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Posted on: Friday, July 7, 2006

Emmy nominees tougher call for 'niche' networks

By Lisa de Moraes
Washington Post

AND THE NOMINEES ARE…

Nominees in major categories for the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards announced yesterday by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences:

Drama Series: "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; "House," Fox; "The Sopranos," HBO; "24," Fox; "The West Wing," NBC.

Comedy Series: "Arrested Development," Fox; "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; "The Office," NBC; "Scrubs," NBC; "Two and a Half Men," CBS.

Miniseries: "Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; "Elizabeth I," HBO; "Into the West," TNT; "Sleeper Cell," Showtime.

Made-for-TV Movie: "Flight 93," A&E; "The Flight That Fought Back," Discovery Channel; "The Girl in the Cafe," HBO; "Mrs. Harris," HBO; "Yesterday," HBO.

Variety, Music or Comedy Series: "The Colbert Report," Comedy Central; "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," Comedy Central; "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," NBC; "Late Show With David Letterman," CBS; "Real Time With Bill Maher," HBO.

Variety, Music or Comedy Special: "78th Annual Academy Awards," ABC; "Bill Maher: I'm Swiss," HBO; "George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing," HBO; "McCartney in St. Petersburg," A&E; "The XX Olympic Winter Games — Opening Ceremony," NBC.

Actor, Drama Series: Christopher Meloni, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC; Denis Leary, "Rescue Me," FX Network; Peter Krause, "Six Feet Under," HBO; Kiefer Sutherland, "24," Fox; Martin Sheen, "The West Wing," NBC.

Actress, Drama Series: Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer," TNT; Geena Davis, "Commander in Chief," ABC; Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC; Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under," HBO; Allison Janney, "The West Wing," NBC.

Supporting Actor, Drama Series: William Shatner, "Boston Legal," ABC; Oliver Platt, "Huff," Showtime; Michael Imperioli, "The Sopranos," HBO; Gregory Itzin, "24," Fox; Alan Alda, "The West Wing," NBC.

Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal," ABC; Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; Chandra Wilson, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; Blythe Danner, "Huff," Showtime; Jean Smart, "24," Fox.

Actor, Comedy Series: Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; Kevin James, "The King of Queens," CBS; Tony Shalhoub, "Monk," USA; Steve Carell, "The Office," NBC; Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men," CBS.

Actress, Comedy Series: Lisa Kudrow, "The Comeback," HBO; Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine," CBS; Stockard Channing, "Out of Practice," CBS; Debra Messing, "Will & Grace," NBC.

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Will Arnett, "Arrested Development," Fox; Jeremy Piven, "Entourage," HBO; Bryan Cranston, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox; Jon Cryer, "Two and a Half Men," CBS; Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace," NBC.

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Cheryl Hines, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; Alfre Woodard, "Desperate Housewives," ABC; Jaime Pressly, "My Name Is Earl," ABC; Elizabeth Perkins, "Weeds," Showtime; Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace," NBC.

Actor, Miniseries or a Movie: Charles Dance, "Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; Donald Sutherland, "Human Trafficking," Lifetime; Ben Kingsley, "Mrs. Harris," HBO; Jon Voight, "Pope John Paul II," CBS; Andre Braugher, "Thief," FX Network.

Actress, Miniseries or a Movie: Kathy Bates, "Ambulance Girl," Lifetime; Gillian Anderson, "Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; Helen Mirren, "Elizabeth I," HBO; Judy Davis, "A Little Thing Called Murder," Lifetime; Annette Bening, "Mrs. Harris," HBO.

Supporting Actor, Miniseries or a Movie: Denis Lawson, "Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; Hugh Dancy, "Elizabeth I," HBO; Jeremy Irons, "Elizabeth I," HBO; Robert Carlyle, "Human Trafficking," Lifetime; Clifton Collins Jr., "Thief," FX Network.

Supporting Actress, Miniseries or a Movie: Kelly Macdonald, "The Girl in the Cafe," HBO; Shirley Jones, "Hidden Places," Hallmark; Ellen Burstyn, "Mrs. Harris," HBO; Cloris Leachman, "Mrs. Harris," HBO; Alfre Woodard, "The Water Is Wide (Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation)," CBS.

