Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409140032
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RON MILLER KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
That's the general buzz leading up to ABC's telecast Sunday of the 46th annual Emmy Awards (at 8 on WSET-Channel 13), where the freshman ABC series has more nominations (26) in a single year than any other dramatic series in history.
Academy voters also have a history of going to bat for TV shows that have run into adversity over content issues. That should help "NYPD Blue," which started its run last fall amid controversy over its nudity and profane language (as many as 50 ABC stations refused to show it). It also emerged as the season's biggest new hit, so Emmy voters really would have viewer support if they perpetrated an Emmy avalanche.
As for voter backlash against "NYPD Blue" star David Caruso, who's leaving the show after a very public salary dispute with the producers, don't expect it. Ballots were in before Caruso's unpopular holdout. Nonaward highlights of Sunday's show are expected to be Bette Midler's performance of a song from her Emmy-nominated TV movie, "Gypsy," and film clips celebrating the past season, the influence of stand-up comedy on TV and a short history of cop shows.
Here are the nominees in the major categories and my preferences:
COMEDY SERIES: "Frasier," NBC; "Home Improvement," ABC; "The Larry Sanders Show," HBO; "Mad About You," NBC; "Seinfeld," NBC.
I'm crazy about all but "Mad About You," but my pick is "Frasier," which beat the odds against spinoffs by proving there's plenty of life left in Kelsey Grammer's Frasier Crane character after "Cheers."
DRAMA SERIES: "Law & Order," NBC; "Northern Exposure," CBS; "NYPD Blue," ABC; "Picket Fences," CBS; "Star Trek: The Next Generation," syndicated.
No contest here. "NYPD Blue" created a family of characters that quickly became absolutely essential for me to spend time with each week.
MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE: "And the Band Played On," HBO; "Breathing Lessons," CBS; "Gypsy," CBS; "A Place for Annie," ABC; "To Dance with the White Dog," CBS.
Four of the five are personal favorites from the past season (I wasn't blown away by ``Gypsy''), but I was most moved by "A Place for Annie," in which nurse Sissy Spacek taught a dying AIDS-infected mother how to love her sick baby.
MINISERIES: ``Armistead Maupin's `Tales of the City,''' PBS; "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All," CBS; "Prime Suspect 3," PBS; "Stephen King's `The Stand,''' ABC; "World War II: When Lions Roared," NBC.
Although I think they left out the season's best, PBS's "To Play the King," I'd still give a PBS show the Emmy: The wickedly comic "Tales of the City."
VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES: "Dennis Miller Live," HBO; "Late Show with David Letterman," CBS; "MTV Unplugged," MTV; "Saturday Night Live," NBC; "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," NBC.
Another foot-on-the-chest victory for Letterman is mandatory here. His new CBS show is TV's wildest nightly hour and represents the comedy high point of the TV year.
LEAD ACTOR, COMEDY: Kelsey Grammer, "Frasier"; John Larroquette, "The John Larroquette Show"; Paul Reiser, "Mad About You"; John Goodman, "Roseanne"; Jerry Seinfeld, "Seinfeld."
All are very good, but I'll go with Grammer, who proved he can function extremely well as the centerpiece of an ensemble after spending years as a spoke in somebody else's wheel.
LEAD ACTRESS, COMEDY: Patricia Richardson, "Home Improvement"; Annie Potts, "Love & War"; Helen Hunt, "Mad About You"; Candice Bergen, "Murphy Brown"; Roseanne, "Roseanne."
I'd love to see Richardson win the Emmy while co-hosting the awards, especially since she's my favorite TV wife - wise, witty and so much smarter than her immature hubby.
LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA: Peter Falk, the "Columbo" movies; Michael Moriarty, "Law & Order"; Dennis Franz and David Caruso, "NYPD Blue"; Tom Skerritt, "Picket Fences."
It's a face-off between the "NYPD Blue" stars, who both gave exceptionally nuanced performances. I'll pick Franz, who kept his edge despite never knowing when or if the producers were going to make him show his tush.
LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA: Jane Seymour, "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman"; Angela Lansbury, "Murder, She Wrote"; Kathy Baker, "Picket Fences"; Sela Ward and Swoosie Kurtz, "Sisters."
Let's get it over with and send Lansbury home with her first Emmy after 14 nominations. Prime time doesn't need another Susan Lucci.
LEAD ACTOR, MINISERIES OR SPECIAL: Matthew Modine, "And the Band Played On"; James Garner, "Breathing Lessons"; Sam Waterston, "I'll Fly Away: Then and Now"; Hume Cronyn, "To Dance with the White Dog"; Michael Caine, "World War II: When Lions Roared."
Garner's taciturn husband to Joanne Woodward's dotty wife was the textbook example of a "still waters run deep" performance and further proof that Garner takes acting a lot more seriously than he lets on.
LEAD ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR SPECIAL: Joanne Woodward, "Breathing Lessons"; Kirstie Alley, "David's Mother"; Bette Midler, "Gypsy"; Helen Mirren, "Prime Suspect 3"; Jessica Tandy, "To Dance with the White Dog."
Never thought I'd have occasion to pick Kirstie Alley over the likes of Tandy, Woodward, Midler and Mirren in a dramatic role, but her awesome performance as the nervous, distraught, darkly comic mother of an autistic child was a career-making one.
SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY: Jerry Van Dyke, "Coach"; David Hyde Pierce, "Frasier"; Rip Torn, "The Larry Sanders Show"; Jason Alexander, "Seinfeld"; Michael Richards, "Seinfeld."
I'd be happy to see any one of them win. I'll go with Pierce, whose bloodless Niles Crane somehow makes the stuffy Frasier look like the stable Crane brother.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY: Shelley Fabares, "Coach"; Liz Torres, "The John Larroquette Show"; Faith Ford, "Murphy Brown"; Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert, "Roseanne"; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Seinfeld."
I'm partial to Sara Gilbert, who still manages to hold her own in the explosively funny "Roseanne" ensemble while pursuing her college education in the real world.
SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA: Barry Corbin, "Northern Exposure"; Nick Turturro and Gordon Clapp, "NYPD Blue"; Fyvush Finkel, "Picket Fences"; Ray Walston, "Picket Fences."
I'm a great admirer of Turturro's work as Martinez, a rookie detective who holds his emotions on a tight leash, even while discovering his world doesn't work quite as fairly as he thought it did.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA: Jill Eikenberry, "L.A. Law"; Gail O'Grady, Sharon Lawrence and Amy Brenneman, "NYPD Blue"; Leigh Taylor-Young, "Picket Fences."
Conventional wisdom says the three "NYPD Blue" women will split the vote and cancel each other out. That won't stop me from picking Lawrence, who slowly turned up the heat in assistant D.A. Costas for her unconventional romance with Andy Sipowicz.
by CNB