LOS ANGELES - Power-and-blood fantasy saga "Game of Thrones" ruled the Emmy nominations Thursday with a leading 23 bids, including best drama, while a real-life epic of murder and celebrity, "The People v. O.J. Simpson," was close behind with 22 nods.

"Game of Thrones" gets the chance to win its second top Emmy, while "Veep," last year's top comedy winner, also will get another shot at holding office.

Breakthrough nominations include a best comedy series nod for sophomore "black-ish," which brought the African-American family comedy back to network TV, with bids as well for its stars, Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross.

They were among a number of black actors recognized by TV academy voters, who have started to keep pace with TV's growing diversity - in sharp contrast to the moviedom's Academy Awards, which were slammed as "OscarsSoWhite" this year.