Sometimes Emmy voters choose a favorite to bestow most of its gold, but Sunday they spread the love around.
HBO's The Sopranos, shut out of acting categories for its final season, won TV's top award for best drama. NBC's freshman comedy 30 Rock didn't have many viewers last season, but it won the Emmy for best comedy.
And ABC had a good night in top acting categories: Sally Field won best drama actress for ABC's freshman Brothers & Sisters, her third Emmy. America Ferrera took best comedy actress for another first-year series, Ugly Betty. James Spader was a surprise winner, claiming his third Emmy, for Boston Legal. HBO won a top award, not for Gandolfini but for Ricky Gervais, the British creator of The Office, with best comedy actor for showbiz sendup Extras, co-produced with BBC.
In supporting categories, it was a year for first-timers. Katherine Heigl took home her first Emmy trophy, winning best supporting drama actress on ABC hospital drama Grey's Anatomy and trumping two of her co-stars, Chandra Wilson and Sandra Oh. Terry O'Quinn, won best supporting drama actor for ABC's Lost; and Jaime Pressly as best supporting actress for NBC's comedy My Name is Earl, also marking that series' first acting award. Only Jeremy Piven was a repeat with his second consecutive win as best supporting actor in a comedy series for his role as obnoxious agent Ari Gold on HBO's Entourage. He'd also been nominated in 2005.
In movie and miniseries categories, Westerns won out. AMC's Broken Trail won best miniseries, as did its stars, lead actor Robert Duvall and supporting actor Thomas Haden Church, both with their first Emmys. HBO's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a big winner in last weekend's creative arts awards, won best movie. On the non-Western front, Helen Mirren won her fourth Emmy as lead movie/miniseries actress in PBS' Prime Suspect: The Final Act, which also won writing and directing awards. Best supporting actress in the category went to Judy Davis for USA's The Starter Wife.
CBS' The Amazing Race continued an impressive winning streak with its fifth consecutive Emmy in the reality-competition series, edging out the far more popular American Idol, which has never won.
Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart won best variety, music and comedy series for the fourth consecutive year. But after 24 nominations and zero wins, NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien snapped its losing streak by winning the Emmy for best writing in that category, also won by The Daily Show for the past four years.
The Emmy for drama writing went to David Chase, creator of HBO's The Sopranos, for "Made in America," the series finale that aired in June, while the departed series also took the directing award for the "Kennedy and Heidi" episode NBC's low-rated special Tony Bennett: An American Classic won three awards, for variety, music or comedy special; best performance in one; and best direction.
The comedy directing award went to Richard Shepard for ABC's Ugly Betty, and comedy writing honors were given to Greg Daniels for NBC's The Office.
In all, 29 awards were to be presented Sunday in the 59th annual Emmy Awards ceremony, televised on Fox.
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
JEREMY PIVEN as Ari Gold HBO
Entourage
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
TERRY O'QUINN as John Locke ABC
Lost
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
JAIME PRESSLY as Joy Turner NBC
My Name Is Earl
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
THOMAS HADEN CHURCH as Tom Harte AMC Broken Trail
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
KATHERINE HEIGL as Isobel "Izzie" Stevens ABC
Grey's Anatomy
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY PROGRAM
MIKE SWEENEY, Head Writer NBC CHRIS ALBERS, Writer JOSE ARROYO, Writer DAN CRONIN, Writer KEVIN DORFF, Writer DANIEL J. GOOR, Writer MICHAEL GORDON, Writer BERKLEY JOHNSON, Writer BRIAN KILEY, Writer MICHAEL KOMAN, Writer TIM HARROD, Writer BRIAN MCCANN, Writer GUY NICOLUCCI, Writer CONAN O'BRIEN, Writer BRIAN STACK, Writer ANDREW WEINBERG, Writer
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY PROGRAM
ROB MARSHALL NBC
Tony Bennett: An American Classic
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
ROBERT DUVALL as Prentice "Print" Ritter AMC
Broken Trail
OUTSTANDING MINISERIES
BROKEN TRAIL AMC
Stanley M. Brooks, Executive Producer Robert Duvall, Executive Producer Robert Carliner, Executive Producer Chad Oakes, Producer Walter Hill, Produced By Damian Ganczewski, Producer
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
ALAN TAYLOR HBO
The Sopranos Kennedy and Heidi
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
