The big screen doesn't get all the glory at this time of year.
Modern Family, Boardwalk Empire and Breaking Bad garnered three nominations apiece heading into the first leg of the 2012 Writers Guild of America Awards—the one that honors achievements in TV, news, radio, promotional writing and graphic animation.
Except for The Good Wife, the Best Drama Series category is an all-cable affair, with the grittiness of Boardwalk and Breaking Bad also going up against Best New Series nominees Homeland and Game of Thrones.
The comedy categories, meanwhile, were a bit more broadcast-friendly...
Modern Family, the defending champ in the category, squares off for Best Comedy Series against three-time winner 30 Rock, perennial nominee Curb Your Enthusiam and first-time nominees Parks and Recreation and Louie.
Along with Game of Thrones and Homeland, the Best New Series category tagged The Killing, never mind viewer frustration; Matt LeBlanc's first successful post-Friends series, Episodes; and Zooey Deschanel's charming New Girl.
Four episodes of The Simpsons square off against one of Futurama and another of Cartoon Network's Ben 10: Ultimate Alien for Best Animation, while All My Children scored a farewell Best Daytime Drama nod; and the Best Comedy/Variety Series category pits all the greats—Conan O'Brien, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher—against one another.
Here's a list of nominees for the 2012 WGA Awards (for the complete list, go to www.wga.org):
Best Drama Series
• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Game of Thrones
• The Good Wife
• Homeland
Best Comedy Series
• 30 Rock
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Louie
• Modern Family
• Parks and Recreation
New Series
• Episodes
• Game of Thrones
• Homeland
• The Killing
• New Girl
Episodic Drama
• "A Dangerous Maid," Boardwalk Empire
• "The Age of Reason," Boardwalk Empire
• "Box Cutter," Breaking Bad
• "End Times," Breaking Bad
• "The Good Soldier," Homeland
• "Just Let Go," Dexter
Episodic Comedy
• "Caught in the Act," Modern Family
• "Goodbye Michael, Part 2," The Office
• "Mother's Day" Modern Family
• "Object Impermanence," Weeds
• "PDA," The Office
• "Queen of Jordan," 30 Rock
Long Form—Original
• Cinema Verite
• Five
Long Form—Adapted
• Mildred Pierce
• Too Big to Fail
Animation
• "Bart Stops to Smell the Roses," The Simpsons
• "The Blue and the Gray," The Simpsons
• "Donnie Fatso," The Simpsons
• "Homer the Father," The Simpsons
• "Moonstruck," Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
• "The Silence of the Clamps," Futurama
Comedy/Variety Series
• Conan
• Jon Benjamin Has a Van
• Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
• Real Time With Bill Maher
• Saturday Night Live
• The Colbert Report
• The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Comedy/Variety Special
• After the Academy Awards
• The Kennedy Center Honors
Daytime Drama
• All My Children
• The Young and the Restless
• General Hospital