The 40th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, August 28, 1988. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

. The ceremony was pushed back from its newly established September date because of the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

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, South Korea. Cable stations HBO and Showtime received their first major nominations at this ceremony. Despite a season that consisted of only six episodes, newcomer series '' The Wonder Years'' won Outstanding Comedy Series. After winning his fourth consecutive Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series,

John Larroquette John Bernard Larroquette (; born November 25, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the NBC military drama series '' Baa Baa Black Sheep'' (1976–1978), the NBC sitcom '' Night Court'' (1984–1992; for which he rec ...

requested to have his name taken off of the ballot for future ceremonies. '' Frank's Place'' became the most recent show whose only season was nominated for Outstanding Comedy/Drama Series. In the drama field '' L.A. Law'' came into the ceremony as the defending champ and with 15 major nominations, (second most ever by a drama series at that time), it was seen as the heavy favorite. However, it was upset by another first season show, '' thirtysomething'' which won four major awards on the night including Outstanding Drama Series, ''L.A. Law'' only won one major award. The duo of ''

Cagney & Lacey ''Cagney & Lacey'' is an American police procedural drama television series that aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988. The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very di ...

'' won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the sixth consecutive year, this tied ''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Moo ...

''s record for acting categories, which still stands, (it stood for all categories until '' The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' won ten consecutive

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

s for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series). With the wins for Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty, ''

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'' became the most recent show to have all of its cast members win Emmys. It became the second series to do so, following ''

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''. Three other programs would accomplish this feat: ''

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'' in

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, ''

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'' in

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, and ''

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'' in

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. There was controversy during the nomination process regarding the PBS series '' Rumpole of the Bailey''. The series was initially placed in the

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

field, but soon after the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

disqualified it and placed it in the drama series field. Its slot in the miniseries category was filled by '' The Bourne Identity''.

Winners and nominees

Emmys.com list of 1988 Nominees & Winners
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Programs

Acting

Lead performances

Supporting performances

Guest performances

Directing

Writing

Most major nominations

;By network "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories. * NBC – 69 * CBS – 32 * ABC – 24 ;By program * ''L.A. Law'' (NBC) – 15 * ''Cheers'' (NBC) – 9 * ''The Golden Girls'' (NBC) / ''St. Elsewhere'' (NBC) – 8 * ''Baby M'' (ABC) / ''thirtysomething'' (ABC) – 6

Most major awards

;By network "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories. * NBC – 11 * ABC – 8 * CBS – 6 ;By program * ''thirtysomething'' (ABC) – 4 * ''Frank's Place'' (CBS) / ''The Golden Girls'' (NBC) / ''Inherit the Wind'' (NBC) – 2 ;Notes

References

External links

Emmys.com list of 1988 Nominees & Winners
* {{EmmyAwardsbyYear 040 1988 television awards 1988 in American television 1988 in California August 1988 events in the United States