DAVID CHASE HBO
The Sopranos Made In America
OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART COMEDY CENTRAL
Jon Stewart, Executive Producer Ben Karlin, Executive Producer David Javerbaum, Executive Producer Kahane Corn, Co-Executive Producer Josh Lieb, Co-Executive Producer Rory Albanese, Supervising Producer Jim Margolis, Supervising Producer
OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SPECIAL
TONY BENNETT: AN AMERICAN CLASSIC NBC
Danny Bennett, Executive Producer Jodi Hurwitz, Producer John DeLuca, Executive Producer Rob Marshall, Executive Producer
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
JUDY DAVIS as Joan McAllister USA
The Starter Wife
OUTSTANDING MADE FOR TELEVISION MOVIE
BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE HBO
Tom Thayer, Executive Producer Dick Wolf, Executive Producer Yves Simoneau, Co-Executive Producer Clara George, Produced By
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
HELEN MIRREN as Jane Tennison PBS
Prime Suspect: The Final Act (Masterpiece Theatre)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR A DRAMATIC SPECIAL
PHILIP MARTIN PBS
Prime Suspect: The Final Act (Masterpiece Theatre)
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR A DRAMATIC SPECIAL
FRANK DEASY PBS
Prime Suspect: The Final Act (Masterpiece Theatre)
OUTSTANDING CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT IN INTERACTIVE TELEVISION
CURRENT TV CURRENTTV.COM
OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IN A VARIETY OR MUSIC PROGRAM
TONY BENNETT NBC
Tony Bennett: An American Classic
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
RICHARD SHEPARD ABC
Ugly Betty Pilot
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
GREG DANIELS NBC
The Office Gay Witch Hunt
OUTSTANDING REALITY/COMPETITION PROGRAM
THE AMAZING RACE CBS
Jerry Bruckheimer, Executive Producer Bertram van Munster, Executive Producer Jonathan Littman, Executive Producer Hayma "Screech" Washington, Executive Producer Amy Nabseth Chacon, Co-Executive Producer Phil Keoghan, Producer/Host Elise Doganieri, Co-Executive Producer Evan Weinstein, Co-Executive Producer John Moffet, Supervising Producer Bob Parr, Producer Allison Chase, Senior Producer Barry Hennessey, Senior Producer Bill Pruitt, Senior Producer Patrick Cariaga, Producer Jarratt Carson, Producer Cris Graves, Producer Jarrod Harlow, Producer Bob Mora, Producer Michael Norton, Producer Michael Noval, Producer Cynthia A. Palormo, Producer Giselle Parets, Producer Matt Schmidt, Producer Mark Vertullo, Supervising Producer
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
RICKY GERVAIS as Andy Millman HBO
Extras
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
SALLY FIELD as Nora Walker ABC
Brothers & Sisters
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
AMERICA FERRERA as Betty Suarez ABC
Ugly Betty
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
JAMES SPADER as Alan Shore ABC
Boston Legal
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
30 ROCK NBC Lorne Michaels, Executive Producer Tina Fey, Executive Producer David Miner, Executive Producer JoAnn Alfano, Executive Producer Marci Klein, Executive Producer Robert Carlock, Executive Producer Jack Burditt, Co-Executive Producer John Riggi, Co-Executive Producer Brett Baer, Co-Executive Producer Dave Finkel, Co-Executive Producer Adam Bernstein, Supervising Producer Jeff Richmond, Producer Jerry Kupfer, Produced By
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
THE SOPRANOS HBO
David Chase, Executive Producer Brad Grey, Executive Producer Ilene S. Landress, Executive Producer Terence Winter, Executive Producer Matthew Weiner, Executive Producer Henry J. Bronchtein, Co-Executive Producer Diane Frolov, Supervising Producer Andrew Schneider, Supervising Producer Martin Bruestle, Producer Gianna Maria Smart, Producer
PROGRAMS WITH MULTIPLE AWARDS
September 8 September 16 Total
Tony Bennett: An American Classic 4 3 7 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee 5 1 6 Broken Trail 1 3 4 Planet Earth 4 - 4 Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) 3 - 3 Prime Suspect: The Final Act (Masterpiece Theatre) - 3 3 Rome 3 - 3 The Amazing Race 2 1 3 The Sopranos - 3 3 Ugly Betty 1 2 3 When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts 3 - 3 79th Annual Academy Awards 2 - 2 30 Rock 1 1 2 American Idol "Idol Gives Back" 2 - 2 American Masters 2 - 2 Camp Lazlo 2 - 2 Dexter 2 - 2 Entourage 1 1 2 Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King 2 - 2 Saturday Night Live 2 - 2 So You Think You Can Dance 2 - 2 The Office 1 1 2 The Tudors 2 - 2 Two and a Half Men 2 - 2
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
In your voice
