Basic Cable Nabs More Emmys
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 9/22/2003 9:45:00 AM
And the winner is … basic-cable television.
The industry continued to make strides against its broadcast competitors as cable programming and actors landed significant statues at the 55th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony Sunday night in Los Angeles.
Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart copped a pair of statues -- for best variety, musical or comedy series and for writing on the show. The Daily Show topped NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live, as well as CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman.
Tony Shalhoub took home best actor in a comedy series for his obsessive-compulsive turn as a quirky detective in USA Network’s hit skein, Monk.
In all-cable competition, Turner Network Television triumphed in the made-for-television-movie category with Door to Door, which bested Lifetime Television’s Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story and a trio from Home Box Office: Live from Baghdad, Normal and MyHouse in Umbria.
William H. Macy won the Emmy for best actor for his portrayal of Bill Porter, a salesman with cerebral palsy. Door to Door was based on Porter’s true story. Steven Schachter was named top director and writer for miniseries, movie or dramatic special for his work on Door.
Sci Fi Channel grabbed the award for miniseries with Stephen Spielberg Presents Taken, a 10-part alien-abduction saga. Taken beat out CBS’ Hitler:The Rise of Evil and A&E Network’s Napoleon.
Basic cable’s collective bounty compared most favorably to last year, when only FX took home a primetime statue for Michael Chiklis’ lead role in gritty cop-drama series The Shield.
Home Box Office, which led all networks with 109 nominations -- awards in the creative arena were doled out a week ago -- had a mixed evening.
Mob dramedy The Sopranos and family funereal series Six Feet Under came up short in the best drama series to NBC’s The West Wing, which, in winning for the fourth time in a row, also topped Fox’s 24 and TV’s most-watched show, CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Six Feet Under, which led the way with nominations overall, copped just one statue for a technical award.
However, The Sopranos’ James Gandolfini and Edie Falco won for best actor and best actress in a drama series for their portrayals of mob boss Tony Soprano and his disillusioned wife, Carmella. And Joe Pantoliano -- whose Ralph Cifaretto character wounding up losing his life and then his head in a fight with Tony Soprano -- brought home the best supporting actor award.
Series creator David Chase, along with Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, won the best writing award for "Whitecaps," the finale of the show’s fourth season.
Curb Your Enthusiasm was rewarded with a best director statue for the "Krazee-Eyez Killa" episode. But the Larry David vehicle and Sex and the City trailed CBS’ Everybody Loves Raymond for best comedy series.
Elsewhere, Maggie Smith was honored with a best actress role in a miniseries or movie for her work in Umbria. The premium network also received laurels for supporting actor and supporting actress as Ben Gazzara’s and Gena Rowlands’ performances were celebrated in original film Hysterical Blindness.
All told, HBO, which led all networks with 109 nominations, finished first in the statuefest with 18 Emmys. CBS was second with 16.
No related content found.
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
