The40th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, August 28, 1988. The ceremony was broadcast onFox from thePasadena Civic Auditorium inPasadena, California. The ceremony was held earlier than its traditional September date to avoid conflict with the1988 Summer Olympics inSeoul, South Korea. Cable stationsHBO andShowtime received their first major nominations at this ceremony.

Despite a season that consisted of only six episodes, newcomer seriesThe Wonder Years wonOutstanding Comedy Series. After winning his fourth consecutivePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series,John Larroquette requested to have his name taken off of the ballot for future ceremonies.Frank's Place became the most recent show whose only season was nominated for Outstanding Comedy/Drama Series.

In the drama fieldL.A. Law came into the ceremony as the defending champ and with 15 major nominations, (second most ever by a drama series at that time), it was seen as the heavy favorite. However, it was upset by another first season show,Thirtysomething which won three major awards on the night includingOutstanding Drama Series.L.A. Law only won one major award. The duo ofCagney & Lacey wonOutstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the sixth consecutive year. This tiedThe Mary Tyler Moore Show's record for acting categories, which still stands. (It stood for all categories untilThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart won ten consecutivePrimetime Emmy Awards forOutstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series.) With the wins for Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty,The Golden Girls became the most recent show to have all of its cast members win Emmys. It became the second series to do so, followingAll in the Family. Three other programs would accomplish this feat:Will & Grace in2003,The Simpsons in2014, andSchitt's Creek in2020.

There was controversy during the nomination process regarding thePBS seriesRumpole of the Bailey. The series was initially placed in theminiseries field, but soon after theAcademy disqualified it and placed it in the drama series field. Its slot in the miniseries category was filled byThe Bourne Identity.^[1]

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Notes

• Emmys.com list of 1988 Nominees & Winners
• 40th Primetime Emmy Awards atIMDb

• Primetime Emmy Award ceremonies
• 1988 television awards
• 1988 in American television
• 1988 in California
• August 1988 in the United States

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from September 2021