By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ABC’s new smash hit "Desperate Housewives" leads the field of Golden Globe contenders for television awards after clinching nominations for best comedy series and for four of the show’s co-stars.
ABC, making a comeback in the prime-time ratings race this fall, also was the most nominated broadcast network with nine total, picking up a best drama bid for its hit castaway thriller "Lost" and three more acting nods between "Alias" and "Boston Legal."
However, pay-cable channel HBO dominated the proceedings as it has for the past two years, amassing 20 nominations in all.
HBO’s nominees included its mob favourite "The Sopranos" and the gritty new western "Deadwood" for best drama series, while best-comedy nominations went to "Sex and the City" for its farewell season and "Entourage" for its debut run.
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HBO also collected four nominations for its television TV movie "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," a warts and all biography starring Oscar winners Geoffrey Rush and Charlize Theron and Oscar nominee Emily Watson. All three performers garnered Globe nominations.
But it was ABC’s "Desperate Housewives," a darkly comic series centering on the personal lives and sexual exploits of a group of female suburbanites, that gained the most recognition with five Golden Globe nominations overall.
In addition to best comedy, the show garnered best actress nominations for three of its leads -- Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman -- and a best supporting actress nod for co-star Nicolette Sheridan.
"Desperate Housewives," along with ABC’s other new breakout hit, "Lost," have led the way for a turnaround this fall at the Walt Disney Co.-owned network, which has struggled to rebuild its schedule since "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" collapsed in the ratings several years ago.
ABC’s courtroom drama "Boston Legal," a spinoff of "The Practice," garnered acting nods for James Spader and "Star Trek" alumnus William Shatner, making yet another TV comeback, while "Alias" star Jennifer Garner also snagged a nomination.
Vying against "Desperate Housewives," "Sex and the City" and "Entourage" for best comedy honours are the critically acclaimed Fox series "Arrested Development" and veteran NBC sitcom "Will & Grace."
Rounding out the Golden Globe contenders for best drama series were last year’s winner, Fox espionage thriller "24," the FX cable network’s cosmetic surgery soap "Nip/Tuck."
Television has been honoured by the Golden Globes since they were added to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s motion picture accolades in 1956.
But while the Globe movie nominations are regarded as a bellwether for the more prestigious Oscar race, the TV nominees invariably take a back seat, coming as they do months after the television industry’s highest honours, the Emmys, are already presented for the year.
