The Emmys are on the way — this year’s nominees have been announced, and we aren’t really that surprised at how the chips have fallen. Succession, The Last of Us, The Bear, and White Lotus dominate with the most nominations this year. But these are all relative newcomers, so when it comes to nominations received, let’s look at the big dogs.
The Emmys first started back in 1949 and since then thousands of shows have been nominated, received awards, and have been celebrated. It has become the most prestigious award show in television, celebrating the best and most beloved television series, television movies, miniseries, and talk shows with a variety of categories from acting, to sound design, as well as choreography.
Over the years some shows have just scooped up Emmys like a kid going crazy with mom’s credit card in a candy store. The following list would appear to have two different types of shows featured (with one outlier) that have been of excellent quality and simply run for long stretches allowing them to continue adding accolades and shows that have just been so exceptional, that even over a comparatively short amount of time, they have made their mark.
The below nominations showcase a decent diversity in entertainment, from comedy to drama, reality to high fantasy, they prove that no matter the genre, they are worthy of acclaim.
30 Rock – 103 nominations
The sitcom written and starring the comedic genius of Tina Fey comes in at tenth place on the list with 103 Emmy nominations. This show came just after she’d finished her impressive tenure at SNL and was also still riding the high of her film Mean Girls. The show received the nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series for all of its seven seasons, winning the award for its first three. Fey herself won the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 2008 and her work as writer received the Outstanding Writing award for the season eight finale, Last Lunch.
Frasier – 107 nominations
Starting off as just a side character in another sitcom (which, spoilers, appears below), Frasier got his own eponymous spin-off which had a huge amount of success. The show ran for 264 episodes, featured a slew of guest stars including James Earl Jones, Patti LuPone, Patrick Stewart, and even Bill Gates, many of whom were nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor. Almost every single one of its seasons was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, with lead actor Kelsey Grammar and co-star David Hyde Pierce receiving nominations for seasons one through nine.
M*A*S*H – 109 nominations
M*A*S*H was one of the biggest shows of all time when it aired between 1972-1983. To put it in perspective, its final episode is still the most watched final episode of any television series ever, with 105 million viewers, half the American population at the time. It was the most-watched television broadcast of all time until the 2010 Superbowl. The show was regularly nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series with cast members also getting nominations for their performances as they mixed comedic acting with tragic drama.
The Sopranos – 112 nominations
The Sopranos was an audience favorite for its entire run and a great success for HBO. The show set the network above the rest by bringing in audiences, critical acclaim, and awards, proving that HBO could create quality programming. It was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series every year it ran, and lead actors James Gandolfini and Edie Falco were nominated for their roles six times over its run. The Sopranos also bagged plenty of technical nominations as well such as editing and sound mixing, proving it to be a great, well rounded production.
Dancing with the Stars – 116 nominations
The one and only reality show to rank in the top ten most Emmy-nominated shows, Dancing with the Stars has 116 nominations and counting as it continues onwards. Many of these nominations come from the production side, with the show consistently getting nominated for costume design, hair styling, lighting, and makeup — categories that are all worthy of being recognized. Of course, it also gets plenty of choreography nods as well.
Mad Men – 116 nominations
Who would have thought that a series based on marketing would become such a cultural phenomenon? Mad Men premiered in 2007 and instantly launched its stars Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, and January Jones into the stratosphere, but, surprisingly, despite being nominated time and time again, only Hamm took home Outstanding Lead Actor in 2015, the show’s final year. The show did well overall though, winning four of its eight nominations for Outstanding Drama.
Cheers – 117 nominations
Here (as hinted at above) we have Cheers in fourth place. This became a staple of American television in its roughly decade-long run; it created a sense of home, with the opening song famously including the lyrics “Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name…” It was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series every year and the cast, including Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammar, Woody Harrelson, Bebe Neuwirth, and Kirstie Alley were often nominated for their respective roles as well.
ER – 124 nominations
The series that launched George Clooney’s career is one of the most nominated medical dramas to date, which makes some sense considering that it was one of the longest-running dramas in history, with 331 episodes (still behind Grey’s Anatomy currently at 400). The first season alone received 15 nominations including for Clooney, and racked up a fair amount of Outstanding Guest Actor nominations over its run too.
Game of Thrones – 160 nominations
No surprise here that one of the biggest cultural phenomenons in television history would have snatched up a fair few nominations. It is still one of the biggest HBO properties of all time and had the highest ratings until its spinoff, House of the Dragon, came along in 2022. Game of Thrones was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series for all eight seasons, winning four of them, with Peter Dinklage matching that for his role as Tyrion Lannister. The show set a record for most nominations for a show in one season when it put forward its entire cast for nominations in its finale season.
Saturday Night Live – 306 nominations
SNL runs away with first place, with almost double the nominations of Game of Thrones. Granted though, one key factor of this is sheer time. The skit show has been going strong since 1975 with a revolving door of some of the greatest comedians in the country, many of whom get their start on this show. Many of the comedians have received nominations for their roles on the show including the likes of Kristen Wiig, Eddie Murphy, Leslie Jones, as well of many who act and write with Seth Meyers, Tina Fey, and Adam Sandler.
Time will tell if these will get knocked off the top ten, with the likelihood that those at the bottom of the list will very likely get be eclipsed in time, but for front runners like ER and Game of Thrones, the chances of elimination are quite low. It is unlikely that any show at this rate will knock SNL off the top spot, as it continues to keep producing award-winning television with apparently no end in sight.