Emmy: 'Sopranos,' 'Ugly Betty' mop up nods : Netglimse.com News

Emmy: 'Sopranos,' 'Ugly Betty' mop up nods

It wasn’t quite out with the old and in with the new, but several freshman series found their way into the spotlight, including “Heroes,” “Ugly Betty” and “30 Rock.”

Say what you want about “The Sopranos” ending — brilliant, puzzling, stupid or cop-out — but the mob family drama found favor with Emmy voters.

It topped all series with 15 nominations Thursday, including best drama. Its two stars, James Gandolfini and Edie DeFalco, earned major acting nominations and Michael Imperioli and Aida Turturro earned supporting-actor nods for their roles in the popular HBO series, which called it quits after six seasons.

Another HBO production, the made-for-TV movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” led all categories with 17 nominations. Interestingly, the drama about a chapter of Native American history was voted "the worst movie, miniseries or special" in a recent poll of Television Critics Association members. Winners will be announced Sept. 16.

NBC’s “Heroes,” the superhero-driven drama that became a modest ratings hit for the network, joins “The Sopranos,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “House,” and first-time nominee “Boston Legal” in the best drama category.

ABC’s “Ugly Betty” was sitting pretty, nabbing 11 nominations, including best comedy. It joins NBC’s “30 Rock,” another newcomer, along with “Two and a Half Men,” “Entourage” and “The Office” (last year’s winner) in the category.

Emmy voters were less kind with some older hits. Fox’s “24,” last year’s winner in the best drama series, was snubbed as was “Lost,” the 2005 winner in the category.

Also shut out were “Friday Night Lights,” the critic’s favorite about football in a small Texas town, and most of the CBS drama lineup. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” its spin-offs and popular shows such as “Criminal Minds,” NCIS” and “Shark” all were snubbed in the major categories.

“Lost,” still a critic’s favorite, strung together a series of well-written episodes and ended in shocking fashion, but the convoluted plotting and multiple story arcs apparently wore thin with Academy of Television Arts and Sciences voters (not to mention many viewers).

“24,” which had its best year in 2006, followed it up with one of its least creative seasons, a cavalcade of torturous episodes and some start-and-stop story arcs.

That didn’t prevent series star Kiefer Sutherland, “24’s” executive producer, from earning another acting nomi-nation. He’s joined in the drama series category by Gandolfini, Denis Leary of “Rescue Me,” James Spader of “Boston Legal” and Hugh Laurie of “House.”

All have been nominated before but Spader and Laurie re-turn after being shut out last year.

That theme continues in the best actress category, where previous nominees DeFalco (“The Sopranos”) and Patricia Arquette (“Medium”) earned nods this year after being ignored last year.

They are joined by Minnie Driver, who played an ex-con traveler struggling with drug addiction in FX’s “The Riches,” along with last year’s winner Mariska Hargitay of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” Kyra Sedgwick of “The Closer” and Sally Field of “Brothers & Sisters.”

It was Field’s seventh Emmy nomination (and first for this series) and makes for a crowded best actress field.
The same can be said for the talent-rich best supporting actress category, which also sports six nominees.

Besides Turturro’s nomination as Tony’s loudmouth sister in “The Sopranos,” supporting actress nods went to Lorraine Bracco, also of “The Sopranos,” Rachel Griffiths (“Brothers & Sisters”) and a trio of “Grey’s Anatomy” actresses, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl and Chandra Wilson.

(I wouldn’t want to be Ellen Pompeo. The “Grey’s Anatomy” star was the only actress not nominated for her performance on the show.)

Contrary to the packed field of actress candidates, the lead actor in a comedy series category has just four nominees. Multiple winner Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”) is joined by returnees Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men”) and Steve Carell (“The Office”) and first-time nominee Alec Baldwin, who helped give NBC a solid night of comedy with his performance on “30 Rock.” It wouldn't have killed voters to add Jason Lee ("My Name is Earl"), Zach Braff ("Scrubs") or John Krasinski ("The Office").

America Ferrara earned her first Emmy nomination as the smart-but-put-upon title character in “Ugly Betty.” She is joined by another first-timer, Tina Fey (“30 Rock”) along with previous nominees Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives,” “Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“The New Adventures of Old Christine”) and Mary-Louise Parker for Showtime’s “Weeds.” (Louis-Dreyfus won last year).

Other category highlights:
Supporting-actor comedy nods went to first-timers Rainn Wilson (“The Office”), Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”) and Kevin Dillon of “Entourage,” who joins castmate Jeremy Piven (last year’s winner) and Jon Cryer of “Two and a Half Men.”

In addition to “The Sopranos” Imperioli, nominations for supporting actor in a drama series went to Terry O’ Quinn and Michael Emerson of “Lost”; William Shatner (“Boston Le-gal”) and T.R. Knight (“Grey’s Anatomy.”)
Supporting actress in a comedy series nods went to Jaime Pressly (“My Name is Earl”); Jenna Fischer (“The Office”) Conchata Ferrell and Holland Taylor of “Two and a Half Men”), Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty”) and Elizabeth Perkins (“Weeds”).

Made-for TV-movie nominations went to “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” Discovery Channel’s “Inside the Twin Towers,” Lifetime’s “Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastec-tomy” and TNT’s “The Ron Clark Story.”

Best miniseries candidates include AMC’s “Broken Trail” (which had 16 nominations overall), PBS’ “Prime Suspect: The Final Act,” and USA’s “The Starter Wife.”

Best reality-competition program: “The Amazing Race,” CBS; “American Idol,” Fox; “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC; “Project Runway,” Bravo, and “Top Chef,” Bravo.