35th Primetime Emmy Awards

|+ {{sronly|Programs}}

• Cheers (NBC)
• Buffalo Bill (NBC)
• M*A*S*H (CBS)
• Newhart (CBS)
• Taxi (NBC)

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Drama Series}}

• Hill Street Blues (NBC)
• Cagney & Lacey (CBS)
• Fame (NBC)
• Magnum, P.I. (CBS)
• St. Elsewhere (NBC)

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Limited Series}}

• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Syndicated)
• Smiley's People (Syndicated)
• The Thorn Birds (ABC)
• To Serve Them All My Days (CBS)
• The Winds of War (ABC)

|+ {{sronly|Acting}}

• Judd Hirsch as Alex Reiger in Taxi (NBC) (Episode: "Alex's Old Buddy")
• Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H (CBS)
• Dabney Coleman as Bill Bittinger in Buffalo Bill (NBC)
• Ted Danson as Sam Malone in Cheers (NBC)
• Robert Guillaume as Benson DuBois in Benson (ABC)

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series}}

• Shelley Long as Diane Chambers in Cheers (NBC) (Episode: "Give Me a Ring Sometime")
• Nell Carter as Nell Harper in Gimme a Break! (NBC)
• Mariette Hartley as Jennifer Barnes in Goodnight, Beantown (CBS)
• Swoosie Kurtz as Laurie Morgan in Love, Sidney (NBC)
• Rita Moreno as Violet Newstead in 9 to 5 (ABC)
• Isabel Sanford as Louise Jefferson in The Jeffersons (CBS)

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series}}

• Tyne Daly as Mary Beth Lacey in Cagney & Lacey (CBS) (Episode: "Burn Out")
• Debbie Allen as Lydia Grant in Fame (NBC)
• Linda Evans as Krystle Carrington in Dynasty (ABC)
• Sharon Gless as Christine Cagney in Cagney & Lacey (CBS)
• Veronica Hamel as Joyce Davenport in Hill Street Blues (NBC)

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special}}

• Barbara Stanwyck as Mary Carson in The Thorn Birds (ABC) (Episode: "Part 1")
• Ann-Margret as Lucile Fray in Who Will Love My Children? (ABC)
• Rosanna Arquette as Nicole Baker in The Executioner's Song (NBC)
• Mariette Hartley as Candy Lightner in M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (NBC)
• Angela Lansbury as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in Little Gloria... Happy at Last (NBC)

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series}}

• Christopher Lloyd as Jim Ignatowski in Taxi (NBC) (Episode: "Jim's Inheritance")
• Nicholas Colasanto as Coach Ernie Pantusso in Cheers (NBC)
• Danny DeVito as Louie De Palma in Taxi (NBC)
• Harry Morgan as Sherman T. Potter in M*A*S*H (CBS)
• Eddie Murphy as Various Characters in Saturday Night Live (NBC)

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series}}

• Carol Kane as Simka Dahblitz-Gravas in Taxi (NBC) (Episode: "Scenkees From a Marriage")
• Eileen Brennan as Doreen Lewis in Private Benjamin (CBS)
• Marla Gibbs as Florence Johnston in The Jeffersons (CBS)
• Rhea Perlman as Carla Tortelli in Cheers (NBC)
• Loretta Swit as Margaret Houlihan in M*A*S*H (CBS)

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series}}

• Doris Roberts as Cora in St. Elsewhere (NBC) (Episode: "Cora and Arnie")
• Barbara Bosson as Fay Furillo in Hill Street Blues (NBC)
• Christina Pickles as Nurse Helen Rosenthal in St. Elsewhere (NBC)
• Madge Sinclair as Nurse Ernestine Shoop in Trapper John, M.D. (CBS)
• Betty Thomas as Sgt. Lucille Bates in Hill Street Blues (NBC)

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special}}

• Jean Simmons as Fiona 'Fee' Cleary in The Thorn Birds (ABC)
• Judith Anderson as Nurse in Medea (PBS)
• Polly Bergen as Rhoda Henry in The Winds of War (ABC)
• Bette Davis as Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt in Little Gloria... Happy at Last (NBC)
• Piper Laurie as Anne Mueller in The Thorn Birds (ABC) (Episode: "Part III")

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program}}

• Leontyne Price – Live from Lincoln Center: "Leontyne Price, Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic" (PBS)
• Carol Burnett – Texaco Star Theater...Opening Night (NBC)
• Michael Jackson – Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (NBC)
• Luciano Pavarotti – Live from Lincoln Center: "Luciano Pavarotti and the New York Philharmonic" (PBS)
• Richard Pryor – Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (NBC)

|+ {{sronly|Directing}}

• Cheers (NBC): "Showdown, Part II" – James Burrows
• Buffalo Bill (NBC): "Pilot" – Tom Patchett
• Buffalo Bill (NBC): "Woody Quits" – Jim Drake
• The Love Boat (ABC): "The Dog Show" – Bob Sweeney
• M*A*S*H (CBS): "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" – Alan Alda
• M*A*S*H (CBS): "The Joker Is Wild" – Burt Metcalfe

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series}}

• Hill Street Blues (NBC): "Life in the Minors" – Jeff Bleckner
• Fame (NBC): "And the Winner Is" – Marc Daniels
• Fame (NBC): "Feelings" – Robert Scheerer
• The Mississippi (CBS): "Old Hatreds Die Hard" – Leo Penn

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Directing in a Limited Series or a Special}}

• Who Will Love My Children? (ABC) – John Erman
• Smiley's People (Syndicated): "Part VI" – Simon Langton
• Special Bulletin (NBC) – Edward Zwick
• The Thorn Birds (ABC): "Part II" – Daryl Duke
• The Winds of War (ABC): "Into the Maelstrom" – Dan Curtis

|+ {{sronly|Writing}}

• Cheers (NBC): "Give Me a Ring Sometime" – Glen Charles and Les Charles
• Buffalo Bill (NBC): "Pilot" – Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses
• Cheers (NBC): "The Boys in the Bar" – Ken Levine and David Isaacs
• Cheers (NBC): "Diane's Perfect Date" – David Lloyd
• Taxi (NBC): "Jim's Inheritance" – Ken Estin

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series}}

• Hill Street Blues (NBC): "Trial by Fury" – David Milch
• Hill Street Blues (NBC): "Eugene's Comedy Empire Strikes Back" – {{StoryTeleplay|s=Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich and Jeffrey Lewis|t=Anthony Yerkovich, David Milch and Karen Hall}}
• Hill Street Blues (NBC): "A Hair of the Dog" – Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich and Jeffrey Lewis
• Hill Street Blues (NBC): "No Body's Perfect" – {{StoryTeleplay|s=Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich and Jeffrey Lewis|t=Michael Wagner and David Milch}}
• Hill Street Blues (NBC): "Officer of the Year" – Karen Hall

| style="vertical-align:top;" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or a Special}}

• Special Bulletin (NBC) – {{StoryTeleplay|s=Edward Zwick|t=Marshall Herskovitz}}
• The Executioner's Song (NBC) – Norman Mailer
• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Syndicated): "Part IV" – David Edgar
• Little Gloria... Happy at Last (NBC) – William Hanley
• Who Will Love My Children? (ABC) – Michael Bortman

|+Networks with multiple major nominations"Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories.

|+Programs with multiple major nominations

|+Networks with multiple major awards"Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories.

|+Programs with multiple major awards