39th Primetime Emmy Awards explained
The 39th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 20, 1987. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox for the first time, as the network premiered a year earlier from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California.
For the second straight year, The Golden Girls won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. The winner for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series was L.A. Law, which, for its first season, won four major awards, and led all shows, with 13 major nominations. The winner for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special, Promise, set a new record, with five major wins. This record still stands for TV movies, though it was tied by Temple Grandin in 2010. The Tracey Ullman Show received three major nominations on the night, making it the first ceremony in which the network Fox received a major nomination. This was the only time that Hill Street Blues wasn't nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, in its seventh and last season; also, no males actors of Hill Street Blues were nominated (even with 20 previous nominations). Only Betty Thomas for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series was nominated, and did not win, making her the only one in the cast to be nominated in all seasons.
NBC continued its dominance of the field, becoming the first network to gain over eighty major nominations (82). Its résumé was highlighted by gaining all five nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series. This had been done only once before (in 1977, but with a field of only four shows), and has not been matched in either field since.
Winners and nominees
[1]
Programs
Acting
Lead performances
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| - Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux in The Golden Girls (NBC) (Episode: "End of the Curse")
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- Bruce Willis as David Addison, Jr. in Moonlighting (ABC) (Episode: "Big Man on Mulberry Street")
| - Sharon Gless as Christine Cagney in Cagney & Lacey (CBS) (Episode: "Turn, Turn, Turn")
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Supporting performances
- John Larroquette as Dan Fielding in Night Court (NBC) (Episode: "Dan's Operation")
| - Jackée Harry as Sandra Clark in 227 (NBC) (Episode: "The Washington Affair")
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| - Bonnie Bartlett as Ellen Craig in St. Elsewhere (NBC) (Episode: “Last Dance at the Wrecker's Ball")
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- Dabney Coleman as Martin Costigan in Sworn to Silence (ABC)
- Stephen Collins as Billy Grenville, Jr. in The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (NBC)
- John Glover as Richard Behrens in Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder (NBC)
- Laurence Olivier as Harry Burrard in Lost Empires (PBS)
- Eli Wallach as Norman Voss in Something in Common (CBS)
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Guest performances
- John Cleese as Dr. Simon Finch-Royce in Cheers (NBC) (Episode: "Simon Says")
- Art Carney as James "Weasel" Cavanaugh in The Cavanaughs (CBS) (Episode: "He Ain't Heavy")
- Herb Edelman as Stan Zbornak in The Golden Girls (NBC) (Episode: "The Stan Who Came To Dinner")
- Lois Nettleton as Jean in The Golden Girls (NBC) (Episode: "Isn't It Romantic?")
- Nancy Walker as Angela in The Golden Girls (NBC) (Episode: "Long Day's Journey Into Marinara")
| - Alfre Woodard as Adrian Moore in L.A. Law (NBC) (Episode: "Pilot")
- Steve Allen as Lech Osoranski in St. Elsewhere (NBC) (Episode: "Visiting Daze")
- Jeanne Cooper as Gladys Becker on L.A. Law (NBC) (Episode: "Fry Me to the Moon")
- Edward Herrmann as Father Joseph McCabe on St. Elsewhere (NBC) (Episode: "Where There's Hope, There's Crosby")
- Jayne Meadows as Holga Oseransky in St. Elsewhere (NBC) (Episode: "Visiting Daze")
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Individual performances
Directing
Writing
- Family Ties (NBC): "A, My Name is Alex" – Gary David Goldberg and Alan Uger
- Cheers (NBC): "Abnormal Psychology" – Janet Leahy
- The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (NBC): "Here's Why Cosmetics Should Come in Unbreakable Bottles" – Jay Tarses
- The Golden Girls (NBC): "Isn't It Romantic?" – Jeffrey Duteil
- Newhart (CBS): "Co-Hostess Twinkie" – David Mirkin
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- Late Night with David Letterman Fifth Anniversary Special (NBC)
- The 41st Annual Tony Awards (CBS)
- Saturday Night Live (NBC)
- The Tracey Ullman Show (Fox): "Girl on a Ledge"
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (NBC)
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Most major nominations
Networks with multiple major nominations[2] | Network | Number of
Nominations |
|---|
| NBC | 82 |
| CBS | 36 |
| ABC | 15 | |
Programs with multiple major nominations| Program | Category | Network | Number of
Nominations |
|---|
| L.A. Law | Drama | NBC | 11 |
| The Golden Girls | Comedy | 10 |
| St. Elsewhere | Drama |
| Cheers | Comedy | 8 |
| Moonlighting | Drama | ABC | 7 |
| Cagney & Lacey | CBS | 6 |
| Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder | Miniseries | NBC |
| Promise | Special | CBS |
| Family Ties | Comedy | NBC | 5 |
| Newhart | CBS |
| The 41st Annual Tony Awards | Variety | 4 |
| Escape from Sobibor | Special |
| The Tracey Ullman Show | Variety | Fox |
| The Two Mrs. Grenvilles | Miniseries | NBC |
| LBJ: The Early Years | Special | 3 |
| Night Court | Comedy |
| Pack of Lies | Special | CBS |
| Unnatural Causes | NBC |
| Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna | Miniseries | 2 |
| The Cosby Show | Comedy |
| The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd |
| Hill Street Blues | Drama |
| Late Night with David Letterman Fifth Anniversary Special | Variety |
| Liberty Weekend | ABC |
| Murder, She Wrote | Drama | CBS |
| Saturday Night Live | Variety | NBC |
| The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson |
| A Year in the Life | Miniseries | |
Most major awards
Networks with multiple major awards[3] | Network | Number of
Awards |
|---|
| NBC | 15 |
| CBS | 9 |
| ABC | 3 | |
Programs with multiple major awards| Program | Category | Network | Number of
Awards |
|---|
| Promise | Special | CBS | 5 |
| L.A. Law | Drama | NBC | 3 |
| The Golden Girls | Comedy | 3 |
| Family Ties | 2 | |
- Notes
External links
Notes and References
- http://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1987 Emmys.com list of 1987 Nominees & Winners
- "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. It does not include the technical categories.
- "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. It does not include the technical categories.
