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Six Feet Under, HBO Lead Emmy Nominations There's a new reality, too Cable giant HBO and its funeral home family drama Six Feet Under led all contenders for the September Emmy Awards when nominations were announced Thursday. The 2003 Primetime Awards telecast airs from Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium on Fox September 21, and the Creative Arts Awards, which represent the bulk of the Primetime Emmy presentations, will be presented at the Shine on September 13.
Six Feet Under collected 16 nominations, followed by NBC's The West Wing with 15. But HBO swamped its broadcast and cable rivals with 109 overall nominations, far ahead of its nearest competitor, NBC, with 77. Presenters at the brief press conference, produced by Doug Stewart in the TV Academy's Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre, were Academy Chairman Bryce Zabel; Jane Kaczmarek, star of Malcolm in the Middle; and Michael Chiklis of The Shield, who was a surprise winner last year as best actor in a drama series. Both were nominated again this year. It was the fourth nomination without an Emmy for Kaczmarek, and she went weak in the knees, disappearing with a whoop behind the podium as Chiklis read her name. In addition to Six Feet and West Wing, drama series nominations went to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS), The Sopranos (HBO) and 24 (Fox). Six Feet's Frances Conroy, The Sopranos' Edie Falco, Alias' Jennifer Garner (ABC), Marg Helgenberger of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Allison Janney, last year's winner from West Wing, were nominated for best actress in a drama series. Their male counterparts were Chiklis, whose show runs on FX, James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Martin Sheen (The West Wing) and Kiefer Sutherland (24). Comedy series program nominations went to Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO), Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS), Friends (NBC), Sex and the City (HBO) and Will & Grace (NBC). In the male comedy performers category, Larry David of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Matt LeBlanc of Friends, Bernie Mac of The Bernie Mac Show (Fox), Eric McCormack of Will & Grace, Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond and Tony Shaloub of Monk, who won his first nomination ever for the USA show. Leading comedy actress candidates were Jennifer Aniston (Friends), Patricia Heaton (Raymond), Kaczmarek, Debra Messing (Will & Grace) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City). Zabel introduced a new category for the Primetime television show -- reality competition, including recent ratings-busters that offer prizes to winners. The nominees: The Amazing Race (CBS), American Idol (Fox), Survivor (CBS). Also technically eligible in the category, although they didn't offer prizes, were AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Passions: America's Greatest Love Stories (CBS) and 100 Years of Hope and Humor (NBC). "It's our job to reflect television as it is and encourage excellence where we can," Zabel told reporters. "So by doing that, and putting it on the Primetime, I think we're doing both of those things. More reality shows of those type will probably want to win Emmys, and they'll do a better job, even better than what they're doing now. "And at the same time, if Fox has more younger viewers who are watching reality television, maybe they will tune in to the Primetime Emmys this year. Bottom line: the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a group of people who give out awards but we also put on a TV show, and we have the choice of: is reality in or reality out? Reality's in right now." Zabel said it was "a little surprising" to see the lopsided HBO total. "I didn't see that one coming ... I think there's something for everybody this year, and it's certainly a good year for HBO, there's no question about that." The Emmy telecast will be available for viewing this year in practically every country, thanks to new overseas licensing agreements. Academy President Todd Leavitt mentioned China, France and Mongolia as the remaining uncovered exceptions. Transmissions in Russia and Japan will air for the first time ever, he said. As an experiment, Academy governors arranged for the Creative Arts show this year to include the annual Engineering and Interactive Media Awards, which have been traditionally presented in the summer. The result promises to be a marathon Emmyfest on September 13, with the show beginning at 3 p.m. on the West Coast, with an hour-long intermission before the other Creative Arts Emmys, which cover artistic, technical and other behind-the-scenes achievement. Award-winning producer and director Don Mischer will return for the eighth time as executive producer of the telecast, and Michael B. Seligman is supervising producer. Academy Governor Michael Hoey and John Moffitt are executive producers of the Creative Arts Awards, and Spike Jones returns as creative producer. Governor James L. Anderson coordinates Academy efforts through the Primetime Show Committee. The complete list of nominees and other information. <<Back to News index |
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