| |
15 Emmy Nominations for ‘The Sopranos’
James Gandolfini, left, Edie Falco and Robert Iler in "The Sopranos," which ended its storied run on HBO. By JACQUES STEINBERG
A month after fading abruptly to black, “The Sopranos” received 15 Emmy nominations today, including for best dramatic series and for performances by James Gandolfini, Edie Falco and three other principal cast members.
Also prominent on the list of this year’s prime-time Emmy nominees, which were announced this morning in Hollywood, were two new NBC series, “Heroes” and “30 Rock” (and two stars of “30 Rock,” Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin), as well as a new ABC comedy, “Ugly Betty,” and “Broken Trail,” an AMC miniseries starring Robert Duvall.
When the 59th Annual Emmy Awards are presented on Sept. 16, “The Sopranos” and “Heroes” will be competing against three other nominees for best dramatic series: “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC, “House” (Fox) and “Boston Legal” (ABC). Noticeably missing were last year’s winner, “24” (Fox), and “Lost” on ABC.
In the category of best actor in a drama, Mr. Gandolfini, whose Tony Soprano may or may not have survived the final act of the series, will square off against Hugh Laurie of “House”; Denis Leary of “Rescue Me” (FX); James Spader of “Boston Legal”; and Kiefer Sutherland of “24,” who won in the category last year.
In addition to Ms. Falco, the nominees for best actress in a dramatic series are Sally Field for “Brothers and Sisters” (ABC); Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer” (TNT); Minnie Driver, “The Riches” (FX); Patricia Arquette, “Medium” (NBC); and last year’s winner, Mariska Hargitay, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (NBC).Joining “30 Rock” and “Ugly Betty” as nominees for best comedy series are “Entourage” (HBO); “Two and a Half Men” (CBS) and the previous winner, “The Office” (NBC). The nomination of Mr. Baldwin for best actor in a comedy series was something of a surprise — not because of his scene-chewing performance as the television executive Jack Donaghy, which was widely praised by critics, but because of the negative publicity he received earlier this year when an angry voice mail message he left for his 11-year-old daughter was widely disseminated on the Internet.
His competition in the category includes an actor playing another officious boss on NBC, Steve Carell of “The Office”; Tony Shalhoub, who has won the last two years for “Monk” (USA); Ricky Gervais, “Extras” (HBO); and Charlie Sheen, “Two and a Half Men.”
Ms. Fey, who also created “30 Rock,” will be competing for best actress in a comedy series against America Ferrera, “Ugly Betty”; Felicity Huffman, “Desperate Housewives” (ABC); Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (CBS); and Mary-Louise Parker , “Weeds” (Showtime).
The most-nominated movies or miniseries were shown on cable and had western themes: “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” on HBO, with 17 in all, and “Broken Trail,” the first original miniseries produced by AMC, more formally known as American Movie Classics, with 16.
Among all series, “The Sopranos” was the most cited, with 15 nominations, including in the category of best supporting actress for Lorraine Bracco, who played Tony’s psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi, and for Aida Turturro, who played his sister Janice. Michael Imperioli, who played Tony’s nephew Christopher, whose death behind the wheel of a crashed SUV was hastened by Tony, was nominated in the category of best supporting actor.
With 11 nominations, “Ugly Betty” led the pack among the major networks’ series, followed by “Grey’s Anatomy” and “30 Rock,” which each received 10.
While the television universe is so broad that someone’s favorite actor or show will invariably be left out, last year’s nominations — selected, for the first time, by so-called blue ribbon panels of academy members — drew the particular ire of Stephen McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment. He had complained at a gathering of television critics last July about the academy’s apparent snubs of two ABC series, “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost,” in their respective categories.
Mr. McPherson and ABC would seem to have had little to complain about this morning, with a combined 21 nominations for “Ugly Betty” and “Grey’s Anatomy” alone. Among the four leading broadcast networks, ABC, with 70 nominations, outpaced NBC, by just 1, with CBS (44) and Fox (28) well behind.
Today’s announcement also raised the possibility that Ben Silverman could ascend to the Emmy stage multiple times in September, not in his new capacity as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, but in his old job, that of a producer. Three series that Mr. Silverman helped produce — “Ugly Betty” and “The Office,” as well as “The Tudors” on Showtime — corralled 24 nominations.
The academy permitted six nominees (as opposed to the more traditional five) in some close categories. In some of those instances, co-stars will be pitted against each other. In the category of supporting actress in a drama series, for example, Ms. Bracco and Ms. Turturro of “The Sopranos” are being challenged by three stars of “Grey’s Anatomy” (Katherine Heigl, Chandra Wilson and Sandra Oh) and Rachel Griffiths of “Brothers and Sisters.”
The category of supporting actor in a drama series also features two co-stars, Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn of “Lost,” in addition to Mr. Imperioli, T. R. Knight of “Grey’s Anatomy” and Masi Oka of “Heroes.” Also going head to head in the category of supporting actor in a comedy series, are Jeremy Piven, who won last year for “Entourage,” and his co-star Kevin Dillon, as well as Neil Patrick Harris of “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS); Rainn Wilson, “The Office”; and Jon Cryer, who, as one of the “two” in “Two and a Half Men,” would seem to be a lead actor, though not to the academy.
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and its spinoff, “The Colbert Report” with Stephen Colbert, both on Comedy Central, received nominations for outstanding variety, music or comedy series, along with “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” (NBC), “Late Show with David Letterman” (CBS) and “Real Time with Bill Maher” (HBO). In the category of outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program, Messrs. Stewart, Colbert and Letterman were also nominated, along with Ellen DeGeneres (as host of the 79th Annual Academy Awards) and Tony Bennett, for “An American Classic,” an NBC special. Conspicuously absent were the “Tonight” show and its host, Jay Leno.
In a category known as “outstanding reality-competition program,” the most popular show on television, “American Idol,” will once again seek its first victory; its challengers are “The Amazing Race” (CBS), the winner the past four years; “Dancing with the Stars” (ABC); and “Project Runway” and “Top Chef,” both on Bravo.
