Game of Thrones, People vs OJ Simpson top Emmy nominations

Pic Courtesy: TV show still

Los Angeles: HBO fantasy drama "Game of Thrones" has received 23 nominations at the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, while true-story series "American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson" trails closely behind with 22 nods.

"Black-ish" star Anthony Anderson and "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" actress Lauren Graham revealed the names at a live stream event, which saw HBO's hit "Veep" lead the comedy nominations with 17 nods.

Indian-origin actor Aziz Ansari has bagged his maiden Emmy nomination in the lead actor in a comedy category for "Master of None", which has been created by him and Alan Yang.

The series, which sees Ansari play Dev, a single 30-year-old attempting to make his way through life in New York City, has been included in the outstanding comedy list.

Ansari has also bagged nods for writing and directing "Master of None".

"Game of Thrones", which won a record-breaking 12 awards in 2015, delivered almost a quarter of network HBO's 94 nods.

GOT is facing off with "The Americans", "Better Call Saul", "Downton Abbey", "Homeland", "House of Cards" and "Mr Robot" in the best drama category.

The nods for the series also included best supporting actor and actress nominations for last year's winner Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Lena Headley, Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams and nods for writers David Benioff and DB Weiss.

"People v OJ Simpson" lead actors Courtney B Vance and Cuba Gooding Jr have been both nominated for the outstanding lead actor award, Sarah Paulson for outstanding lead actress besides the show being nominated in the outstanding limited series category.

It also bagged nominations in the supporting actor category for Sterling K Brown, David Schwimmer and John Travolta.

Idris Elba for "Luther", Benedict Cumberbatch for "Sherlock" and Tom Hiddleston for "The Night Manager" have received nods in the outstanding lead actor list.

Viola Davis, who also made history in 2015 by becoming the first black woman to win the best lead actress prize, has once again been nominated for her role in "How To Get Away With Murder." 

Comedy star Amy Schumer secured four nominations, the

most given to any one person this year, for her acting and writing in "Saturday Night Live", "Inside Amy Schumer" and "Amy Schumer: Live At The Apollo. "

There were also nods for Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, for their writing on comedy "Catastrophe", and for "The Americans" star Matthew Rhys, who was nominated in the best drama actor category.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus will go for her fifth best comedy actress title for playing Selina Meyer on "Veep", while last year's winner Jeffrey Tambor was once again nominated for best comedy actor for his role as a transgender college professor in "Transparent."

Tambor was one of several nominations for performances in shows on streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Others included both Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright for "House of Cards"; Kyle Chandler for the drama "Bloodline"; Rami Malek for "Mr Robot"; Lily Tomlin for "Grace and Frankie" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" star Ellie Kemper.

"Black-ish", which tested the Emmy waters last year with a nomination for male lead Anthony Anderson, has been shortlisted in all three top comedy categories this year including best comedy series, lead actor and lead actress for Tracee Ellis Ross.

Outstanding limited series nominees also include "American Crime", "Fargo", "The Night Manager", "Roots".

Beyonce's film "Lemonade" took two nominations, with the singer receiving a personal nod for her directing work.

Five-time best comedy winner "Modern Family" has been once again nominated - it is currently tied with "Frasier" for the show with the most titles in the category.

FX follows HBO with 56 bids, Netflix with 54, NBC with 41 and ABC with 35.

The winners will be feted at a live ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles on September 18.