In the End, Politically Correct

After the smoke cleared, the Feds had stopped the mob from going legit.

The heated contest between NBC’s White House drama “The West Wing” and HBO’s “The Sopranos,” which tied for the most Emmy nominations this year with 18 each, resulted in a near shutout for the Mafia drama, while “The West Wing” came away the big winner during the 52nd annual Emmy Awards with a record nine overall wins.

The victory prompted “West Wing” best actor nominee Martin Sheen to gloat backstage while putting his loss to “Sopranos” lead actor James Gandolfini--”The Sopranos’ ” only win--in perspective.

“James won the most valuable player,” said Sheen, who plays the president in the White House drama. “But we won the game!”

Aaron Sorkin, the creator and one of the executive producers of “The West Wing,” said, “It’s great having what we do recognized. It just feels great.”

Gandolfini was obviously happy with his win as mob leader Tony Soprano. But he was also a bit downcast about the show’s near shutout.

“It’s not great,” Gandolfini said. “I thought we should have done a little better--the writers, the cast, [creator] David Chase.”

Though defeat of the critically acclaimed Mafia drama was even more difficult for those involved than last year, when the series lost out to ABC’s “The Practice,” Gandolfini said he didn’t think there was any “miscarriage of justice” either year.

He speculated that the show’s tone and violence may have turned off television academy voters.

“It’s an election year and there are a lot of issues we deal with like violence and drug use,” he said. “That is a very small part of ‘The Sopranos.’ Maybe they want a more positive thing to vote for. We show a family dealing and helping each other, which is positive too. But it’s a little dark.”

The actor had the final word on his competition. “I’m sure ‘The West Wing’ is a very good show. I’ve never seen it.”

Joked “West Wing” cast member Rob Lowe: “If ‘The Sopranos’ had won, we were going to have the president audit them.”

He added: “ ‘The Sopranos’ is such a great show. They’re going to be around a long time. They’ll get plenty of hardware along the way because those guys rock. But I had no inkling it would turn out like this.”

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Some dark corners weren’t overlooked by academy members, as it turned into a big night for HBO’s “The Corner,” a gritty examination of a drug-ridden Baltimore neighborhood for which Charles S. Dutton won for outstanding directing for a miniseries, movie or special. But the veteran actor said he was not going to let the Emmy win get in the way of his day job. His only other directorial effort was HBO’s “First Time Felon.”

“They’re trying to make a director out of me, and I’m resisting,” Dutton said. “Since ‘The Corner,’ I’ve been hard pressed to find an acting job.” Last year Dutton was nominated for an Emmy in the guest actor in a drama category, for a spot he did on HBO’s gritty prison drama series “Oz.”

Meanwhile, David Simon, one of the Emmy-winning writers of “The Corner,” said that if the gritty miniseries about black junkies had not appeared on HBO, it probably would not have been broadcast.

“A lot of criticism about TV being a whitewash is accurate,” he said. “Most are not comfortable with controversial images of African Americans. HBO had to be concerned--you either do it right or you don’t do it at all. It was HBO or nothing.”

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NBC’s “Will & Grace,” another of the night’s top winners, has gotten much attention this season due to its premise--the friendship between a gay man and a straight woman. While co-creator David Cohan doesn’t see the show’s success as breaking down barriers on TV regarding gay characters, he does see it as helping to make gays more acceptable in mainstream consciousness.

“The doors were swinging,” he says. “There was ‘Ellen,’ though the problem was she changed the character in the middle. Who knows what might have been if she’d been open from the beginning. But there are new shows coming with gay lead [characters], and it doesn’t seem to be a big thing anymore.”

Eric McCormack, who plays gay attorney Will, says the biggest concern for the show’s cast and production staff is maintaining the quality.

“It feels that we’re exactly where we’re supposed to be,” he said. “Now we have to make sure it doesn’t drop off, that this isn’t the high point. But with the people [standing] behind me there’s no chance of that.”

Megan Mullally, the winner of outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for the sharp-tongued Karen Walker in “Will & Grace,” said she was never concerned that her role might come off as unsympathetic.

“She has so much joy,” she said. “She’s very happy. Everything in her world is hunky-dory.”

Meanwhile Sean Hayes, who won outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for his role as the flamboyant Jack McFarland and often finds himself opposite Mullally, was stumped when asked how his character would respond to winning an Emmy.

