Mob rule
Actors denied, but 'Sopranos' steals the big one at the end
Yes, "The Sopranos," one of the best-acted, most influential series in the history of TV, won the outstanding drama prize at last night's Emmy Awards. And "30 Rock," Tina Fey's sparkling freshman sitcom, got a much-deserved best comedy statue.
So why did the ceremony feel like such a disappointment? Because the major acting awards did not go home with the year's best and brightest.
None of the actors from "The Sopranos" and "The Office" - two of TV's strongest ensembles - were anointed, and such standouts as Hugh Laurie, Kyra Sedgwick, Alec Baldwin, and Neil Patrick Harris also left empty-handed.
Even James Spader, who won his third Emmy for "Boston Legal" against James Gandolfini, Denis Leary, and Laurie, seemed unhappy with the choice: "I feel like I just stole a pile of money from the mob," he said upon taking the stage.
Awards magnet Sally Field got the nod for her broad performance in "Brothers and Sisters," and Ricky Gervais was honored for his low-key performance in "Extras" in what was probably a very late Emmy thank-you for creating the original version of "The Office." Neither win is an outrage, and yet both seem unremarkable.
Only America Ferrera's victory for playing the title character in "Ugly Betty" seems fresh, in a sweet, safe kind of way.
The awards for supporting actress and actor went to four different series - Katherine Heigl of "Grey's Anatomy" and Terry O'Quinn of "Lost" in drama, and in comedy, Jeremy Piven of "Entourage" and Jaime Pressly of "My Name Is Earl." Jenna Fischer, so subtle and moving as Pam, and Rainn Wilson, indelible as Dwight, both stand a chance to win next year for their strong supporting work on "The Office." Alas, Aida Turturro, so disturbing and comic as Janice Soprano on "The Sopranos," lost her last chance to win.
While the predicted "Sopranos" sweep never happened, there was a sweep last night, for the AMC western "Broken Trail," which was nominated for 16 Emmys. The show won awards for Thomas Haden Church, for Robert Duvall, and for best miniseries. Duvall, who did not win for the seminal 1989 TV western "Lonesome Dove," finally got his due. The miniseries actress award went to Helen Mirren for "Prime Suspect: The Final Act." Radiant in purple, she is still a welcome sight on awards-show stages despite her many recent wins.
As the host, Ryan Seacrest benefited from rampant not-so-great expectations. Conjecture that the "American Idol" majordomo would bomb made his vanilla, perfectly-average Emmy performance seem like a tour de force. He playfully ribbed the stars, telling "Heroes" actress Hayden Panettiere that for her 18th birthday he sat her as far from Piven as possible.
In his Eva Longoria riff, in which he came out of the metrosexual closet by naming who designed her dress and shoes, he even goofed on himself: "Hello, Teri," he said awkwardly to Teri Hatcher, whom he supposedly dated and supposedly ditched.
The real star of the telecast wasn't Seacrest, nor was it Ray Romano, who did some tired "Marriage is hard when you don't have a TV show" standup shtick. It was the Shrine Auditorium, which was set up in the round. Rather than speaking high above an audience, and out into the usual dark abyss, those onstage seemed to be enveloped by the people they were talking to and about. It was a significant, and very smart, change.
Seeing such presenters as Longoria accompanied by the "Entourage" boys with audience faces behind them gave the show a warmer, more Golden Globish feeling. The night's acceptance speeches - including the stubbly Piven, who again dedicated his statue to his late father, and the verbose Field, who demanded extra time and then forgot what she wanted to say - didn't seem to fall on deaf ears.
Likewise the 30th anniversary salute to "Roots" by the cast of "Roots" and the excellently ironic routine about eco-conscious celebrities between Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. When Tony Bennett - whose "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" took a trio of Emmys - did a quick "Steppin' Out" with Christina Aguilera, the moment had intimacy.
And when the night opened with a hit-but-mostly-miss song by the animated characters Stewie and Brian from "Family Guy," which included a joke about Isaiah Washington taking Kramer's place on "Seinfeld," the thud it landed with was not resounding.
By the way, as Seacrest noted, between his hosting gig, the "Family Guy" opener, and Wayne Brady conducting a faux "Don't Forget the Lyrics" bit with Wilson and Kanye West, the Emmycast was "definitely on Fox."
Naturally, there were a number of those peculiar moments endemic to awards shows. For instance, Fox cut away from the Shrine a few times, presumably to protect viewing audiences from inappropriateness. Apparently, the end of Field's comment about "If mothers ruled the world" - it probably had something to do with war - was not fit for the public according to Fox. (The only cut that worked: When the music cut off David Chase's acceptance for "The Sopranos" - shades of the series finale.)
Oddly, The Seacrest made a limited appearance on the E! preshow. His reason for lurking on the red carpet on his big night? "When I suck," he told Stewart, "I can blame it on fatigue." Every interview he conducted - with Sedgwick, with Fey, with Kathy Griffin, who's starting to look like Andy Dick with long hair - ended up being about his nerves and how to calm them.
Even once he went inside the Shrine for rehearsal, Seacrest was on duty for E!, showing us the bowels of the auditorium and apprising us of the rumored Britney Spears appearance: "If she's coming," he confided, "I don't know anything about it."
That's our E! as Colbert described the channel during his red carpet moment, "Cutting edge information that Americans need to know."
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog. 