"House of Cards," a television show that's not on television, could be the big winner of this year's prime-time Emmys.

The critically acclaimed "Cards," which is available only through Netflix, scored nominations for best drama, best actor and best actress Thursday morning as the candidates for the 65th annual awards were announced.

Other shows with multiple high-profile nominations include AMC's "Breaking Bad," which unveils its final eight episodes starting Aug. 11, and several shows familiar from past Emmy nominations and wins: HBO's "Game of Thrones," AMC's "Mad Men," Showtime's "Homeland" and PBS's "Downton Abbey."

‘American Horror Story’ scared up the most Emmy nominations with 17.

The show with the most overall nominations in the Television Academy's 101 categories was FX's "American Horror Story" with 17, followed by "Game of Thrones" with 16, HBO's "Behind the Candleabra" and NBC's "Saturday Night Live" with 15, and "Breaking Bad" and NBC's "30 Rock" with 13.

"Downton Abbey," "Mad Men" and ABC's "Modern Family" all had 12, followed by "Homeland" and HBO's "Phil Spector" with 11 and HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" with 10.

Elisabeth Moss of "Mad Men" scored a rare double nomination, with best actress nods both for "Mad Men" and her Sundance miniseries "Top of the Lake."

But the nominations for "House of Cards" and its Netflix sister, the reincarnated "Arrested Development," got the most attention.

They reflect the increasingly high profile of "alternate" productions that are not carried on traditional broadcast or cable networks. The Television Academy, which gives the Emmy Awards, changed its rules in 2007 to make these shows eligible.

Kerry Washington picked up an Emmy nomination in the  Actress in a Drama Series category for her critically-acclaimed work in ‘Scandal’

"Cards" star Kevin Spacey was nominated as best actor in a drama and Robin Wright as best actress in a drama.

The breakthrough of "House of Cards" also overshadowed the fact that not many other new shows on TV this past year drew much buzz, making most of the nominations look familiar.

Michael Douglas and Matt Damon as Liberace and his lover in the HBO film ‘Behind the Candelabra,’ which earned 15 nominations.

Besides "Cards," the other nominees for best drama have all won Emmys before: "Breaking Bad," "Downton Abbey," "Mad Men," "Game of Thrones" and "Homeland."

"Breaking Bad" also scored nominations for two other previous winners: Bryan Cranston as best actor and Aaron Paul as best supporting actor.

Jon Hamm of "Mad Men" was nominated again was best dramatic actor - an award for which he has multiple nominations and so far no wins.

Michele Dockery of "Downton Abbey" was nominated as best actress in a drama, and her colleague Hugh Bonneville as best actor.

The comedy categories featured equally familiar shows and names.

Best comedy series nominees were "30 Rock," "The Big Bang Theory," "Girls," "Louie C.K.," "Modern Family" and "Veep."

Best actor nominees were Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock," Louie C.K. of "Louie C.K.," Matt LeBlanc of "Episodes," Jim Parsons of "Big Bang Theory," Jason Bateman of "Arrested Development" and Don Cheadle for "House of Lies."

Nominees for leading actress in a comedy include Tina Fey of "30 Rock," Laura Dern of "Enlightened," Lena Dunham of "Girls," Edie Falco of "Nurse Jackie," Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "Veep" and Amy Poehler of "Parks and Recreation."

Following the pattern of recent years, almost all the major nominations, particularly in drama, came from cable rather than broadcast shows.

Exceptions include "best actress in a drama" nominations for Connie Britton from "Nashville" and Kerry Washington from "Scandal."

Nominees for best actor in a drama, besides Hamm, Cranston, Bonneville and Spacey, include defending champion Damien Lewis of "Homeland" and Jeff Daniels of HBO's "The Newsroom."

For best actress in a drama, the other nominees are Vera Famiglia from A&E's "Bates Motel" and Claire Danes of "Homeland," who also won last year.

The awards will be presented Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. on CBS.