terry o quinn

LOS ANGELES : "Lost" star Terry O'Quinn was named best supporting actor in a drama while Katherine Heigl of "Grey's Anatomy" won the best supporting actress award.

The actor won the award on his second nomination for his role as the heroic John Locke, who regains use of his legs on the ABC thriller.

He edged out a field of nominees that included Michael Imperioli of the "Sopranos."

The awards for best supporting actor and actress in a comedy went to Jeremy Piven of HBO's "Entourage," and Jamie Pressly for sitcom "My Name is Earl."

Meanwhile, former US vice president Al Gore received the "interactive television services" Emmy for his youth-orientated cable network, Current TV.

Targeted at Internet savvy youths, the cable network was launched in 2005 and airs a mix of both professionally produced segments and viewer produced segments.

The award for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or a movie went to British actress Helen Mirren for her work on "Prime Suspect: The Final Act".

The Emmy Awards also paid tribute to the "Sopranos," as America's favourite mob family picked up its first two trophies for writing and directing.

The entire "Sopranos" cast, whose show ended its six-season run in June, then gathered on stage to take their bows as the audience gave them a standing ovation. - CNA/il
A surprise win for the comedy series "30 Rock," a rousing farewell to "The Sopranos" (including an Emmy for best drama series) and a moving tribute to the classic miniseries "Roots" elevated the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards on the Fox network last night -- but three instances of government-mandated censorship brought it down again.

Early in the program, comic actor Ray Romano and actress Katherine Heigl were both cut off when they apparently used four-letter words in remarks. The performers suddenly vanished for a few seconds and were replaced by static shots from elsewhere in Los Angeles's Shrine Auditorium, where the telecast originated. The program was on time-delay, which gives networks the opportunity to edit live shows.

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The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards
A surprise win for "30 Rock," a rousing farewell to "The Sopranos" and a moving tribute to "Roots" elevated the awards broadcast -- but three instances of censorship brought it down again.

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An arguably obscene word uttered even spontaneously can earn a network and even performers enormous fines from the Federal Communications Commission, re-activated as a national censor under the Bush administration.

The third instance of censorship may have been political. Sally Field, making one of her long and rambling acceptance speeches (winning for best actress in a drama on "Brothers & Sisters"), was interrupted by silence when she used a God-related swear word in voicing antiwar sentiments. According to the Associated Press, she said, "If the mothers ruled the world, there would be no [expletive] wars in the first place."

If Fox censored Field for political reason, it would be an ugly first in the history of the Emmys.

Presenter Brad Garrett made smutty remarks from the stage earlier in the evening but he didn't use any forbidden words, so he survived uncut.

The evening was almost a shutout for CBS, which won only one Emmy among those given out last night -- "The Amazing Race" was chosen best reality competition. Otherwise ABC won six Emmys, NBC (the lowest-rated network last season) seven, HBO six and three to PBS (all for the imported miniseries "Prime Suspect: The Final Act").

Although "Sopranos" lost in some categories, Emmys went to David Chase, creator of the epic drama, for writing the much-talked-about series finale, and to Alan Taylor for directing an episode called "Kennedy and Heidi." HBO also won the Emmy for best TV movie: "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," a long-delayed adaptation about promises broken to Native Americans in the 19th century.

America Ferrera was named best actress in a comedy series for playing the title role in ABC's "Ugly Betty," and England's Ricky Gervais was chosen best comedy actor for his series "Extras" on HBO.

Accepting the best-comedy Emmy, series creator and star Tina Fey referred to the relatively low ratings for the show when she thanked "our dozens and dozens of viewers."

James Spader was a surprise winner as best actor in a drama for the ABC courtroom series "Boston Legal." It was a category that "Sopranos" was expected to take, and Spader said in his remarks, "I feel like I just stole a pile of money from the mob." He also touched on the arcane and mysterious apparatus behind the Emmy Awards when he said, "I have no idea who votes for these things or how you even secure a ballot."

Here and there, this year's Emmys reflected the changing landscape of television. One award was given to the Web site Current TV, which runs submissions from viewers. Al Gore, cheered at last spring's Oscar ceremony for his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," popped up at the Emmys as well, accepting the award for Current TV along with co-founder Joel Hyatt.