The verdict is in: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was one of the five best drama series on television last season.

The series today scored its second Emmy nod in a row for Outstanding Drama Series when the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the nominations for the 55th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Actors Michael Chiklis (The Shield) and Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm In The Middle) joined with Academy chairman Bryce Zabel to make the announcements just after 5:30 a.m. this morning.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation scored a total of six nominations, the same tally as last season, bringing the show's total amount of Emmy nominations to 16. To take out this year's Outstanding Drama Series prize, CSI will have to beat off competition from 24, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and three-time winner, The West Wing.

Despite being the most-watched freshman series last season, spin-off CSI: Miami was recognised in only one category: cinematography.

Marg Helgenberger received a nomination as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Catherine Willows; the only actor from CSI or CSI: Miami to receive a nomination. She was recognised in this category during CSI's first season, but missed out on a nod last year. Overall, this marks Helgenberger's fifth Emmy nomination, having won a Supporting Actress gong in 1990 for China Beach.

Lead Actress is one of the mostly hotly-contested Emmy categories, and Helgenberger faces formidable opposition. Her rivals for the prize include last year's winner Allison Janney (The West Wing), who boasts three Emmy trophies, and The Sopranos' Edie Falco, who won the category in 1999 and 2001. The other two nominees were both recognised last year: Jennifer Garner (Alias) and Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under).

The full list of nominations for CSI and CSI: Miami follows:

• Outstanding Drama Series: The full production team listed on the nominations form is made up of executive producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Carol Mendelsohn, Ann Donahue, Anthony Zuiker, Danny Cannon; co-executive producers William Petersen, Jonathan Littman, Cindy Chvatal, Naren Shankar; supervising producer Andrew Lipsitz; and producers Louis Milito, Josh Berman, Ken Fink and Richard Lewis.

• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows. Helgenberger's second nomination for CSI.

• Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series: Michael D. O'Shea was recognised for his work in the CSI: Miami episode, "Simple Man", the fifth Emmy nomination in the course of his career. Other nominees in this category were Alias, Six Feet Under and The West Wing.

• Outstanding Makeup for a Series (Non-Prosthetic): CSI's makeup team scored a nod for "Lady Heather's Box", having won an Emmy in this category last year for Lady Heather's first appearance in "Slaves of Las Vegas". The team is made up of Nick Pagliaro (makeup artist), Melanie Levitt (makeup artist), John Goodwin (FX makeup artist) and Jackie Tichenor (makeup artist). Their competition consists of Alias, MADtv, Sex and the City and Six Feet Under.

• Outstanding Makeup for a Series (Prosthetic): Again, a second nomination in a row for CSI in this category, with "Overload" receiving a nod last year. John Goodwin (FX makeup artist) and Jackie Tichenor (makeup artist) are recognised for their work in "Got Murder?". Other nominees are Enterprise, MADtv, Primetime Glick and Six Feet Under.

• Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series: CSI's sound editing team were recognised for their work in "Fight Night", their third straight nomination after receiving nods for "Chasing the Bus" and "$35K OBO". Having lost to Smallville last year, this time round they will face competition from Alias, ER, Third Watch and 24. The team consists of Mace Matiosian (sound supervisor), David Van Slyke (sound editor), Ruth Adelman (sound editor), Jivan Tahmizian (sound editor), Sheri Ozeki (music editor), Joseph Sabella (foley artist), Zane Bruce (foley artist).

• Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Series: Yuri Reese (re-recording mixer), Bill Smith (re-recording mixer) and Mick Fowler (production sound mixer) received a nomination for CSI's "Revenge Is Best Served Cold". This is their second Emmy nod, having been recognised for "Primum Non Nocere" last season. They will compete with their peers from ER (last year's winners), The Sopranos, 24 and The West Wing.

Six Feet Under scored the most nominations with 16 nods, followed by The West Wing's 15 nominations and Everybody Loves Raymond, Sex and the City and The Sopranos, with 13 each. Raymond and Sex were nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series together with Friends, Will & Grace and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The CBS network, home of CSI and CSI: Miami, managed a total 59 nominations, ranking third in the list of networks behind HBO (a whopping 109 nods) and NBC (77 nominations). Fox was fourth with 37 nods, followed by ABC (33) and PBS (16).

CSI's Thursday-night lead-out series, Without a Trace, received two nominations, for Outstanding Guest Actor (Charles S. Dutton as Chet Collins) and Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series. Also on the crime and punishment front, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Boomtown each scored one nod a piece, while Third Watch managed two. Former Emmy stalwart NYPD Blue was snubbed this year.

The winners of the Creative Arts Awards, in which CSI and CSI: Miami are nominated in five categories, will be announced on September 13. The Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series and Oustanding Lead Actress, will be presented on September 21 in a ceremony at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium to be broadcast live on Fox.

The Associated Press has a list of all the high-profile nominations up at Yahoo! News, and you can download the full list of nominations from the Emmy web site.

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