The 39th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 20, 1987. The ceremony was broadcast on

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

for the first time, as the network premiered a year earlier from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. For the second straight year, ''

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. The show's ensemble cast stars Beatrice Arthur, Betty ...

'' won the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

. The winner for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series is an award presented since 1951 by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). The award goes to the producers of the series. The award is often cited as one of the "main awards" at th ...

was ''

L.A. Law ''L.A. Law'' is an American legal drama television series created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher for NBC. It ran for eight seasons and List of L.A. Law episodes, 172 episodes from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. The series cente ...

'', which, for its first season, won four major awards, and led all shows, with 13 major nominations. The winner for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special, ''

Promise A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. As a noun ''promise'' means a declaration assuring that one will or will not do something. As a verb it means to commit oneself by a promise to do or give. It can also mean a capacity ...

'', set a new record, with five major wins. This record still stands for TV movies, though it was tied by ''

Temple Grandin Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American academic, inventor, and ethologist. She is a prominent proponent of the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and the author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. ...

'' in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. ''

The Tracey Ullman Show ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' is an American television sketch comedy variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, as the network's second original primetime series, following '' Married... with Children'', and ran fo ...

'' received three major nominations on the night, making it the first ceremony in which the network

received a major nomination. This was the only time that ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the Metropolitan Police Department staff ...

'' wasn't nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, in its seventh and last season; also, no male actors of ''Hill Street Blues'' were nominated (even with 20 previous nominations). Only

Betty Thomas Betty Thomas (born Betty Lucille Nienhauser; July 27, 1947) is an American director and actress. She is known for her role as Sergeant Lucy Bates on the television series ''Hill Street Blues''. Early life Thomas was born Betty Lucille Nienhaus ...

for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series was nominated, and did not win, making her the only one in the cast to be nominated in all seasons.

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

continued its dominance of the field, becoming the first network to gain over eighty major nominations (82). Its résumé was highlighted by gaining all five nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series. This had been done only once before (in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, but with a field of only four shows), and has not been matched in either field since.

Winners and nominees

Emmys.com list of 1987 Nominees & Winners
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Programs

Acting

Lead performances

Supporting performances

Guest performances

Individual performances

Directing

Writing

Most major nominations

Most major awards

;Notes

References

External links

Emmys.com list of 1987 Nominees & Winners
* {{EmmyAwardsbyYear 039 1987 television awards 1987 in California September 1987 in the United States