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Emmy flotsam and jetsam

NUMEROLOGY: NBC and HBO tied for the most wins Sunday night and at the earlier Creative Arts ceremony (for things as scintillating as Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Series). Each had 24. CBS got eight statues and Fox seven. A&E won six, one more than ABC, which was shut out Sunday.

THINGS ARE COOLING OFF: Six Feet Under, which entered the competition with the most nominations, 23, won five awards, four at the Creative Arts ceremony and a drama directing statue for series creator Alan Ball on Sunday. Sex and the City, last year's best comedy, won only a comedy directing Emmy on Sunday and two Creative Arts awards.

NO WONDER JAY LENO STILL GETS HUFFY: Late Show with David Letterman's win as best variety, music or comedy series was its fifth straight.

HEY, THIS ISN'T THE IMPROV: Emmy voters are traditionally tough on stand-up comedians who get a comedy series, even when the series is popular and/or critically acclaimed. Ray Romano is the first comedian to win as best comedy actor in nine years. Roseanne was the last, the Hollywood Reporter points out. In that time, Jerry Seinfeld (three nominations), Garry Shandling (four), Paul Reiser (six) and Ellen DeGeneres (four) never won. Including their nominations pre-1994, Seinfeld (two) and Shandling (one) are still winless. Drew Carey has never been nominated. Tim Allen got one nomination -- and no statue -- during Home Improvement's run. And during the short time that ABC's Grace Under Fire was in favor in the mid 1990s, star Brett Butler wasn't nominated.

COINCIDENCE? The West Wing is the first drama to win best series three years in a row since L.A. Law from 1989-91. The longest streak is held by Hill Street Blues, which won four from 1981-84. All three shows belong to NBC.

NEXT TIME, RENT A LIMO: Sunday's extravaganza went so smoothly that the only complaint heard was from some guests who had "valet parking passes" that turned out to be for a self-park lot six blocks away. They then were taken to the ceremony site, the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, in a van with a policeman in the front seat, Variety says.

LET'S BE TWINS! If you think Friends Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox Arquette wore basically the same dress, you're right. Both were Christian Dior.

THAT EMMY AFTERGLOW: Asked backstage if Friends could go on for another season after this one, rumored to be its last, Aniston shrugged and said, "Oh, who knows?"

THE LAST WORD: "It's so amazing how long it takes people to get here in their career and then it's over like that. On the way over, my mother said, "It's such a long way from your house.' I said, "It's a long way from waiting tables at Brew Burger as well.' "

-- Michael Patrick King, Emmy directing winner and Sex and the City executive producer, to Variety.

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