If the previous year’s Emmys were notable for finally weeding out a crop of perennial nominees in favor of several fresher faces, this year’s roster continued the trend with addition of a particularly prevalent quirk: being cancelled–or on the brink of it–didn’t cut you out of the running.
Not only did shows marking their swan song seasons–The West Wing, Six Feet Under and Will & Grace among them–manage to stay in the hunt with several nominations, Arrested Development maintained its status as an Emmy darling with four nods though it couldn’t get arrested in the ratings, Commander In Chief’s Geena Davis stayed high in the polls as an acting nominee though her show was voted out of office and King of Queens’ Kevin James reigned with his first-ever acting nomination though his long-running sitcom had been on the bubble for renewal.
Even popular stars of unpopular series that won’t be back made the cut in major categories, including Lisa Kudrow for The Comeback and Stockard Channing for Out of Practice, both nominated in for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Amid the new order, Fox’s beloved action drama 24 rocketed ahead of the pack to become this year’s most nominated series with 12 nods in the Drama categories, including Outstanding Drama Series, Kiefer Sutherland for Outstanding Lead Actor, Gregory Itzin as Outstanding Supporting Actor and Jean Smart as Outstanding Supporting Actress.
Hot on its heels was ABC’s steamy Grey’s Anatomy with 11 nominations in the drama field, including Outstanding Drama Series. Series regulars Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson will both vie for Outstanding Supporting Actress, while Kate Burton, who plays Meredith Grey’s Alzheimer’s-afflicted mom, made the list among the Outstanding Guest Actress contenders, as did Christina Ricci for her role as a paramedic in the series’ breakthrough post-Superbowl outing. Also appearing in that episode as a bomb squad leader wad Kyle Chandler, nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor.
The ascent of those series came as a few of 2005’s new Emmy faces fell victim to sophomore slumps in 2006.
After scoring 15 nominations and six wins for its debut season last year–including nods for Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman (who took home a trophy)–all of a sudden Desperate Housewives was looking a little more desperate when it came up with only seven nominations, with its still-buzzed-about lead actresses being entirely shut out. Alfre Woodard and Shirley Knight, who plays Bree’s malicious mother-in-law, were the show’s only performers making the cut, as Outstanding Supporting Actress and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, respectively (Woodard was also in the hunt for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for The Water is Wide).
Last year’s other freshman sensation Lost won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 2005 but failed to make the roster this year after a highly criticized season. Still, it did collect an impressive nine nods (down from a dozen last year), though the sole actor nominated was Henry Ian Cusick for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series as the mysterious Desmond.
Emmy perennial Will & Grace leads the pack among the comedies, with 10 nominations in its final season, bringing its cumulative total to 83 nods (and 14 wins so far). Though lead Eric McCormack did not make the cut in the comedy category, his co-stars Debra Messing (Outstanding Lead Actress), Megan Mullally (Outstanding Supporting Actress) and Sean Hayes (Outstanding Supporting Actor) did, along with guest performers Alec Baldwin as Karen’s new love, Leslie Jordan as the acerbic Beverly Leslie and Will’s mom Blythe Danner (Danner also snagged a second nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role on Showtime’s Huff).
Though President Bartlett’s term finally came to an end as The West Wing closed up its Oval Office for good, the series stilled tallied up six nominations in 2006, delivering a whopping 95 total nods and 24 wins over its six season run. The show’s previous Emmy winners can go dress and tux shopping: Martin Sheen was back in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama pack, and Allison Janney rejoined the Lead Actress field. Alan Alda also returned in the Outstanding Supporting Actor race, marking his 32nd career nomination (with five wins under his belt). If you’re counting, that means in 2006 no less than three actors—Martin Sheen, Geena Davis and Gregory Itzin—are nominated for playing fictional presidents of the United States, and it would’ve been four if Alan Alda’s character had won his election bid.
