"John Adams," HBO's prestige historical drama about one of America's founding fathers, was the leading nominee with 23 bids at the 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards Thursday in Los Angeles.

A Best Actor bid for Paul Giamatti's turn as Adams was among the drama's leading nominations.

"Boston Legal," "Damages," "Dexter," House," "Lost" and "Mad Men" were nominated for Best Dramatic Series, while "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Entourage," "The Office," "30 Rock" and "Two and a Half Men" nabbed the nominations for Best Comedy Series.

"30 Rock," which was honored at last year Emmy Awards as Best Comedy Series, was the top nominee among sitcoms with 17 bids.

"Mad Men" was the Best Drama Series contender with 16 nominations, including one for star Jon Hamm.

Also nominated for Best Actor in a Drama were Gabriel Byrne for "In Treatment," Bryan Cranston for "Breaking Bad," Michael C. Hall for "Dexter," Hugh Laurie for "House" and James Spader for "Boston Legal."

"Mad Men" and "Damages" also made Emmy history by becoming the first basic cable shows to be nominated in the Best Drama category.

Glenn Close earned a Best Actress in a Drama nomination for "Damages," along with Holly Hunter for "Saving Grace," Sally Field for "Brothers and Sisters," Mariska Hargitay for "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" and Kyra Sedgwick for "The Closer."

In the comedy category, the Best Actor nominees were Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock," Steve Carell for "The Office," Lee Pace for "Pushing Daisies," Tony Shalhoub for "Monk" and Charlie Sheen for "Two and a Half Men."

The Best Actress in a Comedy Series nominees were Tina Fey for "30 Rock," America Ferrera for "Ugly Betty," Julia Louis-Dreyfuss for "The New Adventures of Old Christine," Mary-Louise Parker for "Weeds" and Christina Applegate for "Samantha Who?"

"The Wire," the critically acclaimed HBO drama about police and drug dealers in Baltimore, lost its last shot at ending years of Emmy snubs after wrapping its final season.

Another Emmy first Thursday were the nominations for Best Reality Show Host.

The nominees include Ryan Seacrest from "American Idol," Tom Bergeron from "Dancing With The Stars," Howie Mandel from "Deal or No Deal," and Heidi Klum who kicked off the fifth season of "Project Runway" lWednesday night.

The host of "Survivor" also got an Emmy nod. And when Neil Patrick Harris announced Jeff Probst as a nominee, fellow announcer Kristin Chenoweth revealed a little about her private life. She said she went out on a date with Probst, and called him "totally cute."

Harris joked that maybe there would be a second date now that he's nominated for an Emmy. But Chenoweth said, "no, he's marrying somebody else."

Nominees in the Best Reality Competition category were "American Idol," "Dancing with the Stars," "Project Runway," "The Amazing Race" and "Top Chef."

Chenoweth ("Pushing Daisies") and Harris ("How I Met Your Mother") joined John Shaffner, Chairman and CEO of the Television Academy, to announce the nominations at the Academy’s Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood.

Both Chenoweth and Harris were nominated for supporting Emmys in the comedy category, and helped Shaffner honor the Academy for its 60th anniversary by blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

The Emmy Awards ceremony will be held Sept. 21 in Los Angeles. The Creative Arts Emmys, which awards guest actors and technical category winners, will be handed out a week before.