the emmys

'Sopranos' bows out with top drama Emmy
By MELANIE McFARLAND
P-I TELEVISION CRITIC

"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. LOS ANGELES (AP) ― The hottest accessory of the night at the 59th annual Primetime Emmy Awards was the 7 1/2-pound, 16-inch-tall winged muse of art known as the Emmy.

But after getting the thing home, what does a winner do with one?

Jaime Pressly, who won for supporting actress in a comedy series for "My Name Is Earl," said she planned to sleep with her Emmy on Sunday night.

"After that, I don't know," she said.

Jeremy Piven of "Entourage," who won for supporting actor in a comedy series for the second year in a row, said he would put his Emmy "right next to my other one."

"I'll put it on the shelf with its brothers and sisters," joked Sally Field, who won for lead actress in a drama series for "Brothers & Sisters."

Or maybe she wasn't joking. Field already has two Emmys, and two Oscars, to keep her new Emmy company.

"I've made myself a trophy shelf and it's quite cool," said Helen Mirren who won for best actress in a TV miniseries or movie for "Prime Suspect: The Final Act (Masterpiece Theatre)." "It has every trophy I've ever won."

That's quite a few, given that in the past year Mirren has won an Emmy, an Oscar and a Golden Globe after picking up an Emmy last year.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who has won five consecutive Emmys for "The Amazing Race," may have to build himself a new trophy shelf.

"I'm running out of room," he complained.

Tony Bennett said he would keep his Emmy for variety, music or comedy special ("Tony Bennett: An American Classic"), in the office of his son, producer Danny Bennett.

"Next to mine," his son added.

Jon Stewart ("The Daily Show With Jon Stewart") quipped that he plans to find a functional use for his fifth consecutive Emmy for variety, music or comedy series.

His house is falling down, Stewart said, and he plans to wedge the Emmy underneath.