‘Heroes,’ ‘Sopranos’ compete for critics awards

LOS ANGELES - Fourth-ranked NBC is first with the TV critics, according to the annual Television Critics Assn. nominations, announced  Tuesday.

The peacock network led all others with 13 noms, including four each for “30 Rock,” “Friday Night Lights” and “Heroes.”

(MSNBC is a joint venture between NBC and Microsoft.)

HBO took second place, collecting eight noms, three of which were for “When the Levees Broke,” Spike Lee’s documentary on Hurricane Katrina. “The Sopranos,” which concludes its run Sunday, garnered two noms, as did “The Wire.”

The nominations were compiled from ballots submitted from TCA’s 200-plus membership. A second round of voting will produce the winners in each of 11 categories, to be announced during July 21 ceremonies at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

No current CBS program made the final ballot, but two series from the network’s past, “M*A*S*H” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” were nominated for TCA’s Heritage award.

ABC was represented with two noms for “Ugly Betty,” one for “Lost” and a Heritage mention for TV’s first miniseries, “Roots.”

PBS received three noms but, surprisingly, none in the children’s programming category, which it has dominated in the past. That category included two shows from ABC Family, “Kyle XY” and “Lincoln Heights.”

Critics also rewarded Discovery Channel’s “Planet Earth” miniseries with three nominations, including the prestigious Program of the Year.

The full list of nominees:

Program of the year: “American Idol” (Fox), “Friday Night Lights” (NBC), “Heroes” (NBC), “Planet Earth” (Discovery), “The Wire” (HBO) and “When the Levees Broke” (HBO).

Achievement in comedy: “30 Rock” (NBC), “The Daily Show” (Comedy Central), “Entourage” (HBO), “The Office” (NBC) and “Ugly Betty” (ABC).

Achievement in drama: “Friday Night Lights” (NBC), “Heroes” (NBC), “Lost” (ABC), “The Sopranos” (HBO) and “The Wire” (HBO).

Achievement in movies, miniseries and specials: “Broken Trail” (AMC), “Planet Earth” (Discovery), “Prime Suspect” (PBS), “The State Within” (BBC America) and “When the Levees Broke” (HBO).

New program of the year: “30 Rock” (NBC), “Dexter” (Showtime), “Friday Night Lights” (NBC), “Heroes” (NBC) and “Ugly Betty.”

Individual achievement in comedy: Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”), Stephen Colbert (“The Colbert Report”), America Ferrara (“Ugly Betty”), Tina Fey (“30 Rock”) and Jon Stewart (“The Daily Show”).

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Individual achievement in drama: Connie Britton (“Friday Night Lights”), Kyle Chandler (“Friday Night Lights”), Michael C. Hall (“Dexter”), Hugh Laurie (“House”) and Helen Mirren (“Prime Suspect”).

Achievement in children’s programming: “Dora the Explorer” (Nickelodeon), “Johnny and the Sprites” (Disney Channel), “Kyle XY” (ABC Family), “Lincoln Heights” (ABC Family) and “SpongeBob SquarePants” (Nickelodeon).

Achievement in news and information: “Baghdad ER” (HBO), “Bill Moyers Journal” (PBS), “Galapagos” (National Geographic), “Planet Earth” (Discovery) and “When the Levees Broke” (HBO).

Heritage award: “M*A*S*H” (CBS), “Roots” (ABC), “Sesame Street” (PBS), “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (CBS) and “The Sopranos” (HBO).

An 11th category, career achievement, also is voted upon by TCA members, but nominees are not disclosed. The winner will be announced at the ceremony in July.

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