HBO Dominates CableACE Nominations With 104

While a diverse group of personalities including Walter Cronkite, Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon were recognized, HBO continued its domination over the CableACE Award nominations announced Tuesday in Beverly Hills.

HBO received 104 of the 376 nominations, more than the combined total of the next three networks--Arts & Entertainment (32), Showtime (31) and the Disney Channel (23).

HBO also had the four most-nominated programs: “Dream On” (nine); “Citizen Cohn” (eight); “Tales From the Crypt” (seven) and “Sessions” (seven).

The Disney Channel’s “Avonlea,” last year’s winner for best dramatic series, was among the four nominees in the category this year, joining HBO’s “Tales From the Crypt,” Arts & Entertainment’s “The House of Eliott” and USA’s “The Ray Bradbury Theater.”

Cronkite and Fonda will be competing against each other as best informational or documentary host. Cronkite was cited for his duties on “Dinosaur!,” carried on the Arts & Entertainment Network, and Fonda for “Fonda on Fonda,” Turner Network Television’s look at her father, the late actor Henry Fonda. Lemmon was nominated for best actor in a movie or miniseries for his work in HBO’s “For Richer, For Poorer.”

HBO was also among five nominees for the Golden CableACE, the industry’s highest honor, given to a company, project or program for excellence. HBO was selected for “Comic Relief V,” while MTV was cited for its “Choose or Lose” series on the 1992 elections, C-SPAN for its election coverage, Lifetime for its look at women in politics and Nickelodeon for a discussion program with retired basketball standout Magic Johnson.

Winners of the 14th annual CableACE Awards will be announced Jan. 17 during ceremonies at the Pantages Theatre, which will be televised by Lifetime. The awards cover the period from Sept. 1, 1991, to Aug. 31, 1992.

Among the nominees:

* Movie or miniseries: “A Private Matter,” HBO; “Afterburn,” HBO; “Ashenden,” A&E; “Citizen Cohn,” HBO; “White Lie,” USA.

* Comedy series: “Dream On,” HBO; “Sessions,” HBO; “The Kids in the Hall,” HBO; “The Larry Sanders Show,” HBO.

* Dramatic or theatrical special: “Kurt Vonnegut’s Monkey House: Fortitude,” Showtime; “One More Spring,” The Learning Channel; “Showtime 30-Minute Movie: Without a Pass,” Showtime.

* Music special: “Gloria Estefan: Going Home,” Disney; “James Taylor: Going Home,” Disney; “New Orleans Live! An Evening With Wynton Marsalis: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong,” A&E; “Sting at the Hollywood Bowl,” Disney; “The Judds Farewell Concert,” Viewer’s Choice.

* Music series: “American Music Shop,” the Nashville Network; “BET on Jazz With Ramsey Lewis,” Black Entertainment Television; “Birdland,” Bravo; “MTV Unplugged,” MTV.

* Talk show special or series: “Attitudes,” Lifetime; “Charlie Rose: One on One With Roger Payne,” Discovery; “Larry King Live,” CNN; “Remember . . . With Roy Firestone,” Nostalgia; “The Dick Cavett Show,” CNBC.

* Documentary special: “Abortion: Desperate Choices: American Undercover,” HBO; “Asylum: American Undercover,” HBO; “My Mother’s Murder: American Undercover,” HBO; “People of the Forest: The Chimps of Gombe,” Discovery Channel; “The Iceman Tapes: Conversations With a Killer: American Undercover,” HBO.

* Documentary series: “Biography,” A&E; “Class of the 20th Century,” A&E; “Indonesia Parts 1 and 2,” Turner Broadcasting System; “VH-1 to One,” VH-1.

* Sports news series: “CNN Sports Tonight,” CNN; “College GameDay,” ESPN; “NFL GameDay,” ESPN; “Press Box,” Prime Ticket; “SportsCenter,” ESPN.

* Actor in a movie or miniseries: Jack Lemmon, “For Richer, For Poorer,” HBO; William McNamara, “Wildflower,” Lifetime; Jason Robards, “Mark Twain and Me,” Disney; Jon Voight, “The Last of His Tribe,” HBO; James Woods, “Citizen Cohn,” HBO.

* Actress in a movie or miniseries: Patricia Arquette, “Wildflower,” Lifetime; Laura Dern, “Afterburn,” HBO; Holly Hunter, “Crazy in Love,” TNT; Christine Lahti, “The Fear Inside,” Showtime; Sissy Spacek, “A Private Matter,” HBO.

* Newscaster: John Palmer, “World Monitor,” the Monitor Channel; Cynthia McFadden, “Courtroom Television Trial Coverage,” Courtroom Television Network; Bernard Shaw, “Inside Politics ‘92,” CNN.