Primetime Emmy noms: Probst out, Betty White in

July 19, 2012 by Barry Walsh

This year’s Primetime Emmy nominations, announced this morning, held a few surprises in the reality categories.

Jeff Probst, host of CBS reality staple Survivor, has held a tight grip on the Best Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program category, winning it four times. This year, he didn’t make the cut for the nominations.

Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance), Phil Keoghan (The Amazing Race), Ryan Seacrest (American Idol), Betty White (Betty White’s Off Their Rockers) and Tom Bergeron (Dancing with the Stars) round out the nominations in that category.

In the Best Reality Competition Program category, nominees are Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, CBS’ Amazing Race, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, Bravo’s Top Chef, Lifetime’s Project Runway, and NBC’s The Voice.

Missing in that category were frequent past nominees Fox’s American Idol and CBS’ Survivor.

In the Outstanding Reality Program category, PBS’ Antiques Roadshow, ABC’s Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, Discovery’s MythBusters, ABC’s Shark Tank, and NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? each got nods.

Missing in that category were last year’s winner, Discovery’s Deadliest Catch, and other past nominees such as A&E’s Intervention and Discovery’s Dirty Jobs.

In the Outstanding Non-Fiction Series category, PBS’ American Masters, Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,  Discovery Channel’s Frozen Planet, Bravo’s Inside the Actors’ Studio and HBO’s The Weight of the Nation scored nominations.

In the Outstanding Non-Fiction Special category, HBO has three projects in the running: Bobby Fischer Against the World, George Harrison: Living In the Material World, and Gloria: In Her Own Words. A&E’s Paul Simon: Under African Skies and Comedy Central’s Six Days to Air: The Making of South Park round out the category.

Outstanding Special Class Short-Form Non-Fiction nominees include Bravo’s Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen, DGA Moments in Time from dga.org, Jay Leno’s Garage from NBC.com, Thank a Vet from History and 30 Rock: Ask Tina from NBC.com/Universal Television.

In the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking category, The Amish (PBS/American Experience), Have You Heard from Johannesburg (PBS/Independent Lens) and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (HBO) made the nominees list.

Nominees for Outstanding Directing for Non-Fiction Programming feature an interesting mix: Bertram van Munster for The Amazing Race (CBS), Robert Weide for Woody Allen: A Documentary (PBS), Martin Scorsese for George Harrison: Living in the Material World (HBO), Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinfosky for Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (HBO) and Craig Spirko for Project Runway’s finale, Part 2 (Lifetime).

In the Outstanding Cinematography for Non-Fiction Programming category, nominees include Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations/ Mozambique (Travel Channel), Frozen Planet/Ends of the Earth (Discovery), George Harrison: Living in the Material World (HBO), Prohibiton/A Nation of Drunkards (PBS) and Whale Wars/Race to Save Lives (Animal Planet).

Nominees for Outstanding Cinematography for Reality Programming include The Amazing Race/Let Them Drink Their Haterade (CBS), Deadliest Catch/I Don’t Wanna Die (Discovery), Project Runway/The Finale Challenge (Lifetime), Survivor/Running the Show (CBS), and Top Chef/Fit For an Evil Queen (Bravo).

History’s foray into scripted television, Hatfields & McCoys, had a particularly good showing in the nominations list, racking up 16, including noms for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, with both Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton competing in that category.

For a look at the full list of nominations in each category, click here. The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards will take place September 23, airing on ABC.

 

Tags: Betty White, Betty White's Off Their Rockers, Jeff Probst, Martin Scorsese, Primetime Emmy Nominations 2012, Survivor