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July 14, 2005
Old favorites don't fade away in Emmy race
by Gail Pennington
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Even with so many worthy newcomers from which to choose, the Emmys clung to tired old favorites on Thursday, handing nominations to "The West Wing," "Will & Grace," "Six Feet Under" and other shows long past their prime.
But some fresh entries did break through, including - of course - ABC's "Desperate Housewives" in the outstanding comedy series category and "Lost" as outstanding drama. Hugh Laurie of Fox's "House" proved impossible to overlook as outstanding actor in a drama, and Ian McShane of HBO's "Deadwood," ignored last year, made a belated appearance.
Exemplifying the battle between old and new: "Desperate Housewives" tied "Will & Grace" for the most nominations, 15 each.
Three of the five "Housewives" - Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman - were nominated as lead actress in a comedy, joined by perennial Patricia Heaton of CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Jane Kaczmarek of Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle." But co-star Eva Longoria was again left out, as she was in the Golden Globes, and Nicollette Sheridan didn't rate a nomination in the supporting actress category.
For lead actor in a comedy, Jason Bateman of Fox's "Arrested Development" and Zach Braff of NBC's "Scrubs" joined a familiar list including Eric McCormack of "Will & Grace," Ray Romano of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Tony Shalhoub of USA's "Monk."
For comedy series, "Arrested Development," which won last year, will battle "Desperate Housewives," "Everybody Loves Raymond" (for its final season), "Scrubs" and "Will & Grace."
In the drama categories, outstanding actor nominees Laurie and McShane were joined by James Spader of ABC's "Boston Legal," Kiefer Sutherland of Fox's "24" and surprise entry Hank Azaria of Showtime's little-watched "Huff." Striking omissions included Matthew Fox of "Lost," William Petersen of CBS' "CSI" and Anthony LaPaglia of CBS' "Without a Trace."
As outstanding actress in a drama, Patricia Arquette of NBC's freshman hit "Medium" was part of a seemingly random group including Mariska Hargitay of NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Jennifer Garner of ABC's "Alias," Frances Conroy of HBO's "Six Feet Under" and Glenn Close of FX's "The Shield." Newcomer Kristen Bell of UPN's "Veronica Mars" was notably overlooked, as was multiple-winner Allison Janney of "The West Wing."
The fifth nominee for outstanding drama series, along with "Lost," "Deadwood," "Six Feet Under" and "The West Wing," was Fox's "24." Omissions included "Veronica Mars," CBS' "CSI" and "Without a Trace" and FX's "Nip/Tuck" and "Rescue Me." (HBO's "The Sopranos" wasn't eligible.)
In the supporting actor categories, where risks are sometimes taken, Emmy nominators noticed not just the brilliant Terry O'Quinn, who plays the puzzling Locke on "Lost," but also Naveen Andrews, who plays Sayeed. And was it a vote of confidence for the Republican nominee that Alan Alda was nominated as Sen. Arnold Vinick on "The West Wing" while Jimmy Smits' Rep. Matt Santos was ignored? Rounding out the category were Oliver Platt of "Huff" and William Shatner's showy performances as Denny Crane on "Boston Legal."
Sandra Oh of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" was a pleasant surprise among the nominees for supporting actress in a drama, as was CCH Pounder of "The Shield." Also nominated: Blythe Danner of "Huff," Tyne Daly of "Judging Amy" and the virtually invisible Stockard Channing of "The West Wing."
Among comedy performances, nominators singled out Jeremy Piven's daring turn as agent Ari Jacobs in HBO's "Entourage" and again noticed Jeffrey Tambor as off-center George Bluth Sr. and Jessica Walter as his brittle wife, Lucille, in "Arrested Development."
Also nominated: Peter Boyle, Brad Garrett and Doris Roberts of "Everybody Loves Raymond"; Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally of "Will & Grace"; and Holland Taylor and Conchata Ferrell of CBS' "Two and a Half Men."
Fox's resurrected "Family Guy" snagged a nomination as outstanding animated program, a strange-bedfellows category that also singled out Comedy Central's crude "South Park" and Nickelodeon's kid-fave "SpongeBob SquarePants." For fans of reality TV, the best surprise of the nominations, announced at 7:40 a.m. St. Louis time, might have been the nod given to Bravo's "Project Runway." The fashion-design series joined the two-time winner, CBS' "The Amazing Race," plus NBC's "The Apprentice," Fox's "American Idol" and CBS' "Survivor" in the reality-competition category.
Posted by Jo at July 14, 2005 07:08 PM