22 July 1999

Emmy’s 51st - The Nominations - THE COMMENTARY

By Joseph Planta

Well it’s almost 7:00 AM, Thursday morning and I’ve just painstakingly sifted through almost a thousand Emmy nominations and looked at the major nominees. NBC leads the networks with 82 nods, followed by HBO with 74 and then ABC with 46. NBC must then really be “must-see”. In program nominations, The Sopranos, a critics fave was this year’s most nominated program. It got 16 nods in front of Ally McBeal, Joan of Arc and The Practice’s 13 each. The Sopranos becomes HBO’s first show to be nominated in the Best Drama Series category. In Best Comedy Series, Friends has made the trek back to the Best Comedy Series category after a two year absence. The Sopranos nearly swept the Best Writing for a Drama Series taking 4 of the 5 nominees. Benjamin Bratt of Law and Order has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor Drama and his steady Julia Roberts was also nominated for her guest turn on that show. The Practice reaffirms it’s status in confirming its Best Drama Series win last year, by having 5 of it’s actors in the 2 Supporting categories.

Surprised to see Sex and the City nominated for Best Comedy Series. Usually when a show is hailed as the Best Comedy show in the last decade, it usually gets snubbed by The Academy. That’s probably the surprise nominee. Everybody Loves Raymond, after 3 years on the air, scored major nods in the Best Comedy Series category and all 4 Acting fields. Noticeably absent: Touched By An Angel from the major categories it’s been nominated for in the last 2 seasons. Sports Night from Best Comedy Series. Felicity Huffman for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. Jay Leno’s Tonight Show from Best Writing of a Variety or Comedy Series. Any network aired Made for Television Movie in the Best Made For Television Movie category. Anthony Edwards of ER in Lead Actor and any other supporting actress from that show. Last years winner Gordon Clapp in Supporting Actor Drama. Janeane Garafalo in the Guest Actress Comedy category for her delightfully cynical turn on Mad About You. And David Duchovny for The X-Files.

Glad to see the success of Everybody Loves Raymond, Law and Order and Friends getting their due, The 1998 Tony’s nominated, Ann-Margaret nominated for her turn as Pamela Harriman, John Mahoney for Frasier and Woody Harrelson for his guest turn on that show.

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