The New Big Kid in Emmy Nominations: HBO : Television: CBS and 'Northern Exposure' lead the pack. But the cable channel's 55 nods sends a signal to networks that TV is changing.

By RICK DU BROW

July 23, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES TELEVISION WRITER

CBS’ “Northern Exposure” was the top vote-getter in the 1992-93 Emmy Award nominations announced Thursday, but the real message was the increasingly wobbly status of network TV as cable, led by HBO, made a potent showing.

HBO, propelled by such TV movies as “Citizen Cohn,” “Stalin” and “Barbarians at the Gate” and the comedy series “The Larry Sanders Show,” totaled 55 nominations--equaling the number of the ABC network.

Combined with entries from its other channels, cable earned 76 nominations overall, nearly 20% of the 367 announced by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Figuring in 38 nominations for PBS, 16 for syndicated shows and 10 for the new-era Fox Broadcasting Co., the total rises to 140 for shows not broadcast on the traditional Big Three networks--ABC, CBS and NBC--or nearly 40% of the total.

“The Larry Sanders Show,” starring Garry Shandling in a tough backstage spoof of late-night talk programs, became the first cable entry to be nominated for either best comedy or drama series, according to John Leverence, awards director of the television academy. It picked up seven other nominations, including acting nods for Shandling and supporting players Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor.

The cable show will square off for best comedy series against “Cheers,” “Home Improvement,” “Seinfeld” and “Murphy Brown” when the 45th annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards ceremony is broadcast on ABC Sept. 19 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Brad Grey, executive producer of “The Larry Sanders Show,” said the nominations send a clear signal that TV is changing: “With all the proliferation of channels that are going to be available, and the new networks that are going to exist--in cable, pay and broadcast--obviously there are going to be greater and more opportunities to do programming you’re passionate about.”

Missing yet again as a contender for best comedy series was “Roseanne,” which has yet to earn an Emmy nomination for the show itself in its five seasons on ABC.

In a Hollywood trade paper ad this week, the Carsey-Werner company, which produces “Rose-anne,” listed some of the notable honors that have been heaped on the series, including the prestigious Peabody Award. But academy voters remain inexplicably cool to the show, although they gave it five nominations--citing stars Roseanne Arnold and John Goodman and supporting actresses Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert (the other was for lighting direction).

The producers of “Roseanne,” including Roseanne and Tom Arnold, issued a restrained comment, saying: “We’re happy with the nominations. But we’re also very disappointed that the show is not nominated.”

Another big loser in the comedy series nominations was Fox’s “The Simpsons,” which finally got an opportunity to enter the category this year after the academy changed past rules that had barred animated shows from competing with the live programs. But like “Roseanne,” “The Simpsons” was ignored for best comedy series and, since it chose this arena in which to compete, was not permitted to be entered in the animation category, Leverence said.

“The Simpsons” earned just two nominations, for music composition and sound mixing--a startling brushoff for a series that, like “Roseanne,” has earned great acclaim and helped carry the generally hide-bound industry into the new age of TV.

“I guess they just didn’t like it,” said Al Jean, one of the executive producers of “The Simpsons” last season, adding that it was possible that academy voters don’t regard the series the same as regular sitcoms, even though the producers do.

“We just thought our show and the way we produced it was more akin to ‘Cheers’ or ‘Roseanne’ and the writing was more like those shows,” Jean said. “Even though we were animated, we felt stylistically closer to the half-hour sitcoms. So I guess we can take pride--we were at least honored in being called a sitcom.”

On the other hand, the nominations also showed that academy voters are all-too-aware of the ambitious efforts of the cable competition, especially its most successful pay outlet, HBO. In another startling Emmy development, not a single one of the five nominated made-for-TV movies came from ABC, CBS or NBC--as HBO thumped them with four of the contenders and PBS had the fifth.

The nominees in this category included HBO’s “Barbarians at the Gate,” with James Garner in a tale of Wall Street’s bidding war for R.J.R. Nabisco; “Stalin,” with Robert Duvall, and “Citizen Cohn,” with James Woods as the notorious late attorney Roy Cohn, a onetime aide to witch-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Also nominated for best made-for-TV movie were PBS’ “Tru,” Robert Morse’s one-man show about the late Truman Capote, and HBO’s “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom,” starring Holly Hunter in a send-up of a story of a mother ambitious for her cheerleading daughter--and the media madness that followed, including the battle for movie rights.

Whether by intention or coincidence, the selection of HBO films was an opportunity for the TV industry to put on its best face at a time when the networks are under fire for a season of sleazy shows with mind-boggling violence that has attracted attention from Congress and others. “Stalin,” while dealing with a murderous man, was historical biography; “Texas Cheerleader” also took a different road.

For “Cheers,” which picked up eight more nominations--bringing its total to 117, the most of any program in TV history--this will be the last chance to catch and pass the all-time Emmy Award winner, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” The Moore series has won 29 Emmy Awards; “Cheers,” which broadcast its final episode in May, has 26. The final “Cheers” episode accounted for six of its eight nominations Thursday.

Leading the network pack in nominations was top-rated CBS, with 92, followed by NBC with 80. “Northern Exposure” was far ahead among the individual programs with 16 nominations, including nods for best drama series, writing, stars Rob Morrow and Janine Turner and regular supporting actors John Cullum, Barry Corbin, Cynthia Geary and Peg Phillips.

Tied for second with 11 nominations each were “Citizen Cohn” and “Seinfeld,” followed by “Stalin” with 10. Next, with nine nominations, were “Barbarians at the Gate,” the miniseries “Sinatra” and George Lucas’ canceled ABC series “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.”

A number of programs tied with eight nominations: The miniseries “Queen,” the Academy Awards show, “Cheers,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Picket Fences” and two praised but canceled NBC dramas, “Quantum Leap” and “I’ll Fly Away.”

Competing with “Northern Exposure” for best drama series are “I’ll Fly Away,” “Law & Order,” “Picket Fences” and yet another canceled show, ABC’s “Homefront.”

In all, it may have been a pivotal year for Emmy nominations as voters clearly showed preference not only for new television alternatives but also for unique attempts--including the canceled series--while some popular shows trailed the leaders.

For example, CBS’ new frontier hit, “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” gained four nominations--but finished behind not only “The Larry Sanders Show” but also another HBO comedy series, “Dream On,” which earned five. In fact, “Dream On,” which has a much smaller audience than shows on the major networks, tied TV’s two most popular series at the moment, ABC’s “Home Improvement” and “Roseanne,” in nominations.

If not for the shot-in-the-arm from HBO, the nominations list would have been a pretty dull affair indeed. Viewers have already made their feelings clear, with networks generally pulling only about 60% of the audience during the season and trying to rebound with racy material and the violence that now has brought a national backlash.

In addition, with inexpensive network newsmagazines now occupying eight hours of network prime time, thereby displacing many entertainment shows, the number of outstanding possible contenders is automatically reduced. The newsmagazines, meanwhile, are part of a separate news and documentary ceremony and thus do not compete in the big Emmy Awards show despite their popularity.

Times Staff Writer Daniel Cerone contributed to this article.

Top Nominees

Shows gaining the most nominations for the 45th annual Emmy Awards are listed below. A complete list of nominations is on F26.

* “Northern Exposure”:16

* “Citizen Cohn”:11

* “Seinfeld”:11

* “Stalin”:10

* “Barbarians at the Gate”: 9

* “Sinatra”: 9

* “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”: 9

* “The 65th Annual Academy Awards”:8

* “Alex Haley’s Queen”: 8