Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
This page lists the winners and nominees for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series,[1] since its institution in 1951. The award is often cited as one of the "main awards" at the Emmys ceremonies,[2] and has changed names many times in its history. It was first called Best Dramatic Show from 1951 to 1954, then Best Dramatic Series in 1955 and 1956. In 1957 no specific award for drama was given, but in 1958 its name was changed again and this time it was two separate categories Best Dramatic Anthology Series, and Best Dramatic Series with Continuing Characters with a winner selected from each category. The name was changed again in 1959 to Best Dramatic Series - Less Than One Hour. In 1960 the name was changed yet again to Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama, this name was kept from 1960 to 1964. In 1966 it had its sixth name change to Outstanding Dramatic Series or Outstanding Series-Drama this was used from 1966 until recently, when it became Outstanding Drama Series.
Since 2000, every single winner has been a serial drama: The West Wing (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003), The Sopranos (2004, 2007), Lost (2005), 24 (2006) and Mad Men (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011).
Winners and nominees
The following tables, divided by decade, display the winners and nominees of the "Drama Series" award, according to the Primetime Emmy Awards database.
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Total awards
- NBC - 21
- CBS - 18
- ABC - 9
- PBS - 4
- AMC - 4
- HBO - 2
- FOX - 1
- KECA-TV - 1
- NET - 1
Multiple awards
- 4 awards
- Hill Street Blues
- L.A. Law
- The West Wing
- Mad Men
- 3 awards
- The Defenders
- Playhouse 90
- Upstairs, Downstairs
- 2 awards
- Cagney and Lacey
- Lou Grant
- Mission: Impossible
- Picket Fences
- The Practice
- The Sopranos
- United States Steel Hour
Multiple nominations
- 11 nominations
- 7 nominations
- ER
- The Sopranos
- Studio One
- The West Wing
- 6 nominations
- Hill Street Blues
- L.A. Law
- NYPD Blue
- St. Elsewhere
- 5 nominations
- 24
- Cagney & Lacey
- Columbo
- Lou Grant
- 4 nominations
- Dexter
- House
- Lost
- Mad Men
- Northern Exposure
- The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse
- The Practice
- Thirtysomething
- The X-Files
- 3 nominations
- Chicago Hope
- China Beach
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
- The Defenders
- Fame
- Family
- I Spy
- Ironside
- Magnum, P.I.
- Marcus Welby, M.D.
- Mission: Impossible
- Murder, She Wrote
- Naked City
- Police Story
- Quantum Leap
- Robert Montgomery Presents
- The Rockford Files
- Six Feet Under
- The Streets of San Francisco
- The United States Steel Hour
- Upstairs, Downstairs
- The Waltons
- 2 nominations
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- The Avengers
- Baretta
- Beauty and the Beast
- Boston Legal
- Breaking Bad
- Celanese Theatre
- Dallas
- Damages
- The Dick Powell Show
- The Good Wife
- Grey's Anatomy
- I'll Fly Away
- Kojak
- Kraft Television Theatre
- Moonlighting
- Picket Fences
- Playhouse 90
- Pulitzer Prize Playhouse
- Quincy, M.E.
- Star Trek
- The Untouchables
- The White Shadow
References
External links
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Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
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| 1951–1975 |
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| 1976–2000 |
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| 2001–present |
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Complete List · (1951–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–2025)
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