The 45th
Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 19, 1993. The ceremony was broadcast on
ABC and was hosted by
Angela Lansbury.
MTV received its first major nomination at this ceremony.
On the drama side, Northern Exposure was the defending champion and was seen heavily as the favorite coming into the ceremony being the most nominated show with nine major nominations—but in a major upset, Picket Fences took home
Outstanding Drama Series. Northern Exposure set the dubious record for the largest shutout of all time, as it lost all 11 major nominations; including its
Creative Arts Emmy Awards nominations, the record increases to 0/16. This record would later be tied by The Larry Sanders Show in
1997, but both of these records were later broken by Mad Men (0/17) in
2012, and again by The Handmaid's Tale (0/21) in
2021.
Chad Lowe as Jesse McKenna in Life Goes On (ABC) (Episodes: "Lost Weekend" + "Bedfellows")
Barry Corbin as Maurice J. Minnifield in Northern Exposure (CBS) (Episodes: "The Big Feast" + "Sleeping with the Enemy")
John Cullum as Holling Vincoeur in Northern Exposure (CBS) (Episodes: "Learning Curve" + "Mud and Blood")
Fyvush Finkel as Douglas Wambaugh in Picket Fences (CBS) (Episodes: "Thanksgiving" + "The Body Politic")
Dean Stockwell as
Al Calavicci in Quantum Leap (NBC) (Episodes: "Lee Harvey Oswald: October 5, 1957 – November 22, 1963" + "Killin' Time: June 18, 1958")