31st Primetime Emmy Awards
Date
  • September 9, 1979
    (Ceremony)
  • September 8, 1979
    (Creative Arts Awards)
LocationPasadena Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California
Presented byAcademy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hosted byHenry Winkler
Cheryl Ladd
Highlights
Most awardsAll in the Family
Friendly Fire
The Jericho Mile
Lou Grant
Roots: The Next Generations
Taxi (2)
Most nominationsLou Grant (12)
Outstanding Comedy SeriesTaxi
Outstanding Drama SeriesLou Grant
Outstanding Limited SeriesRoots: The Next Generations
Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music ProgramSteve & Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin
Television/radio coverage
NetworkABC

The 31st Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 9, 1979. The ceremony was broadcast on ABC. It was hosted by Henry Winkler and Cheryl Ladd. This ceremony is remembered for problems with the Pasadena Civic Auditorium's air-conditioning.

The top shows of the night were Taxi, which pulled an upset in the Outstanding Comedy Series field when it beat All in the Family's final season, and Lou Grant, which received 12 major nominations and won two awards including Outstanding Drama Series.

For the first time, most of the miniseries and Television movie categories were merged into one, this would become the standard for later ceremonies, culminating with the TV Movie and Miniseries program categories combining in 2011. For this year only, the comedy and variety categories were combined in acting, directing, and writing. This combination would not stick, and the traditional categories returned the next year.

Winners and nominees

[1]

Programs

Programs

Acting

Lead performances

Acting

Supporting performances

Directing

Directing
  • Barney Miller (ABC): "The Harris Incident" – Noam Pitlik
    • All in the Family (CBS): "California, Here We Are, Part II" – Paul Bogart
    • M*A*S*H (CBS): "Dear Sis" – Alan Alda
    • M*A*S*H (CBS): "Point of View" – Charles S. Dubin
    • Soap (ABC): "Episode #27" – Jay Sandrich

Writing

Writing
  • Lou Grant (CBS): "Dying" – Michele Gallery
    • Lou Grant (CBS): "Marathon" – Gene Reynolds
    • Lou Grant (CBS): "Vet" – Leon Tokatyan
    • The Paper Chase (CBS): "The Late Mr. Hart" – James Bridges
  • The Jericho Mile (ABC) – Story by: Patrick J. Nolan
    Screenplay by: Patrick J. Nolan and Michael Mann
    • Backstairs at the White House (NBC): "Book One" – Paul Dubov and Gwen Bagni
    • Friendly Fire (ABC) – Fay Kanin
    • Roots: The Next Generations (ABC): "Part I" – Ernest Kinoy
    • Summer of My German Soldier (NBC) – Jane-Howard Hammerstein

Most major nominations

Networks with multiple major nominations[note 1]
NetworkNumber of
nominations
CBS46
ABC30
NBC23
Programs with multiple major nominations
ProgramCategoryNetworkNumber of
nominations
Lou GrantDramaCBS12
M*A*S*HComedy9
Backstairs at the White HouseLimitedCBS8
All in the FamilyComedy6
The Rockford FilesDramaNBC
Roots: The Next GenerationsLimitedABC
Friendly FireSpecial5
TaxiComedy
Barney Miller4
The Jericho MileSpecial3
SoapComedy
Summer of My German SoldierSpecialNBC
AliceComedyCBS2
FamilyDramaABC
First, You CrySpecialCBS
Mork & MindyComedyABC
The Paper ChaseDramaNBC
Saturday Night LiveVariety
Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil StorySpecialCBS

Most major awards

Networks with multiple major awards[note 1]
NetworkNumber of
Awards
ABC11
CBS9
NBC3
Programs with multiple major awards
ProgramCategoryNetworkNumber of
Awards
All in the FamilyComedyCBS2
Friendly FireSpecialABC
The Jericho Mile
Lou GrantDramaCBS
Roots: The Next GenerationsMiniseriesABC
TaxiComedy
Notes
  1. 1 2 "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories.

References

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