Television's Big Night Out
The quirky Ally McBeal won the Emmy award for best comedy tonight at the 51st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. The courtroom drama The Practice, won for best drama series. It was a double coup for creator David E. Kelley.
The Fox comedy about a bizarre Boston law firm toppled NBC's Frasier. That show won the best comedy award five years in a row. It was the second straight Emmy for ABC's The Practice. Two of its supporting actors also took home trophies.
Dennis Franz of NYPD Blue won his fourth trophy for best actor in a drama. The Emmy veteran said he thought co-star Jimmy Smits would win the award for the episode where Smit's character died.
Helen Hunt won her fourth straight best comedy actress Emmy for the sentimental finale of Mad About You and John Lithgow was honored as top comedy actor for 3rd Rock From the Sun Sunday night.
Hunt's award tied a record for consecutive wins by a performer set in 1988 by John Larroquette for Night Court.
Acknowledging co-star Paul Reiser and everyone involved in the show, Hunt thanked "a family of people that made it the most creative, safe, loving place to work."
Lithgow accepted his third award for the NBC sitcom.
"I really don't know why I have won this. As far as I can tell every actor in this town thinks what I do on '3rd Rock' is completely disgraceful. I'm embarrassed myself," he joked.
Kristen Johnston of 3rd Rock From the Sun was named best supporting actress in a comedy and David Hyde Pierce won the supporting actor's honor for Frasier.
Holland Taylor and Michael Badalucco from ABC's drama series, The Practice, swept the best supporting actress and actor awards.
"So glad I put on pants," said Emmy host Pierce, who had quickly changed into a tuxedo after donning a purple unitard for a show-opening skit. It was his third Emmy.
Pierce and his co-host, Jenna Elfman of Dharma & Greg, started the Shrine Auditorium ceremony by performing interpretive dance numbers poking fun at popular television series.
Badalucco, picking up his first career Emmy for his role as a not-too-slick lawyer with blue collar roots, thanked viewers who "take us into your home and hearts each week."
Jay Leno may be clobbering David Letterman in the ratings, but Letterman's Late Show took the Emmy for best variety series for the second straight year.
John Leguizamo's Freak won an Emmy for best performance in a variety or music program. Leguizamo thanked HBO, dubbing it the "Hispanic Box Office," and said he welcomed the chance to do his one-man show for TV because "the Latin voice is something that's lacking and missing in the media."
He spoke on the opening day of a two-week television viewing boycott organized by Hispanic groups angry at television because of its lack of ethnic diversity. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peopl is considering similar action.
A&E's Horatio Hornblower was named best miniseries and HBO's A Lesson Before Dying captured the made-for-TV movie crown.
In the miniseries or movie grouping, Helen Mirren won best actress for Showtime's The Passion of Ayn Rand and Stanley Tucci of HBO's Winchell was best actor. Supporting acting honors went to Anne Bancroft for the CBS movie Deep in My Heart and to Peter O'Toole for the same network's miniseries Joan of Arc.
There was even a father-son Emmy team: Paul Miller earned his first trophy for directing the 1998 Tonys, beating his father, Walter C. Miller. Later, Dad picked up the award when the Tony telecast won for best variety special. The elder Miller was executive producer.
"Fifty years in the business and my son takes an Emmy away from me," the elder Miller said.
HBO's mob drama The Sopranos and the Fox legal series Ally McBeal led all the nominees going into the show.
Both shows competed in six of the 27 categories lined up for trophy presentations during the three-hour televised show.
The Sopranos grabbed 16 of the nominations announced in July by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Thirteen nods each were handed out to the CBS miniseries Joan of Arc and two David E. Kelley productions: Ally McBeal and the more serious legal drama The Practice, on ABC.
Winners in 52 categories were announced at the Emmy creative arts awards held Aug. 28. The Sopranos and Ally McBeal each won two trophies then.
In last month's non-televised ceremony, awards were announced in craft categories, including outstanding choreography, editing and makeup.
Four acting awards for guest roles also were given out.
Mel Brooks was honored as outstanding guest actor in a comedy series for his role as Uncle Phil on NBC's Mad About You, while Tracey Ullman was named in the matching actress category for her role as a therapist on Ally McBeal.
Edward Herrmann's role as a murder defendant on The Practice was honored with an Emmy in the drama category, while Debra Monk received an award for guest-starring on NYPD Blue as Detective Andy Sipowicz's ex-wife.
For best commercial, the award went to snap.com, an Internet service.
Click here for a look at Emmy fashions.