2011 Emmy Nominations: Best Drama Series "Boardwalk Empire"
The cast of "Boardwalk Empire" pose with their Screen Actors Guild Award for best drama series at the 17th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California. REUTERS

Premium pay channel HBO is dominating the Emmy Awards with highest number of nominations on Thursday.

HBO for the 63rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards earned a stunning 104 nods, which includes honors for its two freshman series, Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire, mini-series Mildred Pierce, the TV movies Cinema Verite and Too Big to Fail, about the nation's banking crisis.

Mini-series Mildred Pierce, the period melodrama starring Kate Winslet in a role that Joan Crawford made famous in 1945 and for which she earned her first and only Oscar, earned the most number of nominations.

The staggering 21 nods included the best actress award for Winslet, and best director award for Todd Haynes.

CBS had the second largest numbers of nominations with 50, followed by NBC, which had 46 nominations.

HBO rival Showtime had 21 nominations. The series which had the most number of nominations were Mad Men with 19, Boardwalk Empire with 18, Modern Family with 17,

Saturday Night Live and Game of Thrones had 16 and 13 nominations respectively, LA times reported.

Mad Men, which has won this prize for the third time in a row, along with Dexter, The Good Wife, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, and Friday Night Lights which are nominated for the best drama series.

The nominations for best comedy series include Modern Family, Parks & Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock. The Big Bang Theory also earned a nomination for the best comedy series after four seasons.

Five of the 12 nominated comedy and drama series are nominated for the first time.

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