31st Primetime Emmy Awards


The 31st Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony was held on Sunday, September 9, 1979. The ceremony was broadcast on the ABC. It was hosted by Henry Winkler and Cheryl Ladd. This ceremony is remembered for problems with the Pasadena Civic Auditorium's air-conditioning.
The top shows of the night were Taxi, which pulled an upset in the Outstanding Comedy Series field when it beat All in the Family's final season, and Lou Grant, which received 12 major nominations and won two awards including Outstanding Drama Series.
For the first time, most of the Miniseries and Television Movie Categories were merged into one, this would become the standard for later ceremonies, culminating with the TV Movie and Miniseries Program Categories combining in 2011. For this year only, the comedy and variety categories were combined in acting, directing and writing. This combination would not stick, and the traditional categories returned the next year.

Winners and nominees


Most major nominations

ProgramCategoryNetworkNumber of
nominations
Lou GrantDramaCBS12
M*A*S*HComedyCBS9
Backstairs at the White HouseLimitedCBS8
All in the FamilyComedyCBS6
The Rockford FilesDramaNBC6
Roots: The Next GenerationsLimitedABC6
Friendly FireSpecialABC5
TaxiComedyABC5
Barney MillerComedyABC4
The Jericho MileSpecialABC3
SoapComedyABC3
Summer of My German SoldierSpecialNBC3
AliceComedyCBS2
FamilyDramaABC2
First, You CrySpecialCBS2
Mork & MindyComedyABC2
The Paper ChaseDramaNBC2
Saturday Night LiveVarietyNBC2
Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil StorySpecialCBS2

Most major awards

ProgramCategoryNetworkNumber of
Awards
All in the FamilyComedyCBS2
Friendly FireSpecialABC2
The Jericho MileSpecialABC2
Lou GrantDramaCBS2
Roots: The Next GenerationsMiniseriesABC2
TaxiComedyABC2

;Notes

Presenters