Wanda Sykes, Sheila E and Andre Braugher were among the nominees announced Thursday morning for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.
Sykes’ HBO special, “I’ma Be Me,” was recognized in the Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special category, alongside the MTV-produced telethon “Hope for Haiti Now,” CBS’ “The Kennedy Center Honors” and fellow HBO specials “Bill Maher: But I’m Not Wrong,” “Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction ” and “The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert.”
“I’ma Be Me” was also nominated in the Outstanding Writing for Variety Music or Comedy Special.
Percussionist Sheila E earned a nomination as the music director of PBS’s “In Performance At The White House: Fiesta Latina.” She’s in the Outstanding Music Direction category with Marc Shaiman (ABC’s “82nd Annual Academy Awards”), David Foster (PBS’ “Andrea Bocelli & David Foster: My Christmas (Great Performances)”, David Downes (PBS’ “Celtic Woman: Songs From The Heart”) and Rob Mathes and Rob Berman (CBS’ “The Kennedy Center Honors”).
Andre Braugher earned recognition in the Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series category for his role in TNT’s “Men of a Certain Age.” He’ll face off against Aaron Paul of AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn of ABC’s “Lost,” John Slattery of AMC’s “Mad Men” and Martin Short of FX’s “Damages.”
Forest Whitaker and BET show up in the category of Exceptional Merit In Nonfiction Filmmaking. Whitaker received an executive producer nod for “Brick City,” the Sundance Channel documentary series on Newark, New Jersey and its mayor, Cory Booker. BET’s docu-series “Pressure Cooker,” about a Philadelphia high school culinary arts class and its teacher, Wilma Stephenson, earned a nomination for executive producer Jeff Skoll. Both are nominated against executive producers for the PBS specials “My Lai,” “Nerakhoon (The Betrayal),” and “Patti Smith: Dream Of Life.”
HBO’s “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama” received nominations for Outstanding Nonfiction Special, as well as editing (Sam Pollard, Geeta Gandbhir and Arielle Amsalem) and directing (Amy Rice, Alicia Sams) in the Nonfiction Programming category.
Isaiah Mustafa – also known as the Old Spice brother – helped his famous ad, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” earn a nomination for Outstanding Commercial. Its biggest competition in the category will likely be “Game,” the Snickers ad starring Betty White. Also in the category: “Anthem” (Absolut); “Coke Finals” (Coca-Cola), “Green Police” (Audi) and “Human Chain” (Nike).
Other nominees of note:
– HBO’s “Treme,” about life in post-Katrina New Orleans, received nominations for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Agnieszka Holland for the pilot, “Do You Know What It Means”) and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics (Steve Earle, composer/lyricist for “This City” in the episode, “I’ll Fly Away”).
– The “Robby” episode of A&E’s “Intervention” featuring Robby Pardlo of the R&B group City High was nominated for Outstanding Picture Editing for Reality Programming. The episode’s editor, Erik Christensen, faces competition from CBS’ “The Amazing Race” (“I Think We’re Fighting the Germans, Right?”); ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (“The Muppet Edition”), CBS’ “Survivor: (“Tonight, We Make Our Move”) and Bravo’s “Top Chef” (“Vivre Las Vegas” and “Magical Elves”).
– Wendy and Lisa, former members of Prince’s band The Revolution, were nominated for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie.” Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman will compete against the creators of theme songs for Fox’s “Human Target,” FX’s “Justified,” NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” and Syfy’s “Warehouse 13.”
HBO received the most nominations overall, with 101 bids, followed by ABC with 63 and CBS with 57. NBC earned 48, Fox received 47 and PBS had 32. Showtime had 23 nods.
The Emmy Awards will air Aug. 29 on NBC, with Jimmy Fallon hosting. The ceremony, which usually airs in September, was moved up to avoid a conflict with NBC’s Sunday NFL broadcasts.
