'Boardwalk Empire,' 'Breaking Bad,' 'Simpsons' Top Writers Guild Award TV Nominations

The Writers Guild of Americ announced the nominees Wednesday for achievement in television, news, radio, promotional writing and graphic animation with cable networks dominating.

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In the drama series category, HBO's Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones both received nominations, while Showtime's rookie drama Homeland received a mention in its first year. AMC's Breaking Bad also received a nomination in the top drama group, along with the only broadcast offering CBS' The Good Wife.

Nominees in the top comedy series category include NBC's 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, ABC's Modern Family, HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm and FX's Louie.

In the new series category, Showtime's Episodes and Homeland both received mentions, while Game of Thrones and AMC's The Killing were honored with nominations. Fox's New Girl was the lone broadcast network series to make its way in.

In the episodic drama category, Boardwalk Empire's "A Dangerous Maid" and "The Age of Reason" will be competing against Breaking Bad's "Box Cutter" and "End Times," along with Homeland's "The Good Soldier" and Dexter's "Just Let Go."

The Modern Family episode "Caught in the Act" will be competing against the series' "Mother's Day," while Steve Carell's final episode of The Office, "Goodbye Michael, Part 2" will be putting up a heavy fight against "PDA." Weeds' "Object Impermanence" and 30 Rock's "Queen of Jordan" are also nominated.

Fox's The Simpsons had four nominations, all in the animated category. Shows picking up three nominations in the scripted comedy and drama categories include Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Homeland and Modern Family. With two nominations each, Game of Thrones, 30 Rock and The Office follow.

HBO and Lifetime's telepics were nominated in the original longform category, the former for Cinema Verite and the latter for the anthology Five. In adapted longform, HBO's Mildred Pierce and Too Big to Fail will compete for kudos.

For writing in comedy and variety series (including talk shows), Conan, Jon Benjamin Has a Van, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Real Time With Bill Maher, Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart are nominated.

In the daytime category, soaps All My Children, General Hospital and The Young and the Restless will compete.

PBS led the way with the most nominations with 15, followed by HBO with 10, ABC with 9, CBS and NBC with 7, Showtime with 6, Fox with 5 and AMC and Comedy Central with 4.

Winners will be announced at the 2012 Writers Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 19 at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.

Lesley Goldberg contributed to this report.