42nd Primetime Emmy Awards

42nd Primetime Emmy Awards
42nd Primetime Emmy Awards
Date	September 16, 1990 ; (Ceremony); September 15, 1990 ; (Creative Arts Awards);
Location	Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hosted by	Candice Bergen ; Jay Leno ; Jane Pauley
Highlights
Most awards	L.A. Law (3)
Most nominations	L.A. Law (11)
Outstanding Comedy Series	Murphy Brown
Outstanding Drama Series	L.A. Law
Outstanding Miniseries	Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series	In Living Color
Television/radio coverage
Network	Fox

The 42nd Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 16, 1990. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. Two networks, The Family Channel and The Disney Channel, received their first major nominations.

For its second season, Murphy Brown won Outstanding Comedy Series and one other major award. Defending champion Cheers received the most major nominations for a comedy series with 9 and Newhart finished its series run with 21 major nominations, but not a single win. On the drama side, L.A. Law won Outstanding Drama Series for the third time in four years and also won three major awards, receiving the most major nominations for a drama series with 11. This became the first year that every cast member of The Golden Girls wasn't nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.

This ceremony was remembered for the circumstance that three major categories resulted in ties, the most ever for one ceremony.

A clip of The Simpsons presenting the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series can be seen on the DVD boxset of the second season as a special feature.