Emmy voters don’t give ‘24’ and ‘Law & Order’ final glory

Time finally ran out for “24,” and “Law & Order” ended up as a closed case.

The veteran dramas, which took final bows this season after years of acclaim, were denied a last run at Emmys glory Thursday along with several other series and performers who failed to land nominations in marquee categories.

Fox’s action thriller “24” had been nominated four times for drama series and took the award in 2006. Its star, Kiefer Sutherland, was a six-time nominee for lead actor in a drama and won in 2006 for his role as special agent Jack Bauer.

The 20-year-old “Law & Order,” which tied the record for the longest-running series in television history before being canceled by NBC this year, was also a frequent nominee for drama series category. (It won in 1997.)

In a twist voters apparently couldn’t resist, late-night talk show giants Jay Leno and David Letterman were shut out of the outstanding variety, music or comedy series, while Conan O’Brien, whose run on “The Tonight Show,” was canceled after just seven months by NBC, scored a nomination.

Meanwhile, HBO’s “Treme” and FX’s “Justified” were among the most critically acclaimed new dramas that failed to log any major nominations. Some Emmy watchers had predicted that Khandi Alexander of “Treme” and Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins of “Justified” were contenders for acting nods.

Also shut out was FX’s “Sons of Anarchy,” the drama that gained favorable critical notices as well and saw considerable increases in its second-season viewership. Katey Sagal had been singled out by critics for her performance as the ruthless matriarch of a motorcycle gang.

Sagal’s former “Married … With Children” costar Ed O’Neill, now of ABC’s “Modern Family,” was bypassed in the supporting actor in a comedy category — the only adult regular cast member who did not receive a nomination.

greg.braxton@latimes.com