Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 21, 1993 TAG: 9309210146
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF. LENGTH: Long
"We broke the barrier," Home Box Office Chairman Michael Fuchs said backstage Sunday at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium after the cable channel won 17 Emmys, including 11 creative arts awards given in a Saturday ceremony.
HBO's victory came on the strength of three TV movies: "Stalin," "Barbarians at the Gate" and "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom."
NBC came in second in the Emmy tally with 16 awards, followed by CBS with 14 and ABC with 12. Broadcast networks have traditionally been the Emmy powerhouses, even since cable was first recognized by the awards starting in 1987.
"HBO, thanks for really doing diverse projects," said Holly Hunter after winning honors for lead actress in a miniseries or special for her role as the Texas cheerleader's mother.
"All the wonderful projects you've got going on are offering us a wonderful arena for actors, directors and writers to work. Thanks a lot!" she said.
In January, HBO swept the 14th annual CableAce Awards for cable television excellence with 32 honors, more than four times as many as the runner-up Disney Channel.
"Seinfeld," the NBC series that celebrates cheeky humor amid the mundane aspects of everyday life, and the CBS drama "Picket Fences" won the top two series categories.
"We started off so small it's going to be easy to thank people because there's like two people to thank here that even knew we were on," said series star Jerry Seinfeld as he accepted the outstanding comedy series Emmy.
Co-star Michael Richards was named best supporting actor in a comedy for his role as eccentric neighbor Kramer. Writer Larry David took home an Emmy for a notorious "Seinfeld" episode about masturbation.
"Picket Fences," a drama chronicling small-town life, also received three Emmys. It was named best dramatic series, and stars Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker were honored as best actor and actress in a drama.
Roseanne Arnold skipped the ceremony in the year in which she finally won an Emmy as outstanding lead actress in a comedy series. Arnold had been vocal in the past about the few nominations her popular series had won.
Her co-star, Laurie Metcalf, won her second consecutive Emmy for supporting actress in a comedy, giving the show a total of three awards in its five-year history.
Ted Danson claimed the Emmy for best actor in a comedy series for "Cheers," the long-running NBC program which concluded this year.
Emmy hostess Angela Lansbury, star of "Murder, She Wrote," lost her 13th bid for an award when Baker took the drama actress trophy.
CBS' "Northern Exposure" - with a leading 16 nominations - also was shut out.
The Emmy Awards program, which hit its three-hour mark, was notable for elegance and composure but not for entertainment value. Paula Poundstone, Garry Shandling and a few others managed to crib some laughs.
Mary Tyler Moore, television's comedy darling, wrote a new chapter in Emmy history, winning her seventh career trophy for a dramatic role in the Lifetime cable network movie "Stolen Babies."
Moore, known for her comedic work in such shows as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show," tied the top Emmy acting tally of her former sitcom co-star Ed Asner.
"This is just as great as it ever was," she said as she accepted the prize for outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or special.
The major broadcast networks found themselves losers in the area of specials.
Multiple honors went to Home Box Office's satirical take on reality-based TV movies, "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas-Cheerleader Murdering Mom."
Besides Hunter's award, Beau Bridges won best supporting actor for his role in the film and an Emmy went to the movie's writer, Jane Anderson.
"Prime Suspect 2," a police drama broadcast by PBS, was named outstanding miniseries. It beat out such high-profile competitors as CBS' "Alex Haley's Queen" and "Sinatra."
The networks didn't even have a chance in the outstanding TV movie category, where they failed to gain even a single nomination.
In a tie, the trophy went to two HBO productions: "Stalin," about the life of the Soviet dictator, and "Barbarians at the Gate," an absurdist treatment of the R.J.R. Nabisco takeover.
Robert Morse won the Emmy for lead actor in a miniseries or special for his portrayal of the writer Truman Capote in the PBS show "Tru."
There were bittersweet wins for two canceled series.
The Emmy for supporting actress in a drama series went to Mary Alice of NBC's "I'll Fly Away," a finely wrought view of a Southern family and race relations in the 1950s.
"I got it," Alice beamed to the crowd.
Chad Lowe was named best supporting actor in a drama series for his portrayal of AIDS victim Jesse McKenna in ABC's "Life Goes On."
The gritty NBC police drama "Homicide - Life on the Street," won Emmys for director Barry Levinson and for writer Tom Fontana.
In the category that pitted talk show competitors David Letterman, on the old "Late Night" NBC program, and Jay Leno of NBC's "Tonight Show" against each other, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" instead snuck away with the trophy for outstanding variety, music or comedy series.
The irreverent variety series, considered a groundbreaker when it began in 1975, also garnered an Emmy for Dana Carvey.
In accepting the honor as outstanding individual performer in a variety or music program, Carvey went into his Ross Perot impression, joking that the former presidential candidate was down in Texas wondering: "What's the deal now? He does an impression of me and they give him a fancy award."
He then went into his George Bush imitation and thanked the ex-president "for being a good sport."
by CNB