‘Roseanne,’ ‘Seinfeld’ Sidekicks Win Emmys : Awards: Metcalf, Richards win supporting honors for second straight year. CBS tops nominations.

Back-to-back Emmy wins for “Roseanne” actress Laurie Metcalf and “Seinfeld” actor Michael Richards highlighted the early winners in the 46th annual nighttime Emmy Awards on Sunday evening.

Metcalf, who also won for best supporting actress in a comedy last year, collected the honors in the same category for her work on the ABC program, during televised ceremonies at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Also for the second consecutive year, the Emmy for best supporting actor in a comedy went to Richards for his portrayal of the eccentric neighbor, Kramer, on the NBC show.

A tribute to actress Jessica Tandy was also planned as part of the ceremonies. Tandy, an Oscar and Tony winner, died Sunday at age 85. She was nominated for an Emmy this year as best actress in a miniseries or a special for her role in a CBS television movie, “To Dance With the White Dog.”

CBS headed into Sunday night’s awards leading in both nominations and trophies already awarded in creative arts categories.

“NYPD Blue,” the ABC series to beat with a record 26 nominations, jumped off to a solid start by collecting three trophies in Saturday’s non-televised creative arts ceremony, a prelude to the main event.

CBS headed into the weekend’s awards ceremonies with the most nominations, 92, and carried off 14 trophies in the creative categories. It was followed in total nominations by ABC with 73, NBC with 66 and HBO with 36.

This year’s Emmy awards contention was highlighted by “NYPD” star David Caruso’s decision to leave the hit drama after one season, and the missed Emmy nomination for “Home Improvement’s” Tim Allen.

The ceremony was co-hosted by two women: Patricia Richardson, an Emmy nominee for “Home Improvement,” and comedian Ellen DeGeneres, star of “Ellen.”

ABC captured nine awards in Saturday’s preliminary event, followed by NBC with eight, PBS with seven and the Disney Channel with six.

Acting trophies given out Saturday for guest appearances on comedy and drama series went to Faye Dunaway for a role on “Columbo,” Eileen Heckart for “Love & War,” Richard Kiley for “Picket Fences” and Martin Sheen for “Murphy Brown.”

Emmy winners were chosen by Academy of Television Arts & Sciences members through peer-review panels.

Sunday’s show was expected to be seen in 85 foreign countries by an estimated record overseas audience of more than 550 million, the academy said. Countries signed up to receive the program for the first time were Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway and South Africa.

ABC had an exclusive four-year U.S. broadcast deal for the ceremony, but the network agreed to relinquish its hold two years early, after CBS, NBC and Fox executives boycotted last year’s Emmys in protest.

Starting in 1995, the broadcast will rotate annually among the four networks. As determined by lottery, Fox will show the awards next year, followed by ABC, CBS and NBC in subsequent years.