Desperate Housewives , one of the surprise hits driving a ratings
rebound at ABC, and veteran NBC sitcom Will &
Grace led the field of series in Emmy contention
with 15 nominations each, including bids for best comedy,
when the list of nominees was announced Thursday
morning. But two HBO made-for-TV movies, The Life
and Death of Peter Sellers and Warm Springs , scored the biggest tallies of any programs
vying for U.S. television's highest honors this year,
clinching 16 nominations apiece. While HBO again
collected the most Emmy nominations of any single
network with 93, ABC did well with two new series that have
helped the Walt Disney Co.-owned network reverse a
long-running ratings slump.
Desperate Housewives , a wry, steamy saga of suburban intrigue from
gay creator Marc Cherry, garnered ABC's first nomination for
a top comedy in 11 years. The series also yielded
best-actress nominations for three of its
stars--Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, and Felicity
Huffman. Another popular ABC show, castaway thriller Lost , was the most nominated drama series, gaining
recognition in 12 categories, including the race for best
drama. Rounding out the roster of best-drama
contenders were Fox espionage thriller 24Â , NBC's The West Wing (clinching a bid for
reelection to an unprecedented fifth term as best
drama), and two HBO productions--funereal family
soap Six Feet Under and the gritty and vulgar
western Deadwood . Last year's winner for best drama series, HBO
mob saga The Sopranos , was sidelined this year for a lack of
qualifying episodes.
While three hot
dramas on the cable network FX--The Shield, Rescue Me , and Nip/Tuck--were shut out of
the category, The Shield costar Glenn Close was
nominated as best actress. She will be competing in that
category against Jennifer Garner, star of the ABC spy drama Alias , as well as Frances Conroy of Six Feet
Under and first-time nominee Patricia Arquette of
NBC's psychic whodunit Medium .
Other best-comedy
nominees were last year's winner, the critically
praised but ratings-poor Fox series Arrested Development , NBC hospital sitcom Scrubs, and CBS's
now-retired hit Everybody Loves Raymond , which just completed its ninth and final
season. Will & Grace was back for its sixth
consecutive nomination as best comedy, a prize the show has
not won since 2000. The 57th Annual Primetime Emmy
Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences, will be broadcast live on CBS from the
Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on September 18. For a
complete list of nominees visit www.Emmys.com. (Steve Gorman
and Kevin Krolicki, via Reuters)