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By BRIAN LOWRY

July 25, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The major television networks continue to lose not only audience but also prestige, getting upstaged by cable’s Home Box Office in nominations for the nighttime Emmy Awards announced Thursday.

HBO’s 90 nominations represent the first time a cable network has received the most Emmy bids, edging the 89 nods for top-rated NBC--which continued to dominate the comedy balloting--while nearly doubling ABC’s total of 47. CBS was third with 60 nominations.

Movies led HBO’s charge, landing four of the five nominations in that category, which HBO has already won the last four years. The remaining entry belonged to another pay channel, Showtime.

Securing Emmys has become part of HBO’s marketing strategy. Seen in less than one-fourth as many homes as the ubiquitous broadcast networks, HBO has sought to attract attention--and thus make people feel they need to subscribe--through aggressive Emmy campaigning.

Highlighting the shortage of breakthrough new series in recent seasons, meanwhile, the best drama and comedy series categories provided a near-repeat of the past two years, with only one newcomer, NBC’s “3rd Rock From the Sun,” infiltrating the constellation of regulars--at the expense of fellow network series, “Friends.”

“ER”--television’s most popular hour and last year’s best drama winner--garnered the most nods from Emmy voters for the third consecutive year. Other best drama contenders, all at least three-time nominees, are “Chicago Hope,” “NYPD Blue,” “Law & Order” and “The X-Files,” which accounted for a dozen of Fox’s 19 nominations.

NBC’s “Frasier,” meanwhile, has a chance to join the ranks of TV’s most-honored comedies by earning a fourth consecutive Emmy. Only three series--”All in the Family,” “Cheers” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show”--were bestowed that award four times.

NBC veterans “Seinfeld” and “Mad About You” will also vie in the comedy field. HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show” not only broke up the NBC block party but for the second straight year amassed the most bids of any sitcom, with 16.

To demonstrate how repetitive the series voting has become, “Seinfeld” and “Law & Order” have each been nominated six consecutive times--the latter having never won in the best drama balloting. “Seinfeld” took top honors in 1993, before “Frasier” began its streak.

Though her series was overlooked, Ellen DeGeneres--who came out as a lesbian on ABC’s “Ellen” last season--landed an Emmy nomination for lead comedy actress. The widely seen coming-out episode also scored nominations for guest actress Laura Dern as well as for writing and directing.

DeGeneres, in fact, totaled three nominations alone, earning additional Emmy bids for playing herself on “Larry Sanders” (as did “The X-Files” star David Duchovny) and for hosting the Grammy Awards.

The comedy lineup also features Helen Hunt (who won a year ago for “Mad About You”), Fran Drescher of “The Nanny,” “Home Improvement’s” Patricia Richardson and Cybill Shepherd for her eponymous CBS show.

Michael J. Fox--who took home three Emmys in the 1980s for “Family Ties”--has a chance to add to that collection for his ABC comeback show “Spin City,” joining repeat contenders Kelsey Grammer, John Lithgow, Paul Reiser (a seven-time nominee for “Mad About You,” without winning) and Garry Shandling.

The inclusion of Fox bumped Jerry Seinfeld, a perennial nominee (he’s won once) and television’s highest-paid performer. The cast of NBC’s hit sitcom “Friends” also continues to find academy voters unfriendly: Only Lisa Kudrow was nominated this year, after none were selected a year ago. They again submitted themselves as supporting actors.

In perhaps TV’s most competitive arena, Duchovny and “Law & Order’s” Sam Waterston are new contenders for lead drama actor, joining 1996 nominees Anthony Edwards of “ER” and “NYPD Blue’s” Dennis Franz (winner in 1994 and ‘96) and Jimmy Smits. Squeezed out from last year are “ER’s” George Clooney and “Homicide’s” Andre Braugher.

Sherry Stringfield, who checked out of “ER” in November, still garnered a lead actress nomination, as did co-star Julianna Margulies, who won in 1995 as a supporting actress. “Touched by an Angel’s” Roma Downey received her first nomination, with Gillian Anderson and Christine Lahti both returning from last year.

In the movie category, Emmy voters clearly gravitated toward the big-name stars and more provocative subject matter found on pay cable, which have aimed higher in their themes than the general standard for network fare. HBO’s “If These Walls Could Talk”--starring Demi Moore, Cher and Sissy Spacek--explored the issue of abortion, for example, a topic the networks generally shun for fear of losing advertisers. The other HBO titles are Christopher Reeve’s directorial debut, “In the Gloaming,” about a young man dying of AIDS; “Miss Evers’ Boys,” which explored a notorious 40-year-long episode of medical experimentation involving black men; and “Gotti,” a biography of the crime boss.