Sheen also found himself nominated as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his turn opposite his son Charlie on Two and a Half Men. Charlie Sheen received a nomination as well, as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, as did his co-star Jon Cryer as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy. The hit sitcom garnered seven total nominations.
Despite shut-outs for its stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, The Sopranos’ much heralded return resulted in seven nominations in the drama series field, including nods for Outstanding Drama Series and Michael Imperioli for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (his fourth nomination in the category). The mob drama’s lengthy hiatus left it ineligible for consideration in 2005, and its new round of nominations is a far cry from the 20 it garnered in 2004; nevertheless, the series has upped its combined total to 96 overall, with 17 wins since its debut in 1999 (Only ER has more total noms among current shows with 117–including two in 2006–over its ten year run, an all-time high matched only by Cheers).
Another HBO stalwart, the now-ended Six Feet Under, came back from the dead with nine drama nominations, including lead actor and actress nods for Peter Krause and Frances Conroy, and guest nods for Patricia Clarkson and Joanna Cassidy.
Boston Legal will also get its day in court with seven drama nominations. William Shatner and Candice Bergen scored in the supporting actor and actress categories, while Michael J. Fox and Christian Clemenson will be guest actor contenders. Speaking of all things Shatnerian, the cable special How William Shatner Changed the World also drew two nominations.
Jane Kaczmarek tallied up her seventh nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for playing the beleaguered mom Lois on the exiting comedy Malcolm in the Middle–though she has yet to win for the role (Her TV hubby Bryan Cranston also got his third nomination for the series). Another Malcolm alum Cloris Leachman (who has seven Emmys and one Oscar) brought her career nomination total to 21 with nods for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy for playing Malcolm’s nasty grandma, and for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries of Movie for her turn in HBO’s Mrs. Harris.
Leachman’s Mrs. Harris co-stars Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley and Ellen Burstyn are among the other Oscar-winning and nominated actors and big-screen favorites who found themselves on Emmy’s list, alongside Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons (Elizabeth I), Kathy Bates (Ambulance Girl), Geena Davis and Donald Sutherland (Commander In Chief), Jon Voight (Pope John Paul II), James Woods (ER) and Kate Winslet (nominated for a guest turn on Ricky Gervais’s one season comedy Extras, as were Patrick Stewart and Ben Stiller).
Some of the fresher faces (or semi-fresh, since some have been up for other series) in this year’s batch of Emmy nominees include Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Lead Actress in a Comedy for The New Adventures of Old Christine), Steve Carell (Lead Actor in a Comedy for The Office), Kevin James (Lead Actor in a Comedy for The King of Queens), Kyra Sedgwick (Lead Actress in a Drama for The Closer), Jaime Pressly (Supporting Actress in a Comedy for My Name Is Earl), Elizabeth Perkins (Supporting Actress in a Comedy for Weeds), Craig Ferguson (Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for The Late, Late Show) and Stephen Colbert (four nominations for The Colbert Report).
Aside from the turned-up noses to the heavy-hitter stars of Desperate Housewives and Lost, there’s a heady list of snubs, including a dearth of Deadwood acting nods. Also absent in this year are 2005 winners Patricia Arquette and James Spader, perennial chameleon Jennifer Garner for the final season of Alias, cast members from the gritty FX police drama The Shield (most notably new addition Forest Whitaker) and one of the most talked-about turns of the year, Joseph R. Gannascoli as The Sopranos’ Vito Spatafore. Of course, the most popular series franchise of television, the CSIs, failed to garner anything but a handful of technical noms, although the still-on-fire reality competition American Idol wound up with eight.
On the more trivial side, it’s hard to choose between the thuddingly dopey According to Jim and Pamela Anderson’s axed sitcom Stacked as the least likely Emmy-nominated series (for, respectively, Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series and Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series) as most unlikely nominee.
And among the most welcome: Barry Manilow’s nod for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for the PBS special Barry Manilow: Music and Passion. We know he writes the songs, now let’s see if he can win an Emmy.
