The Emmys 2007: Many surprises, not all of them pleasant

  “The Sopranos” won the top honor at Sunday night's Primetime Emmy Awards, but little else was preordained -- or, apparently, rehearsed -- during a sloppy three-hour-plus Emmycast on Fox.

  Despite taking three Emmys for best drama, writing and directing, “The Sopranos” was overshadowed by free-network shows in the individual acting awards.

  “30 Rock,” the little-watched but critically adored sitcom about life at NBC, won best comedy, leading its star, writer and creator Tina Fey to offer her thanks to the show's “dozens and dozens of viewers.”

  America Ferrera took home an Emmy for acting in a comedy. “Wonderful things happen when your dreams come true,” said Ferrera, who could've been talking about her character in ABC's “Ugly Betty.”

  Inexplicably, James Spader won another Emmy for best actor in a drama on ABC's “Boston Legal,” which some observers have argued should be entered as a comedy. Looking over in the general direction of “Sopranos” star James Gandolfini, whom he bested, Spader said, “I feel like I just stole a pile of money from the mob.”

  Robert Duvall, who didn't win an Emmy when the miniseries was riding high -- he was in “Lonesome Dove” -- accepted two Emmys Sunday night for “Broken Trail,” which dominated a diminished miniseries category. In the slightly stronger movie category, HBO's remake of “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” won. Helen Mirren added to her trophy case with another Emmy in her swansong for “Prime Suspect” on PBS.

  The coronation for “The Sopranos,” which signed off in June after seven seasons on HBO, began in the Emmys' second hour, with back-to-back wins for directing (Alan Taylor) and writing (the show's creator, David Chase), a tribute by the cast of the Broadway musical “Jersey Boys” and a perp walk by the show's many character actors to center stage.

  The show itself got off to an embarrassingly bad start and only improved marginally, plagued by production goofs and at least two presenters who forgot they were on live television. Ryan Seacrest, as ill-suited to the role of Emmys host as people thought he'd be, actually looked good compared to a lot of other stuff Fox threw against the screen.

  Apparently bored with the standard proscenium design of an awards stage, Fox put the stage in the middle of the Shrine Auditorium, with audience on all sides, including several staring right out at the home audience. It made the Emmys seem like “American Idol,” or a baseball game (Fox, of course, airs both).

  Seacrest's monologue, which mostly poked fun at his selection as host, was unsurprisingly weak. And he should've used what creative clout he supposedly has at Fox to prevent the opening sketch, which featured two cartoon characters from “Family Guy” trashing other TV shows in a musical number. It was the kind of thing that probably sounded good in a meeting -- but once underway it was obvious someone had made a mistake.

  I think “Family Guy” is hilarious, but Stewie, the British-accented toddler, is not somebody you just drag out in front of America and have him sing a number filled with more industry references than the front page of Variety. The first show mentioned in the song was “Scrubs,” a low-rated comedy on NBC. When Stewie sang that “Scrubs” is proof “that a sitcom doesn't have to make us laugh,” the camera cut to Jeremy Piven of “Entourage” in the audience -- who didn't laugh. Ouch. A few minutes later, Seacrest told a joke and the camera cut again to Piven, who laughed heartily. Double ouch.

  Even the much-hyped tribute to “The Sopranos” fell well short of its potential. The stars of “Jersey Boys” sounded great covering the hits by the Four Seasons, but the camera dwelled too much on them and not enough on the “Sopranos” clips showing in the background. Then came a long perp walk by the cast of the show, who stood in the circle and turned in circles, acknowledging the audience in 360-degree turns.

  The first glimmer of hope came when “Lost's” Terry O'Quinn, a wonderful role player who seemed destined to being passed over by better hyped nominees, especially Masi Oka of “Heroes” and T.R. Knight of “Grey's Anatomy,” won supporting actor in drama. The 6,000 audience members seemed stunned, but O'Quinn won them over with a charming improvised acceptance speech.

  Ellen DeGeneres brightened her corner of the Emmys with just a little nothing about TV shows and caller ID. An hour before the Fox broadcast she was on E! with her partner Portia de Rossi, joking about the designers of their outfits. Even then, she had me wishing she was the host instead of Seacrest. Also acquitting themselves were current and former stars of “The Daily Show,” including Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and Lewis Black, who delivered a hilarious rant against on-screen clutter and cable news channels (“The only thing we get from you is attention deficit disorder!”).

And in a little-noticed but wonderful development, the writers of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" finally hoisted the show's first Emmy Award after 14 years on NBC.

  There were other problems that made you wonder if Fox was up to the challenge of putting on four straight hours of TV. There was a 6-second cutaway shot and silence during Romano's segment; according to wire reports, he dropped an F-bomb on the air. The show's announcer mispronounced the name of presenter Katherine Heigl (who later won an Emmy, and also cursed on live TV). And the was a poorly edited clip reel of late-night comedians' jokes with a too-short tribute to the late Tom Snyder tacked on at the end.

  With Gandolfini and co-star Edie Falco denied their moments of glory, the brightest star power from these Emmys belonged to Tony Bennett, who duetted with Christina Aguilera and later picked up two Emmys for his NBC special (which won a total of seven, counting last week's Creative Emmys ceremony); Al Gore, who followed up his two-minute plug for the environment at the Oscars with a two-minute plug for his cable channel, Current TV, which won an Emmy for interactive TV. And in the night's other infomercial, Kanye West gamely lost a round of “Don't Forget the Lyrics” to Rainn Wilson of “The Office” by mispronouncing a word in his own song.