HBO Takes the Lion’s Share of ACE Nominations

With multiple nominations for its blood-guts-and-humor horror show “Tales From the Crypt” and its R-rated comedy series “Dream On,” Home Box Office led the field with 100 of the 361 nominations announced Wednesday for the 12th annual ACE Awards for cable-TV excellence.

In distant second were Showtime and TNT, with 31 nominations each. Arts and Entertainment Network garnered 30 nominations, followed by the Disney Channel (26), ESPN (22), the Discovery Channel (18), CNN (15), and Lifetime and MTV, with 12 each. Nineteen other cable networks received nominations.

The Awards for Cable Excellence will be presented Jan. 13 in a ceremony that will air on various cable networks.

HBO’s “Tales From the Crypt” won the most nominations for a single program or series (12), while “Dream On,” the story of a divorced and confused father who is a product of the TV generation, came in second with 10.

Other programs receiving multiple nominations included HBO’s “Heat Wave” and “Billy Crystal: Midnight Train to Moscow” (both with 7); Showtime’s “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” (7); TNT’s “Max and Helen” (6); the Disney Channel’s “Mother Goose Rock ‘n’ Rhyme” (5) and Showtime’s “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: A Nightmare Classic” (5).

Nominated as best drama series on cable were “Tales From the Crypt,” the USA Network’s “The Hitchhiker,” USA’s “Ray Bradbury Theater” and the Disney Channel’s “Avonlea.”

In the best comedy series category, nominations went to “Dream On,” “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” and MTV’s “Pirate TV.”

In the category for original movies and miniseries category, the nominated programs were TNT’s “The Last Elephant,” “Heat Wave” and “Max and Helen,” and HBO’s “Age-Old Friends” and “The Image.”

Nods for variety special or series went to “HBO Comedy Hour: Robert Townsend & His Partners in Crime Part IV: Playing the Nutroll”; TBS’ “Festival at Ford’s Theatre: The Stars Salute the President”; Disney Channel’s “Mickey Mouse Club First Anniversary Special”; “Showtime Coast to Coast: American Music”; and “Showtime Coast to Coast: All Star Edition.”

Comedy special nominations included HBO’s “Comic Relief ‘90” and the network’s “Billy Crystal: Midnight Train to Moscow” and “Not Necessarily the News: Summer Edition”; Disney Channel’s “A Conversation With Betty White” and HA! TV Comedy Network’s “The Unnaturals.”

Music special nominations went to “1969 MTV Video Music Awards”; VH-1’s “Still Rocking After All These Years” and Bravo Cable’s “Deep in the Shed.” Music series nominees included “Yo! MTV Raps”; “VH-1 to One” and VH-1’s “New Visions.”

For documentary special, nominations went to HBO’s “Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt” and “Yours to Keep”; A&E;’s “Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler”; and the Discovery Channel’s “Ivory Wars” and “The Great Wall of Iron.”

Documentary series nominations went to HBO’s “America Undercover”; TBS’ “Cousteau’s Rediscovery of the World”; and A&E;’s “Frontiers,” “Around the World in 80 Days” and “Footsteps of Men.”