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| Monday
September 22, 2003 |
| SOPRANOS
MOB WHACKS COMPETITION TO STEAL BEST ACTING AT EMMYS |
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Tony Soprano's mob whacked most of the Emmy competition at the 55th annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
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They nabbed the two top dramatic acting prizes, for
leads James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, who have won
three Emmys each for the show.
The Emmy for supporting drama actor trophy went to Joe
Pantoliano, whose Ralph Cifaretto character made a memorable
exit from "The Sopranos" last season.
But in a hardly surprising upset, the Hollywood-wing
of the Democratic Party ensured NBC's fantasy series
"The West Wing" overcame a season of disappointing ratings
and behind-the-scenes turmoil to capture the top prize
for dramatic series.
With its fourth straight drama series victory, "Wing"
tied the record for consecutive nods held by "Hill Street
Blues" (1981-84).
The other big success story of the night was TNT's "Door
to Door", a heartfelt story of an Oregon man who made
a career as a door-to-door salesman despite suffering
from cerebral palsy. The telefilm was the night's most
honored program with a total of six wins.
"West Wing" earned a slew of acting nominations, but
the series' only other win on Sunday came for drama
series direction for Christopher Misiano, who paid tribute
to the series' original creative team.
"I'd like to thank John Wells, Aaron Sorkin and Tommy
Schlamme for everything", Misiano said in accepting
his trophy.
In another upset, Tony Shalhoub won his first Emmy as
the obsessive-compulsive detective in USA Network's
"Monk". Shalhoub teared up as he accepted his honor,
which followed his Golden Globe win this year in the
same category.
He dedicated his win to his 34-year-old nephew, Greg,
who died of leukemia last week. Shalhoub described him
as "a young man of unbelievable strength" who was "taken
from us so, so, so, so suddenly".
Yet another dark-horse winner was CBS' "The Amazing
Race", which trumped two higher-rated series, Fox's
"American Idol" and CBS' "Survivor", in the new Emmy
category for reality series.
Sci Fi Channel notched a milestone in its 11-year history
by nabbing best miniseries honors for its lavish "Steven
Spielberg Presents Taken", which racked up record ratings
for the channel in December.
But the biggest surprise of the night may have been
the strength of the broadcast networks in a year widely
hailed as a breakthrough for basic cable networks. While
HBO again led the networks with eight Emmy wins Sunday
night, it was closely followed by runner-up CBS with
seven. Including last week's nontelevised prizes, HBO
led the tally with 18, followed by CBS (16), NBC (15)
and ABC (nine).
After four consecutive nominations for her work on the
NBC sitcom "Will & Grace", Debra Messing seemed genuinely
surprised to take home her first Emmy as lead comedy
actress. "I never thought this was gonna happen!" a
giggling Messing told the audience at the Shrine Auditorium.
CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond" took top honors in the
comedy division; including the prizes awarded last week,
the sitcom won five Emmys, more than any other series.
Despite 16 nominations, "The Sopranos" could not vanquish
"West Wing". The win offered a bittersweet triumph for
"West Wing" executive producer Sorkin, who accepted
the award on behalf of the production team.
Sorkin and fellow executive producer Schlamme left the
series at the end of last season following concerns
from NBC and producer Warner Bros. Television that the
oft-honored show was drifting creatively, among other
production problems.
"Sopranos" creator/executive producer David Chase, and
series writers Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess also
earned the drama writing trophy for the "Whitecaps"
episode.
"The three of us here would like to thank our parents
-- three separate dysfunctional households that taught
us how to write scenes that got us awards like this",
Chase said.
Tyne Daly , nominated 14 times during the course of
her career, took home her sixth prize, for her role
as the title character's mother in CBS' "Judging Amy".
Daly won four Emmys for her work in the 1980s cop series
"Cagney & Lacey".
"Raymond" also swept the supporting acting categories,
with wins for both Doris Roberts (her third consecutive
Emmy for the series) and Brad Garrett (his second in
a row).
"That was worth coming up here for", Roberts said in
accepting her award after "Friends" star Matthew Perry
planted a kiss on her. "I'm a triple crown winner",
she quipped.
Garrett didn't shy away from referencing the salary
dispute that kept him off the "Raymond" set for the
first two weeks of production on the show's upcoming
eighth season. He graciously thanked CBS "for not firing
my ass".
Garrett was also up for lead drama actor in movie for
his work in CBS' Jackie Gleason biopic, but lost to
William H. Macy of TNT's "Door to Door".
The year's most-nominated program in the movie/miniseries
category, "Door to Door" picked up three major prizes,
including outstanding made-for-TV movie. Macy also won
for his lead role in the true story of salesman Bill
Porter, and for co-writing the script with longtime
collaborator Steven Schacter.
Accepting his acting prize, Macy thanked TNT for making
the film, though he noted that the network originally
passed on the project. With a total of six Emmys, "Door
to Door" won more prizes than any other program this
year.
"Well, I am the luckiest palooka", Macy said. "I'm so
pleased that much of America knows what the folks in
Portland, Ore., know -- that Bill Porter is a very cool
guy".
On the distaff side, Maggie Smith won for lead longform
actress for her work in HBO's "My House in Umbria".
Veterans Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands got the nods
for longform supporting actor and actress for HBO's
"Hysterical Blindness".
"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart " won in the variety/music/comedy
series category and snagged a writing prize as well.
Stewart said the war in Iraq had offered plenty of material
for the Comedy Central series. "It was such a great
war for us", he joked.
Cher was the favorite in the variety/music/comedy special
category for her NBC special "Cher: The Farewell Tour".
In a night filled with upsets, one of the quirkiest
came with Wayne Brady of ABC's "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"
who beat out an uncommonly strong field in the variety/musical
performance category: Dennis Miller, Martin Short, Robin
Williams and the crowd favorite, Stewart. It was Brady's
third nomination and first win.
In filling out the three-hour, 15-minute show, Emmy
executive producer Don Mischer abandoned the typical
host format and settled on a tag-team of comic emcees
and presenters, including Garry Shandling and Ellen
DeGeneres , along with recurrent comedy bits from Wanda
Sykes and Darrell Hammond.
Former "CBS Evening News" anchor Walter Cronkite introduced
a brief video tribute to the late Bob Hope , while Ray
Romano gave the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to Bill
Cosby . After hearing Cosby's early material on records,
Romano said, "I told my father, 'I want to be a black
comedian".
Cosby, accessorizing his tuxedo with sunglasses, used
part of his brief acceptance speech to pay tribute to
another TV pioneer, the late Fred Rogers of "Mister
Rogers' Neighborhood" fame.
John Ritter, who died suddenly Sept. 11 after falling
ill on the set of his ABC sitcom, "8 Simple Rules for
Dating My Teenage Daughter", likewise was paid homage
by his friend and co-star Henry Winkler . |
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"And
don't you
$&!#7@ fugedaboutit gumba!!" |
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