“I don’t think he’d say anything,” said Hayes. “I think he’d scream so loud the dogs would run. This is pretty overwhelming.”

When asked about a possible spinoff with his character and Karen, Hayes laughed, “I have a seven-year contract for ‘Will & Grace.’ Talk to me when I’m 35.”

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The impact of a change in the Emmy voting rules got thumbs up from many of the winners, who said they might not have been collecting a statue without it. Patricia Heaton, nominated last year for “Everybody Loves Raymond,” then winning Sunday night, says she loves the new voting procedure.

“I happen to think this change of voting is working extremely well,” she said, laughing as she clutched her Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series.

Seriously, she says that whatever the reason for her win this year, she gained an appreciation for the recognition after years of less visibility.

“I was a little shocked--it looked like it would be ‘Will & Grace’ all night,” she said. “But I’ve had that darned speech memorized for about 20 years. . . . I think when you go through a lot of years at first of no work at all and then a job here and there and you finally get a show that’s so wonderful as ‘Raymond,’ it makes it more worth it.”

Todd Holland, winner of the comedy direction Emmy for Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle,” clearly saw himself as a beneficiary of the new voting procedures designed to bring more--and “hipper”--academy members into the mix.

“I would have to say so,” he said backstage. “I was the wild card tonight.”

However, a la vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney, he wound up explaining that he hadn’t actually participated in the process himself, having misunderstood the procedures, believing he would be required to spend more time than was actually needed to view nominated programs.

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Halle Berry, so emotional at the Golden Globes, was much more low-key and even melancholy accepting the Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries for the title character in HBO’s “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.” She said it was a reflection of her real feelings Sunday.

“This project has been going for about eight years now, and the last two years I’ve been making the movie and promoting it,” said Berry, who will soon start work alongside John Travolta in the feature “Swordfish.” “I’m feeling a little sad. It’s sort of the end of my Dorothy Dandridge journey and I have mixed emotions.”

Not everyone was looking back; Linwood Boomer, who won for outstanding writing for a comedy series for the pilot of “Malcolm in the Middle,” had a lot to say about what is up this fall for the Fox comedy.

“Very early on, the family will take a vacation and they’ll wind up on an artillery range,” said Boomer. He said he was also on the search for performers to play the parents of the no-nonsense mother Lois (Jane Kaczmarek).

“We’re trying to find the ultimate mom’s ultimate mom,” he said. “I’m excited and terrified at the prospect.”

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The mutual admiration between Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria, which started onstage as each won an Emmy for their performances in ABC’s “Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays With Morrie,” continued backstage. Lemmon’s Emmy came for outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or a movie for his portrayal of Morrie Schwartz, a professor who teaches a master class on his own death and dying to a single student. Azaria played that student, reporter Mitch Albom, and came away with an outstanding supporting actor Emmy for his efforts. Azaria said it was thrilling to work with a legend such as Lemmon.

“It was magic,” Azaria said. “Before every take, Jack says, ‘It’s magic time.’ And there are also those times when the human being exceeds the legend.”

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There were only a few no-shows among the winners--mostly comedians. British comic Eddie Izzard, who won two Emmys for his HBO special “Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill,” was on location in Europe filming an upcoming movie. And though David Letterman had hinted last week on his show that he might make the trip to Los Angeles for the Emmy ceremony, the comic was nowhere in sight Sunday night.

Rob Burnett, executive producer of “Late Night With David Letterman” who picked up the statuette for outstanding variety, music or comedy series, joked that that although Letterman had promised to attend, “he’s been banned from the state of California for reasons I can’t go into.”

He did not give a reason for Letterman’s absence, just saying that Letterman “works hard on the show and he’s interested in doing what will bring the best quality of the show.”

When told that the win for the show was CBS’ sole win up to that point, Burnett quipped, “Don’t rule out [“Survivor’s”] Gervase.”

Speaking of “Survivor,” comedian Wayne Brady, who performed a singing tribute to the reality series, said he was originally going to sing the humorous ditty to the tune of “Eye of the Tiger,” made famous by the group--Survivor.

But the group’s leader denied him the rights to the song just days before the ceremony. “So I had to change it to ‘I Will Survive.’ ” Which on Emmy night, is all anyone there really hopes for.

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Greg Braxton and Susan King are Times staff writers. Steve Hochman is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.