emmy results

Welcome to the 59th Primetime Emmy awards: The results show." One of the first jokes this year's Emmy host Ryan Seacrest bunted from the Shrine Auditorium's stage-in-the-round ended up not being too far from the truth.



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Photos from the 2007 Emmys
Here's a pleasant shock: spending three hours and 11 minutes watching the Emmy Awards did not sap our will to live. Fox's Emmy telecast in the round -- a first for the awards program -- was glossy and playful, without a doubt the least stuffy awards program in years.

That is Fox's and director Bruce Gowers' gift to an awards show that has a reputation for dullness. Since there is no way to make such a night into something extraordinary, Gowers, the guy who brings "American Idol" in on time each year, made the whole affair go down easy. As entertainers worked the round in presenting and performing, the telecast had the pulse and freewheeling excitement of an "Idol" results shows. For once stars didn't take themselves so seriously that they forgot they were in the business of keeping us interested.

Sadly, there was no live performance of "Dick in a Box." Viewers got the next best thing in "The Family Guy's" evil infant Stewie and his vodka-swilling dog, Brian, soft-shoeing their way through a snide ode to television. It began by knocking Federal Way's Sanjaya Malakar's thin talent:

"You've got megahits like "Idol," where Sanjaya took his bow Just a little boy from India who made us all say wow
With a voice that makes you wanna just go out and kill a cow
Here the plain situation, a simple declaration, if you want it, you can find it on TV!"

We got "Lost's" Terry O'Quinn, winning a supporting actor in a drama Emmy at long last, savoring his moment by observing, "You know, sometimes when we're rolling around in the jungle in the mud, and we're hitting each other and stabbing each other and shooting each other, and they're pouring on the blood and turning on the sprinklers, I wonder what it would be like to bake up a sheet of cookies on Wisteria Lane. And get one of their checks."

Yes, everybody always thinks the grass is greener.

In essence, we got an enjoyable show, as well as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences voters doing the best with what they had to work with. In a number of cases.

"The Sopranos" got its due throughout the night, including an entertaining if odd, at times, tribute from the Jersey Boys singing Frankie Valli tunes. The drama walked away with the best drama statue, as it should have, and a writing Emmy for David Chase. Given the way the rest of the night went, those wins were not a foregone conclusions; James Gandolfini lost to "Boston Legal's" James Spader, who has the distinction of not only whacking Tony Soprano in his final season but of winning outstanding lead actor Emmys every time he has been nominated.

Edie Falco also failed to snag another Emmy in honor of Carmela Soprano's swan song, beaten out by Sally Field.

Including the haul from last weekend's creative arts Emmys, HBO walked away with 21 awards. NBC came in a strong second with 19 -- out of those, its special "Tony Bennett: An American Classic," racked up seven to become the year's most honored program, followed closely by HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," which won six.

It was also a big night for AMC's miniseries "Broken Trail," which won three Emmys on Sunday night (for best miniseries, a supporting statue for Thomas Haden Church and a best actor statue for Robert Duvall), and Masterpiece Theatre's "Prime Suspect: The Final Act," which came away with directing and writing Emmys, as well as an award for Dame Helen Mirren.

As always, Sunday gave us a "win some, lose some" proposition.

On the one hand, Jeremy Piven won another supporting actor in a comedy statue for "Entourage." Then again, isn't it time Kevin Dillon got a taste? Or Rainn Wilson?

Focus on the good times: America Ferrera was a favorite to win outstanding lead actress in a comedy. But you'd have to have a cold, stony heart not to grin in pleasure at that.

To see "30 Rock" get its due, and no doubt a stronger lease on life, with its best comedy statue, was also a wonderful thing. Jaime Pressly's supporting actress in a comedy win for "My Name is Earl" was well-deserved, just as Ricky Gervais' best actor in a comedy win was an unexpected coup.

There wasn't a long list of "wow" moments, save for Brad Garrett's highly inappropriate comments about Joely Fisher's ta-tas; but neither were there too many embarrassing flops.