“Bastard Out of Carolina” followed a circuitous route to Showtime. Directed by actress Anjelica Huston, the story dealt starkly with molestation and child abuse, prompting TNT to decide not to air the project after commissioning it. Both Reeve and Huston--whose father was the legendary filmmaker John Huston--also received directing nominations.

“ER,” “If These Walls Could Talk” and “Miss Evers’ Boys” received additional nods from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the organization that hands out the Emmys, for its President’s Award--an honor introduced last year to call attention to television’s positive achievements. CBS’ “Touched by an Angel” and A&E;’s “Biography” were also recognized.

Cable channels totaled more than a third of all nominations, another record, though nearly two-thirds of those bids went to HBO. The shift parallels both cable’s increased production of original programming and declining ratings for the major networks, which still accounted for 55% of all nominations.

Broadcasters have complained that HBO spends significantly more to produce its movies and thus can attract more impressive production auspices. The cable network points out money doesn’t necessarily translate to quality.

“The real distinction is that we’re daring enough to tell daring stories,” said HBO Pictures President John Matoian. “It’s not so much about budgets. When you have good writing, the rest follows.”

HBO even landed one of the nominations for outstanding commercial--a newly introduced award--with an ad in which chimps watch the channel. Levi’s took two of those nominations, with another going to Nike and one to General Motors.

The networks did reclaim the miniseries category thanks to big-budget productions of ABC’s “The Shining,” NBC’s “The Odyssey” and CBS’ “The Last Don” and “In Cold Blood.” PBS’ fifth entry in the “Prime Suspect” franchise, starring Helen Mirren, rounded out that category--shutting out cable after NBC’s “Gulliver’s Travels” garnered the only nod to broadcast networks last year.

The nomination list included Oscar winner Meryl Streep for the ABC movie “first do no harm”--the actress’ first TV movie since launching her career with an Emmy-winning performance in the 1978 miniseries “Holocaust.”

There was a major glitch in the nomination ceremony, with the academy initially announcing “Friends,” instead of “3rd Rock,” among the best comedy nominees. Although the mistake occurred at 5:35 a.m. local time, the network morning programs did not correct the error on their delayed West Coast feeds.

Several stars chose not to submit themselves for Emmy consideration, including five-time Emmy winner Candice Bergen and Bill Cosby. The 49th annual nighttime Emmys will be broadcast Sept. 14 on CBS and hosted by Bryant Gumbel.

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HBO Tops List With 90 Nods

Here is a breakdown of the number of Emmy nominations by network:

HBO -- 90

NBC -- 89

CBS -- 60

ABC -- 44

FOX -- 19

PBS -- 18

Syndicated -- 10

Showtime -- 9

TNT (Turner Network Television) -- 8

A&E; -- 6

Disney Channel -- 5

UPN (United Paramount Network) -- 5

Commercial Nominations -- 5 (no network affiliation)

USA -- 4

*ABC/Comedy Central -- 3

Family Channel-- 3

TBS (Turner Broadcast Systems) -- 3

WB (Warner Bros. Network) -- 3

Nickelodeon -- 2

American Movie Classics -- 1

Bravo -- 1

Cartoon Network -- 1

Discovery Channel -- 1

TLC (The Learning Channel) -- 1

* The program “Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher” received three nominations among the total of 391 nominations. But because it aired on ABC and Comedy Central this year, both BC and Comedy Central were credited with nominations.

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Emmy Bits

Meryl Streep’s nomination for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or a special for ABC’s “First Do No Harm” is her first since 1978 (“Holocaust”), when she won best features actres1932402771 Michael J. Fox, nominated for lead actor in a comedy series (“Spin City”), has won this award three times for “Family Ties” (1986-88).

Hot Scottish actor Ewan McGregor (“Trainspotting”) gets a nomination for his first U.S. dramatic TV appearance--outstanding guest actor in a drama series for “ER.”

Frances McDormand, this year’s Oscar-winning best actress for “Fargo,” is nominated for supporting actress in a miniseries or special for Showtine’s “Hidden in America.”

Anjelica Huston (Showtine’s “Bastard Out of Carolina”) and Christopher Reeve (HBO’s “In the Gloaming”), both actors, are nominated for outstanding directing for a miniseries or a specia1814063470 “Seinfeld,” series, was again nominated for outstanding comedy series, but Seinfeld, the Jerry (TV’s highest-paid performer), was left out of the lead comedy actor category. His three coh1869771891supporting roles.

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Top Nominees

Shows with the most multiple nominations for the 49th annual nighttime Emmy Awards. A complete list of nominations is on F26.

“ER”: 22

“The Lary Sanders Show”: 16

“Miss Evers’ Boys “: 12

“The X-Files “: 12

“NYPD Blues”: 11

“Bette Midler: Diva Las Vegas”: 10

“Chicago Hope”: 9

“Frasier”: 9

“Seinfeld”: 9