The Pacific leads this year's Emmy nominations

24 nominations - The Pacific. Photo / Supplied

Glee has received 19 nominations at this year's Emmy Awards.

The comedy drama - which features Matthew Morrison as a Spanish teacher leading a high school musical choir - gained the second largest amount of nominations behind World War II miniseries The Pacific, which took 24 nods.

Glee goes head-to-head against Curb Your Enthusiasm, Modern Family, The Office, 30 Rock and Nurse Jackie in the Best Comedy Series category, giving it the opportunity to break 30 Rock's three year run of wins.

Mad Men - the tale of an advertising agency in the 1960s - picked up 17 nominations, including Best Drama Series against Breaking Bad, Lost, True Blood, The Good Wife and Dexter.

Tina Fey joked about her selection in the Best Comedy Actress category for her role in 30 Rock, saying: "This is great and exciting news. Also, this seems like an appropriate time for me to announce to NBC that I will not be renewing my contract - with my gym."

A number of British stars also received nods - both Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith will compete for the prize in the Best Actress in a Miniseries category for their roles in Cranford and Capturing Mary respectively, while Sir Ian McKellen has been nominated in the equivalent male category for his performance in The Prisoner.

Jimmy Fallon will host this year's awards, which will broadcast live from Los Angeles on August 29.

A summary of the 62nd Annual Emmy Awards nominations:

Outstanding Drama
Lost
Breaking Bad
Dexter
Mad Men
True Blood
The Good Wife

Outstanding actress in a drama

Julianna Margulies - The Good Wife
Mariska Hargitay - Special Victims Unit
Glenn Close - Damages
Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer
January Jones - Mad Men
Connie Britton - Friday Night Lights

Outstanding actor in a drama

Jon Hamm - 'Mad Men
Kyle Chandler - Friday Night Lights
Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad
Hugh Laurie - House M.D.
Michael C. Hall - Dexter
Matthew Fox - Lost

Outstanding supporting actor in a drama

John Slattery - Mad Men
Aaron Paul - Breaking Bad
Martin Short - Damages
Terry O' Quinn - Lost
Michael Emerson - Lost
Andre Braugher - Men of a Certain Age

Outstanding supporting actress in a drama

Sharon Gless - Burn Notice
Christine Baranski - The Good Wife
Christina Hendricks - Mad Men
Rose Byrne - Damages
Archie Panjabi - The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss - Mad Men

Outstanding Comedy

Glee
Modern Family
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Nurse Jackie
30 Rock
The Office
Curb Your Enthusiasm

Outstanding actress in a comedy

Lea Michele - Glee
Tina Fey - 30 Rock
Toni Collette - The United States of Tara
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - The New Adventures of Old Christine
Edie Falco - Nurse Jackie
Amy Poehler - Parks and Recreation

Outstanding actor in a comedy

Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Matthew Morrison - Glee
Steve Carell - The Office
Jim Parsons - The Big Bang Theory
Tony Shalhoub - Monk

Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy

Chris Colfer - Glee
Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother
Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Modern Family
Jon Cryer - Two and A Half Men
Eric Stonestreet - Modern Family
Ty Burrell - Modern Family

Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy

Jane Lynch - Glee
Kristen Wiig - Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski - 30 Rock
Julie Bowen - Modern Family
Sofia Vergara - Modern Family
Holland Taylor - Two and A Half Men

Outstanding Miniseries

The Pacific
Return To Cranford

Outstanding variety, music or comedy series

The Colbert Report
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Real Time With Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live
The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien

-BANG! Showbiz