‘L.A. Law’ Strikes Again in Emmyland : Cable Shows Picked in Prominent Categories

“L.A. Law” took center stage in the nighttime Emmy Award nominations for the second year in a row Thursday but shared the spotlight with three first-year network series and, for the first time, cable TV programs, which collected 15 of the 337 nominations.

NBC’s drama about a busy legal firm, which received 20 nominations last year and wound up winning as best drama series of the year, captured 19 nominations this time, while NBC’s “The Golden Girls,” which has won the Emmy as best comedy series for two years running, got 12. NBC’s “Cheers,” another former winner as best comedy, collected 11.

But faring just as well as those established hits were three series that only premiered last season and failed to achieve even Top 40 status in the ratings: CBS’ “Beauty and the Beast” with 12 nominations, ABC’s “thirtysomething” with 10 and CBS’ “Frank’s Place” with 9.

And while cable programs, never before eligible for Emmy consideration because they didn’t reach enough viewers, received only a small percentage of the nominations, the ones they got were in some of the most prominent categories.

HBO’s “Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam” was nominated as best informational special, Showtime’s “Shelley Duvall’s Tall Tales and Legends” was nominated as best children’s program and the Disney Channel’s “Brave Little Toaster” was nominated as best animated program. In addition, Danny Glover was nominated as best actor in a miniseries or special for his performance in HBO’s “Mandela,” and Showtime’s “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” got two nominations for best writing and one for best directing in a comedy series.

“I think that’s a respectable number for the first time out,” Doug Duitsman, president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, said of the 15 nominations for cable. He contrasted it with the showing by syndicated programs, which picked up a total of 13 nominations.

That cable was included at all was the most important fact, Duitsman suggested, alluding to opposition that had existed within the academy toward including cable programming--principally from ABC, CBS and NBC, which didn’t want to promote their competition. “It’s a beginning,” he said. “I think they’ll do better in the future.”

The winners of the 40th annual Emmys will be announced in Aug. 28 ceremonies that Fox Broadcasting will televise from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. There also will be a non-televised event the day before to unveil winners in the craft categories.

Among the networks, NBC dominated the nominations as it has for the past six years, collecting 114 while CBS got 87 and ABC got 75. PBS received 27, while HBO, Showtime and Fox Broadcasting collected six each. The Disney Channel earned two, and cable superstation TBS got one.

CBS’ “Foxfire,” a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” drama about an elderly couple in Appalachia, was the most-cited special of the season with eight nominations, including ones for its married stars, Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. ABC’s “Baby M” and NBC’s “Gore Vidal’s Lincoln” each garnered seven.

The 19 nominations for “L.A. Law,” the second-year series about attorneys in a busy legal firm, was the third largest number ever for a weekly series, after the 20 it received last year and the 21 that “Hill Street Blues” got in 1981 and 1982.

Besides being nominated as best drama series, “L.A. Law” received eight nominations for acting (Michael Tucker, Jill Eikenberry, Corbin Bernsen, Susan Dey, Larry Drake, Alan Rachins, Jimmy Smits and Susan Ruttan), four for directing, two for editing, one for sound mixing and one for costuming. There also were two in the writing category for script by co-creator Terry Lousie Fisher, who left the show last season in an acrimonious falling out with her one-time collaborator and executive producer Steven Bochco.

Nominated with “L.A. Law” for the best drama series award were CBS’ “Beauty and the Beast,” ABC’s “thirtysomething” and NBC’s now-retired “St. Elsewhere.”

In the category of best comedy series, nominations went to three NBC veterans--”The Golden Girls,” “Cheers” and “Night Court”--and two newcomers, CBS’ “Frank’s Place” and ABC’s “The Wonder Years.”

In an unusual twist, the same producers could win Emmys for best drama and best comedy series. Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas are executive producers of both “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Golden Girls,” which together won 24 nominations.

“We’re just beside ourselves,” Witt said Thursday morning. He was particularly pleased for “Beauty and the Beast,” which held its own on Friday nights last season but overall ranked only 50th among the 105 prime-time series that aired on the three major networks.

“ ‘Beauty’ needs this,” Witt said. “This is going to get it a lot of attention. . . .. These things sometimes can make a difference. Maybe it will give us a boost and solidify us for a long run.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Hugh Wilson, creator and co-executive producer of the low-rated “Frank’s Place,” which CBS renewed for next season but did not put in the fall schedule. “We’re absolutely thrilled,” he said. “We need to do well there (in the Emmys). If we don’t, we may be looking for other employment.”

As further evidence that members of the TV academy were not influenced by ratings in their balloting, the two most popular series of the 1987-88 season--”The Cosby Show” and its spinoff “A Different World”--got just one nomination between them, and that for a guest appearance by Eileen Heckart on “The Cosby Show,” which only three years ago won the Emmy for best comedy series.

Among the more unusual nominations was that of Ann Jillian as best actress in a miniseries or special. Her role: Ann Jillian in “The Ann Jillian Story,” an NBC movie about her struggle with breast cancer.

That film also was nominated as best special, against CBS’ “Foxfire,” CBS’ “The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank,” NBC’s remake of “Inherit the Wind” and NBC’s “The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story.”

Dabney Coleman, who won an Emmy last year, received two nominations Thursday: as best actor in a comedy series for “The ‘Slap’ Maxwell Story” and as best supporting actor in a miniseries or special for “Baby M.”

Also earning nominations for their performances in the two-part “Baby M” were JoBeth Williams, John Shea and Bruce Weitz. The program itself was nominated as best miniseries with PBS’ “Rumpole of the Bailey” and three NBC presentations--”Billionaire Boys Club,” “Gore Vidal’s Lincoln” and “The Murder of Mary Phagan.”

Bruce Willis, who won the Emmy last year for his role in “Moonlighting,” was not nominated this year as best actor in a drama series. The nominations went instead to Ron Perlman of “Beauty and the Beast,” Richard Kiley of the canceled “A Year in the Life,” Edward Woodward of “The Equalizer” and Tucker and Bernsen of “L.A. Law.”

Sharon Gless of “Cagney & Lacey” was among the nominees for best actress in a drama series, giving her a chance to win her third Emmy in a row. The competition: Co-star Tyne Daly of “Cagney & Lacey,” Angela Lansbury of “Murder, She Wrote” and Eikenberry and Dey of “L.A. Law.”

Already slated to be honored at the Emmy Awards this year are animation moguls William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who have been voted the academy’s Governors Award for career achievement. Emmys for engineering will be given to Optical Disc Corp. and the Sony Corp.