'Mad Men,' 'Boardwalk Empire' face off at Emmys (AP)

LOS ANGELES &ndash; Hours before the major celebrities descended on the Emmy Award red carpet, fans such as Antoinette Korzetz were already having a ball. Korzetz, 69, traveled from a suburb of Detroit with her husband and daughter to sit in the fan bleachers for the first time. She was most looking forward to seeing Kate Winslet, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. "It's already fun, and no one is out here yet!" the retired waitress said Sunday. "We have a lot a relatives watching in Michigan." Inside the Nokia Theatre, the Emmy ruler "Mad Men" is facing a threat from the mobsters and crooked politicians of "Boardwalk Empire." AMC's 1960s Madison Avenue saga, which has earned three consecutive Emmy Awards as best drama series, is competing Sunday with <a href="http://www.ecigs-store.com/"><strong>smokeless cigarette</strong></a> HBO's tale of Atlantic City, N.J, schemers making the most of the wild days of Prohibition in the 1920s. "The Sopranos," another HBO show about New Jersey hoodlums, was an Emmy magnet for the cable TV channel that earned 21 trophies during its six seasons. HBO and AMC's leading men are in a showdown as well. "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm, shut out three times by Bryan Cranston of "Breaking Bad," caught a break when Cranston's series didn't air within the Emmy eligibility period. But newcomer "Boardwalk Empire" brought Steve Buscemi into the picture with a first-string nomination for the actor who has been acclaimed for supporting roles. Jane Lynch of "Glee" is host of the 63rd Primetime Emmys, airing live on Fox. Executives from accounting giant Ernst &amp; Young were spotted arriving with the winners envelopes in a silver briefcase. Fans in the two bleachers set aside on the red carpet cheered as they passed. Also nominated for best drama series are "Dexter," "Friday Night Lights," "Game of Thrones" and "The Good Wife." Other contests to watch include best comedy series, with "Modern Family" trying to repeat last year's win against competitors including "Glee" and "Parks and Recreation." Steve Carell of "The Office" is making his last Emmy stand for his fifth and final season as clueless manager Michael Scott, after being snubbed four years in a row. A new category, which combines the previously separate best miniseries and made-for-TV movie <a href="http://www.christianlouboutin-temperament.com/"><strong>cheap christian louboutins</strong></a> nominees, includes the miniseries "Mildred Pierce," with Winslet nominated in the role of an embattled mother, and the movie "Too Big to Fail," about the U.S. fiscal crisis in 2008. In the reality-competition category, perennial also-ran "American Idol" will take its ninth shot at winning, this time for a season in which it successfully navigated the loss of key judge Simon Cowell. HBO came into the night with a leading 15 awards earned at the Sept. 10 creative arts awards, followed by PBS with 10, Fox with nine, CBS with seven and NBC with five. "Boardwalk Empire" captured a leading seven creative arts Emmys, which honor technical achievements and guest stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow, who won for her appearance in "Glee." First-time Emmy producer Mark Burnett, whose string of reality TV hits includes "Survivor," was in charge of the ceremony that has played to a dwindling audience. After hitting an all-time viewership low of 12.3 million in 2008, the Emmys rebounded somewhat in <a href="http://www.ecigs-store.com/egot-001-p-9.html"><strong>electronic cigarette brands</strong></a> the last two years and drew a 2010 audience of 13.47 million, compared to 26.7 million for this year's Grammys and nearly 38 million for the Oscars. ___ http://www.emmys.org ___ Solvej Schou contributed to this report.