. He attended the University of Redlands, California and earned a B.A. in English. Charles began his professional career as a high school English teacher, but moved into television....
    
    )
  • Designing Women
    Designing Women
    Designing Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer...
    
    (Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
    Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
    Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is an American writer and television producer....
    
    )
  • It's Garry Shandling's Show
    It's Garry Shandling's Show
    It's Garry Shandling's Show is an American sitcom which was initially broadcast on Showtime from 1986 to 1990. It was created by Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel. The show is notable for its frequent use of breaking the fourth wall to allow characters to speak directly to the audience...
    
    (Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Sam Simon
    Sam Simon
    Samuel "Sam" Simon is an American director, producer, writer, boxing manager and philanthropist. While at Stanford University, Simon worked as a newspaper cartoonist and after graduating became a storyboard artist at Filmation Studios. He submitted a spec script for the sitcom Taxi, which was...
    
    )
  • It's Garry Shandling's Show
    It's Garry Shandling's Show
    It's Garry Shandling's Show is an American sitcom which was initially broadcast on Showtime from 1986 to 1990. It was created by Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel. The show is notable for its frequent use of breaking the fourth wall to allow characters to speak directly to the audience...
    
    (Garry Shandling
    Garry Shandling
    Garry Emmanuel Shandling is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for his work in It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show....
    
    , Alan Zweibel
    Alan Zweibel
    Alan Zweibel is an American producer and writer who has worked on such productions as Saturday Night Live, PBS' Great Performances, and It's Garry Shandling's Show.-Early life:...
    
    )
  • The Wonder Years
    The Wonder Years
    The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
    
    (Carol Black
    Carol Black
    Carol Black is an American television producer and writer. She is best known for work on the television series Growing Pains, The Wonder Years, and Ellen . Black also wrote the 1986 feature film Soul Man.-External links:...
    
    , Neal Marlens
    Neal Marlens
    Neal Marlens is an American television producer and writer. He is best known for work on the television series Growing Pains, The Wonder Years, and Ellen .-External links:...
    
    )

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series

• Hooperman
  Hooperman
  Hooperman is a U.S. television series starring John Ritter. It ran for two seasons on ABC, from 1987 to 1989. A comedy-drama, the series was created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher who were the team responsible for creating L.A. Law....
  
  (Gregory Hoblit
  Gregory Hoblit
  Gregory King Hoblit is an American Hollywood film director and TV producer.Hoblit was born in Abilene, Texas, the son of Elizabeth Hubbard King and Harold Foster Hoblit, an FBI agent. Much of Hoblit's work is oriented towards police, attorneys, and legal cases...
  
  )
  • Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
    
    (James Burrows
    James Burrows
    James Edward Burrows is an American television director who has been working in television since the 1970s.-Biography:...
    
    )
  • The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
    The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
    The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...
    
    (Jay Tarses
    Jay Tarses
    Jay Tarses is an American television comedy writer and producer. He created and produced The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and The Slap Maxwell Story, co-created Buffalo Bill , and was an executive producer for The Bob Newhart Show...
    
    )
  • The Golden Girls
    The Golden Girls
    The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
    
    (Terry Hughes
    Terry Hughes (director)
    Terry Hughes is a British Emmy Award-winning television director.Hughes has directed or written for The Two Ronnies, The Golden Girls, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Friends, and series such as Ripping Yarns among other shows....
    
    )
  • It's Garry Shandling's Show
    It's Garry Shandling's Show
    It's Garry Shandling's Show is an American sitcom which was initially broadcast on Showtime from 1986 to 1990. It was created by Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel. The show is notable for its frequent use of breaking the fourth wall to allow characters to speak directly to the audience...
    
    (Alan Rafkin
    Alan Rafkin
    Alan Rafkin was an American Emmy Award-winning director, producer, and actor for television.-Biography:Born in New York City, Rafkin attended Admiral Farragut Academy in Pine Beach, New Jersey....
    
    )