Writers Guild announces its '09 TV award nominees

NBC's much-lauded "30 Rock" and AMC's underdog show "Breaking Bad" are among the best-written TV shows of the past year, according to the people who write TV shows.

Both series earned multiple nominations for the 2009 Writers Guild Awards, with "30 Rock" up for best comedy series and three episodic awards and "Breaking Bad" earning one of the nods for best new show and two for episodic drama.

Joining "30 Rock" -- which won last year's WGA Award -- in the best comedy series category are " Entourage," " The Office," "The Simpsons" (which also got four of the six nominations for animation) and " Weeds." The drama series nominees are " Dexter," " Friday Night Lights," " Lost," "Mad Men" and last year's winner, " The Wire."

"Breaking Bad" is competing for best-written new series with " Fringe," " In Treatment," "Life on Mars" and " True Blood."

The Writers Guild will hand out its annual awards for TV and movies (film nominees will be announced later) on Feb. 7. Following is a partial list of the TV nominees; the full list is at WGA.org.

Dramatic Series

"Dexter" (Showtime)
"Friday Night Lights" (NBC)
"Lost" (ABC)
"Mad Men" (AMC)
"The Wire" (HBO)

Comedy Series

"30 Rock" (NBC)
"Entourage" (HBO)
"The Office" (NBC)
"The Simpsons" (FOX)
"Weeds" (Showtime)

New Series

"Breaking Bad" (AMC)
"Fringe" (FOX)
"In Treatment" (HBO)
"Life on Mars" (ABC)
"True Blood" (HBO)

Episodic Drama

"Don't Ever Change" ("House"), written by Doris Egan and Leonard Dick
"Double Booked" ("Burn Notice"), written by Craig O'Neill and Jason Tracey
"Gray Matter" ("Breaking Bad"), written by Patty Lin
"Pilot" ("Breaking Bad"), written by Vince Gilligan
"Pilot" ( "Eli Stone"), written by Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim
"There's Something About Harry" ("Dexter"), written by Scott Reynolds

Episodic Comedy

"Believe in the Stars" ("30 Rock"), written by Robert Carlock
"Cooter" ("30 Rock"), written by Tina Fey
"Crime Aid" ("The Office"), written by Charlie Grandy
"Crush'd" ( "Ugly Betty"), written by Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally
"Succession" ("30 Rock"), written by Andrew Guest and John Riggi
"Vote for This and I Promise to Do Something Crazy at the Emmys" ( "My Name is Earl"), written by Greg Garcia

Long Form - Original

"An American Crime," written by Tommy O'Haver and Irene Turner
"Pilot" ("Fringe"), written by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci
"Recount," written by Danny Strong

Long Form - Adaptation

"Generation Kill": "Episode 6," teleplay by Ed Burns, story by David Simon and Ed Burns; and "Episode 7," teleplay by David Simon, story by David Simon and Ed Burns, based on the book by Evan Wright
" John Adams": "Episode 1, Join or Die" and "Episode 2, Independence," teleplay by Kirk Ellis, based on the book by David McCullough
"The Memory Keeper's Daughter," teleplay by John Pielmeier, based on the book by Kim Edwards

Animation

"Apocalypse Cow" ("The Simpsons"), written by Jeff Westbrook
"The Debarted" ("The Simpsons"), written by Joel H. Cohen
"E Pluribus Wiggum" ("The Simpsons"), written by Michael Price
"Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" ("The Simpsons"), written by Tim Long
"Life: A Loser's Manual" ( "King of the Hill"), written by Dan McGrath
"Strangeness on a Train" ("King of the Hill"), written by Jim Dauterive; Fox

Comedy/Variety Series

"Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (NBC)
"Real Time with Bill Maher" (HBO)
"Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
" The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)
"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central)
"The Late Show with David Letterman" ( CBS)