'30 Rock' leads with 22 Emmy nods

LOS ANGELES, July 16 (UPI) -- The sit-com "30 Rock" earned 22 nods when Emmy Award nominations were announced in Los Angeles Thursday.

The series will compete with "Entourage," "Family Guy," "Flight of the Conchords," "How I Met Your Mother," "The Office" and "Weeds" for the prize for outstanding comedy series.

Nominated in the drama series category are "Big Love," "Breaking Bad," "Damages," "Dexter," "House," "Lost" and "Mad Men."

Vying for the Emmy for lead actor in a comedy series are Jim Parsons from "The Big Bang Theory," Jemaine Clement from "Flight of the Conchords," Tony Shalhoub from "Monk," Steve Carell from "The Office," Alec Baldwin from "30 Rock" and Charlie Sheen from "Two and a Half Men."

Nominated in the lead actress in a comedy series category are Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "The New Adventures of Old Christine," Christina Applegate of "Samantha Who?," Sarah Silverman of "The Sarah Silverman Program," Tina Fey of "30 Rock," Toni Collette of "United States of Tara" and Mary-Louise Parker of "Weeds."

The nominees for lead actor in a drama series are Bryan Cranston for "Breaking Bad," Michael C. Hall for "

Dexter," Hugh Laurie for "House," Gabriel Byrne for "In Treatment," Jon Hamm for "Mad Men" and Simon Baker for "The Mentalist."

In the running for the lead actress in a drama series Emmy are Sally Field of "Brothers & Sisters," Kyra Sedgwick of "The Closer," Glenn Close of "Damages," Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Elisabeth Moss of "Mad Men" and Holly Hunter of "Saving Grace."

While "30 Rock" earned the highest number of nominations for a comedy show ever, HBO garnered the most nods -- 99 -- of any TV network for a ninth year in a row, Variety.com said.

The Emmys are to be presented Sept. 20 during a ceremony to air on CBS. Actor Neil Patrick Harris has signed up to preside over the event.