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The change in the way the TV academy came up with its list of nominees to help thespians and series from smaller niche networks worked out great yesterday for CBS's "Two and a Half Men," which snagged nominations for best sitcom, lead actor Charlie Sheen and supporting actor Jon Cryer. Oh, and Kevin James copped his first ever nom for CBS's "King of Queens."

But for the so-called niche networks it was supposed to help — not so much.

Meanwhile, academy voters "totally ... (expletive deleted) slapped the 'Desperate Housewives' and really roughed up 'The Sopranos,' " to quote Tom O'Neill, who literally wrote the book on the Emmys. Loosely translated that means James Gandolfini and Edie Falco surprisingly did not receive nominations for their work on the HBO mob drama, and none of ABC's desperate housewives of Wisteria Lane got nominated this year — even though three of the four had received noms last year, and Felicity Huffman won the trophy for best comedy actress.

Meanwhile, "Desperate Housewives" itself, which was nominated last year for the best comedy trophy, also got snubbed yesterday in the best comedy race; ditto last year's best drama series winner, ABC's "Lost."

For the first time, blue-ribbon panels this year chose nominees from among the 10 shows or actors who had received the most votes by academy members. The change was intended to help shows and actors seen on smaller, niche networks get into the race.

But all 10 nominees for best drama and comedy series air on a Big Four broadcaster or HBO — business as usual.

In drama that includes ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," Fox's "House" and "24," HBO's "The Sopranos," and NBC's "The West Wing." Comedy contenders this year are Fox's "Arrested Development," HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," NBC's "The Office" and "Scrubs" and CBS's aforementioned "Two and a Half Men."

Meanwhile, only three actors in the lead-acting derbies hailed from niche networks: FX's "Rescue Me" star Denis Leary, TNT's "The Closer" lead Kyra Sedgwick and USA's "Monk" star Tony Shalhoub. But both Leary and Shalhoub have been nominated before and Shalhoub has turned two of his previous three best comedy actor nominations into wins.

Besides Leary, the race for best drama series actor includes "Six Feet Under's" Peter Krause, "24's" Kiefer Sutherland, "The West Wing's" Martin Sheen and, this year's only surprise, Christopher Meloni of "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit."

Joining Sedgwick in the race for best drama series actresses: "Commander in Chief's" Geena Davis, "Law & Order: SVU's" Mariska Hargitay, "Six Feet Under's" Frances Conroy and "The West Wing's" Allison Janney.

Charlie Sheen, James and Shalhoub will duke it out for best comedy actor with "Curb Your Enthusiasm"'s Larry David, and "The Office's" Steve Carell, while the race for best sitcom actress this year includes "Malcolm in the Middle's" Jane Kaczmarek, "Will & Grace's" Debra Messing, "Out of Practice's" Stockard Channing, "The New Adventures of Old Christine" star Julie Louis-Dreyfus, and "The Comeback" kid Lisa Kudrow.

The jaw dropping lack-of-change sent shockwaves through the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre at the TV academy's North Hollywood headquarters, where Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Garrett announced the glam category nominees yesterday morning.

You could see the outrage in the heaving bosoms of the celebrity suck-up show hostesses — there to do live feeds for their networks — as they grilled Louis-Dreyfus about the fabulous tight white eyelet cleavage-revealing dress into which she had poured herself for the morning's festivities as well as what she intended to wear on Emmy night.

Male on-air talent were outraged, too, you just couldn't see their chests heaving under their dark suits. But their eyes flashed, which is almost as good: "It's television's biggest night! The Emmy nominations are in and we'll tell you who's got some serious celebrating to do!"

OK, maybe that guy isn't such a good example. But how about this:

"It didn't accomplish its goal to boost those other networks," said Tom O'Neill, the Yoda of prime-time Emmy nominations who was here to do commentary for CNN Headline News.

Noticeably missing from yesterday morning's nominations was Lauren Graham, star of WB's "Gilmore Girls" and darling of some TV critics. Graham, who has never been nominated during her six years on the series, had become something of a poster child for the need to overhaul the way in which the nominations list was formed.

"That Lauren Graham is not here is going to cause industry outrage," O'Neill said. "Many think the system was tinkered with so she could finally get her due. ... The system that was designed to help mostly the artsy stuff ended up boosting 'Two and a Half Men.' "

Talking to CNN Headline News, he added that "TV critics of America say she's given the best performance on the tube. ... There are some surprises, but the surprises we'd hoped to see were not here," he said.