NBC Puts More Feathers in Its Emmy Cap

“The West Wing” scored a landslide victory at the 52nd annual Nighttime Emmy Awards, as NBC’s White House drama was named outstanding dramatic series while establishing a record for the most awards showered on any series in a single season.

NBC also claimed the other big prize in awards honoring television’s best doled out Sunday at the Shrine Auditorium, as its 2-year-old series “Will & Grace”--about the friendship between a straight woman and a gay man--was named best comedy and swept the supporting acting categories in its field.

Those awards will be useful to the Peacock Network’s promotional efforts in launching the prime-time television season in October and may be especially useful to “Will & Grace,” which inherits the coveted position anchoring the network’s popular “Must-See TV” Thursday lineup once occupied by Emmy honorees “Seinfeld” and “Frasier.”

After criticism last year that the Emmys featured too many repeat winners, new faces and programs were abundant this year, with numerous first-time nominees collecting awards. No performer who took home an Emmy award has won previously for the same role.

The awards are presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which amended its voting procedure this year to enable more of the group’s members to participate. Instead of screening programs for judging panels at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the academy let voters view nominees at home--a revision, some critics suggested, which raised the prospect that candidates might receive votes based on reputation without actually being watched.

Still, based on the results, the academy and its membership will no doubt hail the revision as a success, having opened the door to relative newcomers after past charges that stodginess and predictability had crept into the Emmy voting.

“It was a real triumph” for the new system, said Thomas O’Neil, author of the book “The Emmys.” “We saw a lot of worthy underdogs come through.”

‘The West Wing’ Soars to Record Nine Wins

Ultimately, the night belonged to “The West Wing,” the densely plotted first-year series set behind the scenes of a fictional presidential administration, which totaled nine Emmys from this year’s awards process. It won five awards Sunday night and four Emmys two weeks ago at a separate ceremony primarily recognizing awards in technical categories.

Two earlier NBC dramas, “ER” and “Hill Street Blues,” previously shared the record for Emmys in a single season, each having won eight in its first year. This year John Wells, an executive producer on “The West Wing,” bumped his other series, “ER,” from that perch.

In addition, no series had been named best comedy or drama in its first year of eligibility since “Frasier” in 1994, which began an unprecedented run of five consecutive Emmys for that NBC comedy. Overlooked during Sunday’s ceremonies, “Frasier,” with 25 Emmys in its seven years on NBC, is tied with “The Carol Burnett Show” as the fourth most-honored program in Emmy history.

The ABC miniseries “Roots” also earned nine Emmys in 1977, while the overall record belongs to another project set in the White House: the 1986 made-for-TV movie “Eleanor and Franklin,” which received 11 Emmys.

“The West Wing’s” haul included best writing for series creator Aaron Sorkin (along with Rick Cleveland), another for Thomas Schlamme’s direction of the program’s pilot episode, and both supporting dramatic acting awards, for Allison Janney--whose excited thank-you list included the late Nancy Marchand, a nominee in her category for “The Sopranos”--and Richard Schiff. Its earlier awards were for casting, theme music, cinematography and art direction.

“Well, there’s going to be no living with me now,” Sorkin said in accepting his writing Emmy.

“The West Wing’s” firepower overwhelmed “The Sopranos,” the critically acclaimed 2-year-old Mafia drama from HBO, which went home with just one Emmy--for star James Gandolfini--despite 18 nominations.

In addition to Gandolfini, new faces included Sela Ward--a past recipient for the NBC prime-time soap opera “Sisters”--for ABC’s new romantic drama “Once and Again” and Patricia Heaton, earning her first Emmy for the CBS comedy “Everybody Loves Raymond.

Michael J. Fox, who left ABC’s “Spin City” at season’s end to battle Parkinson’s disease, was the sentimental choice in the comedy arena--winning for the show in his fourth nomination.

“It’s been a great ride, and stay tuned,” Fox said in receiving the award, having taken home Emmys three times before for “Family Ties.”

In supporting actor categories, first-time nominees Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes both won for NBC’s situation comedy “Will & Grace.” The Fox network’s first-year series “Malcolm in the Middle” received Emmys for directing and writing, the latter going to the program’s creator, Linwood Boomer.

Dominance of NBC

Awards were presented Sunday in 27 categories. More than 50 Emmys were previously handed out during the creative arts ceremony, and, including those totals, NBC reemerged as the most-honored network overall with 23 Emmys and nine during Sunday’s telecast on ABC.

NBC has now totaled the most Emmys five of the past six years--a string interrupted in 1999 by HBO. The pay channel was second with 20 awards, followed by 15 for ABC, 11 for Fox and a mere seven for CBS.

The results bolster NBC’s claim to being the quality network, especially among fellow broadcasters, and are sure to be trumpeted throughout its coverage of the Olympic Games, which begins Friday.

ABC broke HBO’s streak of seven consecutive Emmys in the outstanding made-for-TV movie category, earning the prize for “Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays With Morrie,” which also garnered lead and supporting actor awards for Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria, respectively. It was the second Emmy for the 75-year-old Lemmon, who is also an Oscar winner.

Halle Berry won best actress in a miniseries or movie for HBO’s biographical “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge,” the recipient of five Emmys in all including technical categories. HBO was also honored for its miniseries “The Corner,” a fact-based project exploring drug abuse in a Baltimore neighborhood, recognized for best directing and writing as well but which oddly went without a single nomination in the acting categories.

CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” was selected as outstanding variety, music or comedy series for the third straight year. That award, along with the one for “Raymond’s” Heaton, spared CBS from a complete snub during the televised portion of the Emmy presentation.

Beyond NBC’s success with “Will & Grace,” Vanessa Redgrave also won the second Emmy of her career for “If These Walls Could Walk 2,” an HBO film chronicling the lesbian experience in America through three separate stories.

Underscoring the achievement by “Will & Grace”--which premiered not long after there was major resistance to the lead character on ABC’s “Ellen” “coming out’ as a lesbian--series co-creator Max Mutchnick said the academy had given “a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘acceptance speech.’ ”

Transvestite comic Eddie Izzard won as best performer and for writing in the variety category for his HBO special, though “Saturday Night Live” won best special for its 25th anniversary show.

Other than the embrace of programs with homosexual themes or characters, the ceremony was for the most part free of politics, similar to 1996, the last Emmys to fall during a presidential election year.

By contrast, in 1992, several Emmy winners and presenters directed barbs at Vice President Dan Quayle for his statements criticizing the title character on “Murphy Brown” for having a child out of wedlock.

There were jokes of a political nature but no real theme. Host Garry Shandling discussed President Clinton’s sexual dalliances during his monologue, while Bill Maher--host of ABC’s late-night series “Politically Incorrect”--quipped in reference to the Republican vice presidential nominee that his tux was “a Dick Cheney: the pockets are lined.”

The ceremony included considerable talk about the lack of ethnic diversity in television--which prompted a threatened boycott last year by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People--as well as the trend toward so-called “reality” television, popularized by the recent CBS hit “Survivor.” Shandling opened by saying, “I think that real people should not be on television. I think it’s for special people like us.”

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THE BIG WINNERS

Drama

Series: “The WestT Wing,” NBC

Lead Actor: James Gandolfini, “The Sopranos,” HBO

Lead Actress: Sela Ward, “Once and Again,” ABC

Comedy

Series: “Will and Grace,” NBC

Lead Actor: Michael J. Fox, “Spin City,” ABC

Lead Actress: Patricia HHeaton, “Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS

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Complete coverage in Calendar, Section F