What was supposed to be a big night for cable in general and HBO's "The Sopranos" in particular turned out to be a victory of unprecedented proportions for David E. Kelley. The creator/executive producer/writer took home the two biggest Emmy Awards -- "Ally McBeal" was named outstanding comedy and "The Practice" was named outstanding drama.
Never in the history of television has one producer/writer pulled off such a feat -- and both wins were more than a bit unexpected.Accepting the drama award, Kelley said, "Well, I think you can see from the looks on our faces we're a little surprised. But we'll take it. This is a bit of a shock. . . . This is for all the underdogs."
Just moments later, he received an even bigger shock when "Ally" won the best-comedy Emmy.
"They said backstage, 'You've got to go back out, you've got to go back out.' I thought there'd been a mistake and 'The Sopranos' had won drama," Kelley said.
"Ally McBeal" became the first hour-long show in 37 years -- and only the third in history -- to win the Emmy as best comedy. (The other 60-minute winners were both variety shows -- "Red Skelton" in 1951 and "Bob Newhart" in 1962.) It's also the first time a show on Fox has ever won one of Emmy's top prizes. The victory was the biggest shocker on a night that had a few.
It isn't that "The Practice" wasn't an industry favorite -- this is the second year in a row it was named best drama. And series co-stars Michael Badalucco and Holland Taylor took home Emmys as supporting actor and actress in a drama.
But HBO's drama/comedy about the mafia, "The Sopranos," got the most nominations of any show -- a whopping 16 -- and was the odds-on favorite to win the top prize.
The show didn't go home empty-handed. It won one Emmy for writing and another for outstanding lead actress in a drama, Edie Falco.
And cable didn't do badly, winning nine of the 27 Emmys presented on Sunday night (and 17 of the 55 awards presented a week ago in largely technical categories.) HBO won 20 Emmys, the most of any outlet -- wins that were highlighted by "A Lesson Before Dying" as outstanding TV movie (it won another for writing); Stanley Tucci as outstanding actor in a movie for "Winchell"; and John Leguizamo for outstanding performance in a variety of music program for his one-man show "Freak."
A&E won five Emmys, included a much-deserved statuette for "Horatio Hornblower," which was named outstanding miniseries.
In the broadcast network competition, NBC won 17 Emmys; ABC won 13; CBS won 11; and Fox won seven.
Kelley becomes the first person to create and produce shows that have won top honors in both drama and comedy competition, and the first to create and produce three different shows that took top series honors. (His "Picket Fences" was top drama in 1993 and 1994.)
Not that even Kelley won everything, however. He was nominated as comedy writer for an "Ally" episode, but the award went to "Frasier" scribe Jay Kogen.
"I'd like to thank the Academy for objectively, in some way, making me better than David E. Kelley," Kogen said. "Michelle, are you listening?"
(Kelley is married to actress Michelle Pfeiffer, who attended with him at the ceremonies at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium.)
Familiarity may breed contempt in some arenas but not at the Emmys. In addition to "The Practice," there were plenty of repeat winners. Topping the list was Helen Hunt, who almost inexplicably took home the outstanding actress in a comedy award for the fourth year in a row despite the fact that her show, "Mad About You," plummeted both in the ratings and in quality this past season. (She tied John Larroquette of "Night Court" for the most consecutive Emmys won by a performer.)
Appearing as presenters earlier in the evening, Hunt's "Mad" co-star, Paul Reiser -- who was nominated again but has never won -- joked that, "Whoever wins, I'm going up. I've had the speech in my pocket for seven years, I'm going up." (But he didn't look particularly pleased either when he lost or when Hunt won.)
John Lithgow won his third Emmy for his over-the-top histrionics in "3rd Rock From the Sun," something he said came as a surprise even to him.
"I really don't know why I won this," he said in accepting the award. "As far as I can tell, every actor in town thinks what I do on '3rd Rock from the Sun' is completely disgraceful. . . . I'm embarrassed myself."
Dennis Franz ("NYPD Blue") looked a bit embarrassed himself when he won his fourth Emmy as outstanding lead actor in a drama. "Well, there certainly have been surprises and this is one of them," he said. "I was feeling pretty comfortable down there because I knew I wasn't going to have to get up and say anything. I was sure Jimmy was."
(And, indeed, his former co-star, Jimmy Smits, was a favorite after his character died in an episode that won its director, Paris Barclay, an Emmy on Sunday night.)
Other repeat winners included the broadcast's co-host, David Hyde Pierce ("Frasier"), who won his third supporting actor in a comedy Emmy; and Kristin Johnston ("3rd Rock"), who took home her second as supporting actress in a comedy.
And for the second year in a row (and third time overall), the "Late Show with David Letterman" was named outstanding comedy, music or variety series.
"When we won this award last year, Dave Letterman himself did not win an Emmy because he does not take a producer title on the show," said "Late Show" executive producer Rob Burnett, who suggested to the host that he take just such a credit. "He said, 'No, no, no. I wouldn't want to take any attention away from you guys.' I realized how lucky I was to have worked for a guy like that for 14 years.
"He then called security and had me removed from his office."
Hosts Jenna Elfman ("Dharma & Greg") and David Hyde Pierce ("Frasier") certainly opened the show on an unusual note. Attired in purple unitards, they proceeded to perform "interpretive dances" that saluted shows ranging from "The Sopranos" to the "Late Show" and "Tonight."
"David and I have a dream -- to be the best hosts of any awards show ever," Elfman said.
While that's open for debate, the duo were very good -- with Pierce's dry humor and Elfman's over-the-top giddiness providing a light note to the far-too-long-as-usual awards show. As Pierce said, the Emmycast "all the laughs, the tears, the length of a telethon -- only we're not helping anyone."
But, overall, it was a fairly dull telecast -- albeit one that stayed within its allotted three hours. There were no unwatchable production numbers, but there were salutes to everything from prime-time animation to the best moments of the past season, the future of television to three shows that signed off this season ("Home Improvement," "Mad About You" and "Melrose Place" -- all of which were well past their primes). A bit in which the cast of "Felicity" spoofed "NYPD Blue," "The X-Files" and "ER" was quite good; a bit in which "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart spoofed the scandal of a "Felicity" writer who lied about her age was less successful.
There was little in the way of memorable acceptance speeches or presenters talks, although both Martin Short and Garry Shandling got big laughs from the audience.
"I can't lose to 'Frasier' tonight, can I? I'm just presenting," quipped Shandling, whose since-retired "Larry Sanders Show" never managed to beat the NBC sitcom for an Emmy.
As always, there were moments of tastelessness, many of those involving cable series that many viewers of the Emmys may never have seen -- shows like "South Park" and "Sex and the City."
The evening's only standing ovation went to "Sports Night" co-star Robert Guillaume, who suffered a stroke back in January. He advanced slowly onto the stage, leaning on a cane, to present one of the awards.
"Personally, these last nine months have left a lot to be desired. My thanks for all your good wishes," he said somewhat haltingly.
In one of the evening's more unusual matchups, father and son Walter C. Miller and Paul Miller were both nominated for directing a variety or music program -- the former for the Tonys, the latter for the Grammys. When the younger Miller won, he apologized to his dad.
"I'm sorry. Maybe next year," he said before dedicated his Emmy to his father.
But the elder Miller later won an Emmy of his own as the producer of the Tonys.
"I just want to make one comment before I read my little list here. Kids have no respect -- to think that my son would take an Emmy away from his father," Walter C. Miller joked.