Nominations for the 56th Annual Emmy Awards were announced today, listing many of the usual suspects in the animation categories. The awards will be handed out on Sept. 12 during a ceremony set to air on ABC.
In the category Animated Program (less than one hour), Fox’s Futurama and The Simpsons are up against Cartoon Network’s Samurai Jack, Comedy Central’s South Park and Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants. Meanwhile, Cartoon Network stands alone in the filed of Animated Programs (one hour or more). The cabler’s The Powerpuff Girls and Star Wars: Clone Wars will duke it out for top honors.
The Simpsons is also nominated in the category of Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore). The toon’s composers face off against those from fellow Fox series 24, as well as Showtime’s Dead Like Me, ABC’s Line of Fire, HBO’s Pandemic: Facing AIDS–Uganda/Thailand and UPN’s Star Trek: Enterprise.
PBS’ Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On, a nostalgic journey through the 35-year-old-show’s most magical moments, is up for Best Children’s Program, along with HBO’s Happy to Be Nappy and Other Stories of Me, Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire and Nickelodeon’s Nick News Special Edition "The Courage To Live: Kids, South Africa and AIDS" and Nick News Special Edition "There’s No Place Like Home: Homeless Kids in America."
Animated programs are also among the contenders for the Music and Lyrics award. Nominees are “Wish Come True!” from Nickelodeon’s The Fairly Odd Parents, "I Want My Hands Back," from Fox’s Futurama, "The Street I Live On," from PBS’s Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On, "Vote for a Winner" from Fox’s The Simpsons and "Because You Are Beautiful" from Lifetime’s Until the Violence Stops.
In the category of Special Visual Effects for a Series, Showtime’s supernatural comedy Dead Like Me squares off against more traditional genre fare in the form of UPN’s Star Trek: Enterprise, SCI FI’s Stargate SG-1 and ABC’s Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital. Meanwhile, the award for Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or Special will go to either HBO’s Angels in America, SCI FI’s Battlestar Galactica, ABC’s Dreamkeeper, NBC’s 10.5 or TNT’s The Winning Season.