There were, however, a couple of flubs; Ray Romano went a little too blue for primetime, which made the screen go black for a few minutes. "Grey's Anatomy's" Katherine Heigl, who won best supporting actress in a drama, mouthed a dirty word that got through. And then there was Fields, running free during her acceptance speech to the point where the cameras frantically cut away.

Just a couple of small bumps in an otherwise enjoyable broadcast fronted by Seacrest, who many doubted could cut it as an Emmy host. Seacrest was tidy, unobtrusive and acknowledged his limitations as an entertainer by handing off the heavy lifting to seasoned comedians. The downside of his willingness to delegate and yes, let others risk falling flat on their faces, is whatever he brought to the show will be forgotten in a week.

So what? The man's gotten incredibly rich by playing the cross between a ringmaster and a glorified usher. After saluting past hosts such as Johnny Carson, Conan O'Brien and Ellen DeGeneres -- "Sure, they were brilliant, if that's what you're into!" -- he turned it over to the comedians. Yes, Seacrest knew that Sunday night was not the time to stretch.

At one point he boomed in his approximation of a powerful Broadway tenor, "The-e-e-e-e-e-re's!!!!" -- only to follow it with -- "not a chance in hell I'm going to sing tonight."

Good man. Not only that, since he's not so good with the jokes, Seacrest quickly yanked the droning Romano onstage and let him do the yapping.

His slow start picked up when Ellen DeGeneres stepped in, running a montage tribute to late-night hosts and an memorial to Tom Snyder. Others, including Lewis Black, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, kept the fuel tank full.

But the funniest bit of the night may have been a loaded round of "Don't Forget the Lyrics," pitting comedy supporting actor Rainn Wilson against Kanye West.

"The theme for our musical competition tonight: The songs of Kanye West," Wayne Brady quipped, and West launched into a verse from his new single "Stronger," finishing the last line with the word "you."

"You are wrong," Brady told the rap star. "You are wrong. You, uh, the last line of the song is, 'That's how long I've been on ya.' Y-A. You picked a bad time to speak properly. I'm sorry."

Following Wilson's victory, West sighed, "I never win."

On Sunday night, however, viewers did.

Indeed, you may have felt something we haven't felt for a good long time while watching the Emmys -- joy.

Savor it; we might not ever get it again.


THE WINNERS

Drama Series: "The Sopranos," HBO.
Comedy Series: "30 Rock," NBC.
Miniseries: "Broken Trail," AMC.
Variety, Music or Comedy Series: "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," Comedy Central.
Variety, Music or Comedy Special: "Tony Bennett: An American Classic," NBC.
Made-for-TV Movie: "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," HBO.
Reality-Competition Program: "The Amazing Race," CBS.
Actor, Drama Series: James Spader, "Boston Legal," ABC.
Actor, Comedy Series: Steve Carell, "The Office," NBC.
Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Robert Duvall, "Broken Trail," AMC.
Actress, Drama Series: Sally Field, "Brothers & Sisters," ABC.
Actress, Comedy Series: America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty," ABC.
Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Helen Mirren, "Prime Suspect: The Final Act (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS.
Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Terry O'Quinn, "Lost," ABC.
Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Jeremy Piven, "Entourage," HBO.
Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Thomas Haden Church, "Broken Trail," AMC.
Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Katherine Heigl, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC.
Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Jaime Pressly, "My Name Is Earl," NBC.
Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Judy Davis, "The Starter Wife," USA.
Individual Performance, Variety or Music Program: Tony Bennett, "Tony Bennett: An American Classic," NBC.
Directing, Drama Series: "The Sopranos: Kennedy and Heidi," HBO.
Directing, Comedy Series: "Ugly Betty: Pilot," ABC.
Directing, Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: "Prime Suspect: The Final Act (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS
Directing, Variety, Music or Comedy Program: "Tony Bennett: An American Classic," NBC.
Writing for a Drama Series: "The Sopranos: Made in America," HBO.
Writing, Comedy Series: "The Office: Gay Witch Hunt," NBC.
Writing, Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: "Prime Suspect: The Final Act," PBS