38th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 38th Primetime Emmy Awards were presented on September 21, 1986 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. The Emmy ceremony was cohosted by David Letterman and Shelley Long. During the ceremony, Letterman saluted Grant Tinker, who had stepped down as chairman of NBC due to its parent company, RCA, having been acquired by General Electric. The ceremony was also memorable for the presentation of the Governors' Award to Red Skelton, who in his acceptance speech said he had missed being on TV for the previous 16 years.
This year's cemeonry saw the return of the guest acting category. The top shows of the night were The Golden Girls which won Outstanding Comedy Series and two other major awards. The Golden Girls became the first series to gain three nominations in a lead acting category, they would repeat this feat multiple times. For the second straight year Cagney & Lacey won for Outstanding Drama Series, and led all shows with four major wins. With help from the guest acting category, The Cosby Show with 13 nominations broke the record for most major nominations by a comedy series of 11 set by The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1977, this record has since been surpassed. This was the first season that neather Daniel J. Travanti nor Veronica Hamel were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series or Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series respectively. They weren't nominated in the next and final one either.
Winners and Nominees
[1]
Programs
Acting
Lead performances
Supporting performances
Guest performances
Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series |
Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series |
- Roscoe Lee Browne as Prof. Bennington Foster on The Cosby Show, (Episode: "The Card Game"), (NBC)
- Earle Hyman as Russell Huxtable on The Cosby Show, (Episode: "Happy Anniversary"), (NBC)
- Danny Kaye as Dr. Burns on The Cosby Show, (Episode: "The Dentist"), (NBC)
- Clarice Taylor as Anna Huxtable on The Cosby Show, (Episode: "Happy Anniversary"), (NBC)
- Stevie Wonder as Himself on The Cosby Show, (Episode: "A Touch of Wonder"), (NBC)
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- John Lithgow as John Walters on Amazing Stories, (Episode: "The Doll"), (NBC)
- Whoopi Goldberg as Camille on Moonlighting, (Episode: "Camille"), (ABC)
- Edward Herrmann as Father McCabe on St. Elsewhere, (Episode: "Time Heals, Part 2"), (NBC)
- Peggy McCay as Mrs. Carruthers on Cagney & Lacey, (Episode: "Mothers and Sons"), (CBS)
- James Stacy as Ted Peters on Cagney & Lacey, (Episode: "The Gimp"), (CBS)
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Directing
Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series |
Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series |
- Jay Sandrich for The Cosby Show, (Episode: "Denise's Friend"), (NBC)
- James Burrows for Cheers, (Episode: "The Triangle"), (NBC)
- Jim Drake for The Golden Girls, (Episode: "The Heart Attack"), (NBC)
- Terry Hughes, for The Golden Girls, (Episode: "A Little Romance"), (NBC)
- Bill Persky for Kate & Allie, (Episode: "Chip's Friend"), (CBS)
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- Georg Stanford Brown for Cagney & Lacey, (Episode: "Parting Shots"), (CBS)
- Gabrielle Beaumont for Hill Street Blues, (Episode: "Two Easy Pieces"), (NBC)
- Will Mackenzie for Moonlighting, (Episode: "My Fair David"), (ABC)
- Steven Spielberg for Amazing Stories, (Episode: "The Mission"), (NBC)
- Peter Werner for Moonlighting, (Episode: "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice"), (ABC)
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Outstanding Directing in a Variety or Music Program |
Outstanding Directing in a Miniseries or a Special |
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Writing
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series |
Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series |
- Barry Fanaro, Mort Nathan for The Golden Girls, (Episode: "A Little Romance"), (NBC)
- Peter Casey, David Lee for Cheers, (Episode: "2 Good 2 Be 4 Real"), (NBC)
- Susan Harris for The Golden Girls, (Episode: "Pilot"), (NBC)
- John Markus for The Cosby Show, (Episode: "Denise's Friend"), (NBC)
- Michael J. Weithorn for Family Ties, (Episode: "The Real Thing, Part II"), (NBC)
- Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra, John Markus for The Cosby Show, (Episode: "Theo's Holiday"), (NBC)
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- Tom Fontana, John Tinker, John Masius for St. Elsewhere, (Episode: "Time Heals"), (NBC)
- Glenn Gordon Caron for Moonlighting, (Episode: "Twas the Episode Before Christmas"), (ABC)
- Charles H. Eglee, John Tinker, Channing Gibson, John Masius, Tom Fontana for St. Elsewhere, (Episode: "Haunted"), (NBC)
- Debra Frank, Carl Sautter for Moonlighting, (Episode: "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice"), (ABC)
- Dick Wolf for Hill Street Blues, (Episode: "What Are Friends For?"), (NBC)
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Outstanding Writing in a Variety, Music or Comedy Program |
Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or a Special |
- Late Night with David Letterman, (Episode: "Fourth Anniversary Special"), (NBC)
- The 40th Annual Tony Awards, (CBS)
- Great Performances, (Episode: "Sylvia Fine Kaye's Musical Comedy Tonight III"), (PBS)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, (NBC)
- AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Billy Wilder, (NBC)
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- David Butler for Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy, (PBS)
- Ron Cowen, Daniel Lipman, Sherman Yellen for An Early Frost, (NBC)
- Darlene Craviotto for Love is Never Silent, (NBC)
- Carol Evan McKeand, Nigel McKeand for Alex: The Life of a Child, (ABC)
- Kevin Sullivan, Joe Wiesenfeld for Anne of Green Gables, (Episode: "Part I"), (PBS)
- Gore Vidal for Dress Gray, (Episode: "Part I"), (NBC)
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Most major nominations
- By network [note 1]
- NBC – 79
- CBS – 39
- ABC – 13
- By program
- The Cosby Show (NBC) – 13
- St. Elsewhere (NBC) – 10
- The Golden Girls (NBC) / Moonlighting (ABC) – 9
- An Early Frost (NBC) / Cheers (NBC) – 8
- Cagney & Lacey (CBS) – 7
Most major awards
- By network [note 1]
- By program
- Cagney & Lacey (CBS) – 4
- The Golden Girls (NBC) / St. Elsewhere (NBC) – 3
- Notes
- 1 2 "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories.
References
External links