West Wing, Will & Grace Bring New Blood to the Emmys

September 10, 2000 -- LOS ANGELES — A new voting system at the Emmys swept the deadwood from the repeat-heavy television awards, with first-time winners in nearly every acting category walking away with the winged trophy at the 52nd Annual Emmy Awards Sunday night.

West Wing Sets RecordTop series honors went to The West Wing, which set an Emmy record for the most awards won in a single year. For its first season, NBC's rookie political drama handily won half of its 18 nominations, including awards for writing and directing, and the best drama crown, for a total of nine awards, beating the old record of eight.

NBC swept the comedy category too, with three wins for Will & Grace, including best comedy series and Emmys for Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally. The comic relief duo from the newly anointed Must-See show, who play the daffy Jack and the caustic Karen, were both first-time nominees.

Continuing the newcomer trend, The West Wing's sweep included wins for supporting players Allison Janney and Richard Schiff, both first-time nominees and emotional first-time winners.

Sopranos Wins 1, Loses 17If you thought that The Sopranos was robbed last year — winning only four out of its 16 nominations — brother, did it get stiffed this year, winning only a single Emmy out of its 18 nods. In fact, it just narrowly missed making its own Emmy record — for the most-shut-out series.

HBO's critically acclaimed mob series bowed to NBC's White House juggernaut, with the only significant loss for The West Wing being Martin Sheen's President Josiah Bartlett, who lost the Emmy election to James Gandolfini's mob boss, Tony Soprano.

"I wish we'd done a little better," said two-time nominee and first-time winner Gandolfini, pondering that maybe Emmy voters weren't ready to vote for a cable show — especially one with such a dark theme.

Michael J. Fox: 'It's Been a Great Ride'The award for best actress in a drama went to Once and Again's Sela Ward, whose nomination was the sole nod for the ABC romantic drama.

Also on solo awards duty were lead comedy winners Patricia Heaton, from CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond, and sentimental favorite Michael J. Fox, from ABC's Spin City.

Fox, who was lighthearted enough to quip about his battle with Parkinson's disease in a backstage skit with host Garry Shandling, kept his winning speech short, signing off with "It's been a great ride; uh, stay tuned." The actor, who left Spin City at the end of last year's season to continue his fight against Parkinson's, has said he's open to doing guest shots on the series.

New Voting Process = New Faces on Awards PodiumA new voting procedure this year — for the first time voters were allowed to view tapes in the comfort of their own home, instead of attending scheduled group viewings — skewed the voters' choices younger and hipper. Instead of the usual culprits taking home the trophies, first-time nominees walked off with all four supporting series actor Emmys.

The Emmys didn't get hip enough to recognize Sex and the City girl Sarah Jessica Parker or Malcolm in the Middle's crazed suburban mom, Jane Kaczmarek, as best actress in a comedy series, but they did give surprise honors to such gritty fare as HBO's miniseries The Corner.

While the winners expressed nothing but confusion and ignorance of the new voting rules (what do you expect from so many Emmy rookies?) they were glad to take the resulting trophies. "I like it," pronounced beaming winner Patricia Heaton, while Will & Grace producer Max Mutchnick mock-protested, "No, no, please change it back." — Sharon Knolle

For a complete list of Emmy winners in the major categories, click here.