A subdued celebration

By ERIC DEGGANS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 7, 2001

"It's hard to believe (that) nine days ago, the biggest story in the United States . . . (was that) Anne Heche is crazy."
-Jay Leno on The Tonight Show Sept. 18, one week after the terrorist attacks.

Tributes to rescue workers and victims of the terror attacks will take center stage at a toned-down Emmy Awards show tonight, with no showy dresses, no red carpet and few new nominees.

A week before comic Ellen DeGeneres was set to host The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 16, the top questions she faced were whether she'd wear a dress and what she thought of former lover Anne Heche's oddball kiss-and-tell autobiography, Call Me Crazy.

What a difference a week makes.

Now preparing to host an awards show tonight that was delayed three weeks due to the terror attacks, DeGeneres has the unenviable task of trying to make America laugh at one of its darkest moments in history.

"(DeGeneres) had no idea what she was getting into when she agreed to host this show," said Jim Chabin, president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which presents the Emmys. "She told us, "In or out, I'll do whatever's best for everybody.' Our conclusion was: "You've been picked by history. We're sticking with you.' "

According to Chabin, academy officials were on the telephone with each other within hours of the Sept. 11 attack, trying to decide whether to delay the awards broadcast by months, present it without a host or scrap it entirely.

Bolstered by President Bush's encouragement for Americans to get on with their lives, they decided against cancellation -- which would have been a first in 52 years. With the recent return to late night laughs by comics David Letterman and Jay Leno as a guide (along with the 1943 Emmys, held during World War II), the academy came up with a game plan.

Despite the somber circumstances, expect some laughs from host Ellen DeGeneres.

Stars will wear muted ensembles, with men dressed in business suits and women in less showy dresses. The red carpet arrivals (and increasingly tiresome celebrity interviewers such as Joan Rivers) are gone, both for security reasons and taste issues.

Out: sketches featuring Saturday Night Live's Will Ferrell as George W. Bush and DeGeneres on the set of The West Wing. In: venerable CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, who will start the show in place of DeGeneres' comedy monologue. Plus, there will be tributes to New York firefighters and police officers, Emmy-winning Frasier producer David Angell (who was aboard one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center) and the journalists who covered the Trade Center's collapse, among others.

And in a move that echoes the early days of the Emmys, when the awards show was split between sites in New York and Los Angeles, the academy will send trophies and envelopes to NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. There, East Coast-based nominees and winners can accept honors on camera.

"Some of The Sopranos' cast and others had committed themselves to the community, and it seemed inappropriate to ask them to leave their homes and family to fly to L.A. for an awards show," said Chabin, who has consulted with the FBI on security concerns for the sites on both coasts. "It's like when somebody's had a death in the family. You want to be careful what you ask of people at a delicate time."

Despite the somber circumstances, Chabin expects this year's Emmys to feature a fair amount of humor from DeGeneres, whose easygoing approach should mesh well with the evening's new requirements.

"We got so many e-mails from people saying, "Please, don't do a somber funeral -- we need to laugh,' " Chabin said. "The public knows when it needs its jesters. I know this will be the most historic, written-about show in history, and we desperately don't want to come up short."

When the awards finally are handed out, expect few surprises. For example: Among 10 nominees for best drama and best comedy series, there is just one difference from last year: Malcolm in the Middle, which replaced Friends.

Once again, Edie Falco and Lorraine Bracco of The Sopranos face off for best dramatic actress honors (though there's some doubt Bracco even qualifies as a female lead on that show).

The academy will hand its Governor's Award this year to pay cable outlet Showtime for featuring three drama series about rarely portrayed groups: black people (Soul Food), Hispanics (Resurrection Blvd.) and gay people (Queer as Folk). But none of those shows got a significant performance or writing nomination.

Here's a look at the major nominees, and my picks:

Outstanding comedy series

Nominees: Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS); Frasier (NBC); Malcolm in the Middle (Fox); Sex and the City (HBO); Will & Grace (NBC).

Should win: After a landmark season in which Carrie and her gal pals actually grew a little -- though we're taking no bets on whether Carrie actually gets married when new episodes kick up in January -- Sex and the City took us where few comedies dared venture.

Will win: Considering Emmy's newfound taste for hip and its track record for honoring series long after they've deserved it, expect Malcolm in the Middle to earn top honors this time around.

Outstanding drama series

Nominees: ER (NBC); Law & Order (NBC); The Practice (ABC); The Sopranos (HBO); The West Wing (NBC).

Should win: With ER and L&O long past their primes and The Practice sidelined by that bizarre sobfest over murdered yet little-liked assistant district attorney Richard Bay (they should be barred from Emmyland for at least two seasons for that one), it's the Mob or the Prez. Much as I enjoyed some of The Sopranos this year, that scene where Martin Sheen's Josiah Bartlet curses out God should win the trophy for The West Wing by itself.

Will win: Because they gave it to the Prez last year, I'm assuming The Sopranos gets the nod this time.

Outstanding lead actress, comedy

Nominees: Calista Flockhart, Ally McBeal; Patricia Heaton, Everybody Loves Raymond; Jane Kaczmarek, Malcolm in the Middle; Debra Messing, Will & Grace; Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and the City.

Should win: Parker, if only because her Carrie Bradshaw has managed to be vulnerable, cynical, selfish, strong and caring all at once. How often do women on TV get that kind of range, especially in a comedy?

Will win: Expect a showdown between the two best moms on TV, with Kaczmarek's Lois edging out Heaton's Debra Barone -- only because the academy has decided it's Malcolm's year.

Outstanding lead actor, comedy

Nominees: Frankie Muniz, Malcolm in the Middle; Kelsey Grammer, Frasier; John Lithgow, 3rd Rock From the Sun; Eric McCormack, Will & Grace; Ray Romano, Everybody Loves Raymond.

Should win: Muniz should have gotten this award last year for his amazingly textured performance as a genius trapped in the most comically dysfunctional home in America. And the Emmy bigwigs didn't even nominate the guy who deserved it this year: Muniz's hilariously fun-loving, conflict-avoiding dad, Bryan Cranston.

Will win: Who cares? As long as it isn't John Lithgow.

Outstanding lead actress, drama

Nominees: Lorraine Bracco, The Sopranos; Amy Brenneman, Judging Amy; Edie Falco, The Sopranos; Marg Helgenberger, C.S.I.; Sela Ward, Once and Again.

Should win: Helgenberger, for her complex performance as . . . just kidding. Even though I'm not sure she's even a lead actress, Bracco's moment in the spotlight as a rape victim struggling to overcome her urge for revenge was bone chilling and heart wrenching.

Will win: If they're too stupid to choose Bracco, Ward is the best of the more conventional nominees.

Outstanding lead actor, drama

Nominees: Dennis Franz, NYPD Blue; James Gandolfini, The Sopranos; Andre Braugher, Gideon's Crossing; Martin Sheen, The West Wing; Rob Lowe, The West Wing.

Should win: Sheen. See the cussing out God comment above.

Will win: Sheen. No way a scenery-chewing moment like that one goes unrewarded.

AT A GLANCE: The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards airs at 8 tonight on WTSP-Ch. 10. Host: Ellen DeGeneres.

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