The 47th Annual Emmy Award : ‘ER’, ‘Frasier’ Fill NBC’s Prescription : The Scene: Backstage Spin : Medical drama equals record with eight awards in its first season, while the sitcom takes home the top series prize for the second consecutive year.

Already a runaway hit with the public, NBC’s medical drama “ER” turned out to be a whopping success with Emmy Award voters too. The reason for the show’s popularity, producer-director Mimi Leder explained backstage Sunday night, is not difficult to discern.

“What’s appealing about ‘ER’ is that the characters are flawed,” said Leder, who picked up one of the eight Emmys the series won, tying the record for most wins by a series in one season set by “Hill Street Blues” in 1981. “They’re like us. We, as people, can relate to them. That’s why we tune in every week and we want to see them, to know what’s going on in their lives.”

In the heart-breaking episode that won Leder her directing Emmy, “Love’s Labor Lost,” the doctor played by Anthony Edwards encountered a problematic delivery and lost the life of the mother. The episode also earned an Emmy for its writer, Dr. Lance A. Gentile, a former emergency room physician.

When asked where the story came from, Gentile told reporters at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, “I thought of my worst nightmare as an emergency room physician and I wrote that. I did some research with obstetrics residents here in Los Angeles, and we fleshed out the story.”

Leder called the episode “the emotional high point” of the series’ first season.

But while “ER” was the big winner at the 47th annual Emmys Awards for nighttime programming, some of its thunder was stolen by ABC’s “NYPD Blue,” which was named best drama series.

“Last year, we had a bittersweet night,” said Dennis Franz, who won as best actor in 1994 but saw the series lose to “Picket Fences.” “This year it was a total surprise. I think I was three feet off the ground when ‘NYPD Blue’ was announced. It is enormously satisfying.”

Although most of “ER’s” ensemble cast was nominated for Emmys, the only winner was Julianna Margulies, who plays nurse Carole Hathaway.

“This is beyond belief,” she said backstage. The suicidal Hathaway character was created for just one episode, but was extended through the entire season because of Margulies’ strong performance.

“I feel like I’m still shaking,” she said. “I feel blessed.”

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Barbra Streisand was delighted to win five Emmys for her HBO special, “Barbra Streisand The Concert,” including outstanding individual performance in a music or variety special, but she pointed out that three decades ago she won five Emmys for a TV special. In both cases, she had artistic control over the project.

“The only thing I insisted on then [in 1964] was artistic control, because those shows 30 years ago had lots of guest stars,” she said. “So I’m used to having control of my products.”

About winning her performance Emmy, Streisand said, “I was a nervous wreck, because the truth is I don’t like contests, contests between artists. . . . I always felt, even the first time I was up for an Academy Award, I remember thinking, ‘Why don’t they just give us five plaques--these are the best performances of the year--so we’re not pitted against one another, competing against one another.’ We’re artists together.”

Streisand felt just as much pride for the NBC movie she helped produce, “Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story.” That project won Emmys for writing and for the performances of lead actress Glenn Close and supporting actress Judy Davis, who shared her award with Shirley Knight of “Indictment: The McMartin Trial.”

“It’s wonderful to have a passionate feel about a subject, which I did about Margarethe Cammermeyer, a case of blatant discrimination,” Streisand said. “I feel gays and lesbians . . . who want to serve in the military are really fighting for the right to die for their country. It’s one of the most important and controversial issues of our time. I was very pleased that television would tackle a story like this, with issues like this, in prime time. It’s a medium that can reach into the hearts and minds of millions of people in one night.”

Close’s award was her first for a performance on film, after being nominated for numerous Oscars and Emmys.

“This is my first Emmy, and it is very, very special to me,” said a glowing Close, who has won three Tony Awards for her work on Broadway.

When asked if she was afraid of pressure for playing a lesbian, she said, “When I was presented with the possibility, I did think what kind of negative reaction this might ferment, and would I be the brunt of it. I thought that fear alone meant that I should do it.”

Both Streisand and Close believe more actresses will come to television because “that’s where the wonderful roles are and will be,” Close said. “I’m a great believer in the power of television.”

“Television is a wonderful outlet for social expression,” added Streisand.

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“Frasier,” the critics’ favorite comedy, also turned out to be the academy’s favorite. When asked about the show’s sophisticated humor, David Hyde Pierce said, “I think funny is funny, and good is good, and people are smarter than we give them credit for.”

Pierce, who plays Frasier’s neurotic brother Niles, said he was surprised by his Emmy for supporting actor.

Everyone on “Frasier” seemed overwhelmed by their success. “I can’t believe you’re clapping for us. We’re the writers,” Anne Flett-Giordano said when she walked backstage with partner Chuck Ranberg.

The team paid credit to their fellow writers, executive producer Christopher Lloyd and NBC. When asked what they shoot for in scripting sessions, Flett-Giordano said, “Smart, smart, smart.”

That attitude continues when the script moves to the actors, said star Kelsey Grammer, who won his second Emmy for the series. “We all agreed to play up to the audience as a better idea then playing down,” he explained. “It seems to have been rewarded at this point.”

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Candice Bergen, who won her fifth Emmy as the acerbic “Murphy Brown,” said this will likely be the final season for the CBS comedy series.

“With regret,” she added. “But I think it would be nice to go out before we are carried out in wheelchairs or walkers.”

As for future plans, Bergen said she had a couple of “vague projects” and would like to travel with her family. But she doesn’t believe she will do another weekly TV series.

“I don’t think you can top Murphy, for me,” she said.

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After half a century in the business, Ray Walston, 76, won his first Emmy for supporting actor in a drama series, as the strong, outspoken judge Henry Bone in CBS’ offbeat drama “Picket Fences.”

Last season, “Picket Fences” was the darling of the Emmys, beating out favorite “NYPD Blue” for outstanding drama series. But after losing some ratings, the David E. Kelley drama this season will also lose its time slot. To make room for the scary “American Gothic,” “Picket Fences” this season moves up an hour on Fridays to 9 p.m., opposite Fox’s popular supernatural drama, “The X-Files.”

Still, Walston believe CBS is “making every effort” to extend the life of “Picket Fences.” But he said that the new time slot will work against them.

“I think we have a good shot, but having been in this business for quite a long time, we could be a midseason fatality,” he said.

Kathy Baker, who won her second Emmy as Dr. Jill Brock on the series, was not so forgiving of CBS’ decision. “I want to talk to [CBS Entertainment President] Les Moonves,” she said. “We have won 12 Emmys in three years,” and yet CBS still chose to move the show. “I’m sick of it,” she said.

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After taking a beating in the press and in the ratings against late-night competitor David Letterman, Jay Leno felt vindicated when his “Tonight Show” received the Emmy as best variety, music or comedy series.

“This is a real award,” said Leno, who has been challenging Letterman recently in the ratings. “It does feel like vindication.”

“I’m sorry it took so long for me to learn to do this,” Leno told reporters. “You do everything in a fish bowl. Sometimes you get slammed, sometimes you get praised. It all seemed to work out for the best. This isn’t the end. I still have to go home and write a monologue for tomorrow.”

One of Leno’s coups was getting Hugh Grant first after he was arrested for soliciting prostitution. But Leno said he will not be giving Divine Brown equal time any time soon.

“I don’t have the $60,” he said with a wink.