his is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama

Series,[1] since its institution in 1951. The award is often cited as one of the "main awards" at the
Emmys ceremonies,[2] and has changed names many times in its history. It was first called Best
Dramatic Show from 1951 to 1954, then Best Dramatic Series in 1955 and 1956. In 1957, no
specific award for drama was given, but in 1958 its name was changed again and this time it was
two separate categories Best Dramatic Anthology Series, and Best Dramatic Series with
Continuing Characters with a winner selected from each category. The name was changed again
in 1959 to Best Dramatic Series Less Than One Hour. In 1960, the name was changed yet
again to Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama; this name was kept from
1960 to 1964. In 1966, it had its sixth name change to Outstanding Dramatic Series or
Outstanding Series-Drama; this was used from 1966 until recently, when it became Outstanding
Drama Series.

In 1988, Rumpole of the Bailey (PBS) was initially nominated in the Outstanding
Miniseries category[3][4] but the Academy ruled that the nomination was not valid a few days
later [5] and later allowed the program to compete in the Outstanding Drama Series category.[6][7]

Since 2000, every single winner has been a serial drama: The West Wing (20002003), The
Sopranos (2004, 2007), Lost (2005), 24 (2006), Mad Men (20082011), Homeland (2012), Breaking
Bad (20132014), and Game of Thrones (20152016).

Since the advent of Hill Street Blues in 1981, every winner has had some serialized arcs with the
exception of Law & Order.

Contents

[hide]

1Winners and nominations

o 1.11950s

o 1.21960s

o 1.31970s

o 1.41980s

o 1.51990s

o 1.62000s

o 1.72010s

2Total awards by network

 3Programs with multiple awards

4Programs with multiple nominations

5Notes

6See also

7References

8External links