Cynthia Littleton On The Air

DGA Awards smile on "Mad Men," "Pushing Daisies"

Congrats to the all the winners of this year's DGA honors. On the small screen side, winners were all first-time DGA honorees with the exception of Larry Carpenter, victor in the daytime serial category for his work on ABC's "One Life to Live," who now has a matching set of the DGA's shiny round medallions.

Barry Sonnenfeld won the TV series comedy heat for his work on the "Pie-lette" of ABC's "Pushing Daisies." Alan Taylor prevailed on the drama side for the pilot of AMC's oh-so-stylish "Mad Men." Yves Simoneau took the longform honor for HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Bertram van Munster added to his trophy collection for his work on CBS' "The Amazing Race" in the reality competish. Glenn P. Weiss' navigation of CBS' 60th annual Tony-cast brought him the musical/variety nod. And Paul Hoen looked sharp in the children's programming field for his helming of the hit Disney Channel telepic "Jump In."

(Pictured top left, Barry Sonnenfeld and Debra Messing; top right, Alan Taylor; below, Yves Simoneau. Pics by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

Emmys: Losers can (kinda) feel like winners

Not much of an upset Saturday night during the first leg of the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony as HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" maintained its trophy market share with a total of five wins, followed by Discovery Channel's "Planet Earth" (wha?) and NBC's "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" with four apiece. (For a proper report on who-won-what, click here for the report from Variety's Jeff Sneider, who sacrificed his Saturday night so that you and I wouldn't have to.)

Contrary to conventional wisdom the Creative Arts ceremony isn't all craft and tech honors (though let it be said here that the below-the-line folks are not only H'wood's salt of the earth but its true artisans). NBC nearly swept the guest-star awards categories, which can be a handy career reviver for the right actor at the right moment if the sun and the moon and the stars align...

Elaine Stritch (pictured left) bagged the guest actress in a comedy trophy for her turns in "30 Rock." Leslie Caron (pictured right) took the drama trophy for her one-shot on "Law & Order: SVU." John Goodman's visits to "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" were recognized for guest actor in a drama, while Stanley Tucci (pictured above) got the nod on the comedy side for having fun with the great Tony Shalhoub on "Monk." (So if you count USA Network as one of "the networks of NBC Universal," as the Peacock likes to put it, NBC U did sweep the category. That bit of bragging rights and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee at Musso & Franks...)

(Pics of Stritch and Caron on Creative Arts Emmy red carpet by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)

Emmys: Wolf's happy morning

How happy was Dick Wolf this morning?

"It's like being given pure oxygen," he said from his home in Seal Harbor, Maine, where he learned the news that his HBO telepic "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" led the Emmy pack this year with a whopping 17 noms.

Wolf had been hopeful that the period telepic that he exec produced  with longtime pal Tom Thayer would nab a few Emmy bids, but at his most optimistic he didn't expect it to lead the pack, not by a long shot. He shared the news by phone with Thayer, who's up in Vancouver shooting Sci Fi Channel's "The Andromeda Strain" (featuring "Law & Order" alumnus Benjamin Bratt.)

"I want to bottle this feeling so I could save it and take it out every now and then when I need it," Wolf enthused. "When you work this hard with dedicated people for so long to bring something like this to the screen, it's just an enormous tribute to everyone who worked hard on it."

Emmys: Cowboys and Indians, oh my!

Click here to get the lowdown on all the noms from Variety.com

Wow, didn't see that coming. HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" overcame its critics, historians and otherwise, to clean up with some 17 Emmy bids, including a bid for best made-for but not one for the pic's star Adam Beach. Go figure. Still, exec producer Dick Wolf (pictured left on "Knee" set with actor August Schellenberg, who played Sitting Bulland earned a supporting nom) is a happy guy today, with the "Knee" bounty plus a lead drama actress bid for "Law & Order: SVU" star Mariska Hargitay. AMC's period Western "Broken Trail" did well too, coming in second to "Wounded Knee" with a total of 16 Emmy chits, including a lead actor bid for the evergreen fave Robert Duvall. Cowboys and Indians indeed. (I was in the minority among TV pundits in generally liking HBO's filmed take on the landmark 1971 historical tome by Dee Brown, as I discussed with Wolf in this column back in May.)

All in all it's been a good year for new series ("Heroes," "Ugly Betty," "30 Rock") and another breakthrough year for basic cable, especially over at FX with Minnie Driver snaring a lead drama actress bid for "The Riches" and Denis Leary getting his due for "Rescue Me." Bravo flexed some muscle with two entries in the reality-competition race, "Project Runway" and "Top Chef." Kyra Sedgwick is back for a second year for TNT's "The Closer," and of course Tony Shalhoub is the one to beat for lead comedy actor for USA Network's "Monk." USA also looked sharp with "Starter Wife" a contender for mini and lead actress bid for Debra Messing. Lifetime deservedly earned a nom for its "Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy," one of its better telefilm efforts in recent years. I think "Mastectomy" star Sarah Chalke deserved a seat in the lead movie/mini actress category, but the competition was tough. Gena Rowlands tough.

The drama and comedy series noms went as we might've predicted last night. The absence of "24" on the drama side is a little surprising, and with all due respect for David E. Kelley, I've just never quite gotten "Boston Legal" but Emmy voters to love him so. "Heroes" (pictured right) was something of a surprise but not undeserved, by any means. The Acad likes to reward any new show that gets people talking about primetime TV. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the snub of critical, Peabody-winning darling "Friday Night Lights," especially in the lead acting categories for Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. (This should teach me to go out on a limb with Emmy predicts, as I did earlier in the week after "FNL's" TCA sesh.) "FNL" did land bids for casting and for directing, for the pilot helmed by exec producer Peter Berg.

Also in the near-shutout category is Showtime, which mounted huge campaigns for "Dexter" and "The Tudors," both of which were held to a handful of noms each in tech categories.

"Lost" to my mind was snubbed, but I can't say unexpectedly. It would've been a nice surprise if voters got over the rough patches at the start of this past season to honor the show's fine second half, but so be it, and just wait 'til next year. Good to see Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson recognized for their work in the supporting drama actor heat, but really couldn't they have thrown Dominic Monaghan a bone -- he died already! At least Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse got a writing nom and helmer Jack Bender got a directing nom for their work on the wonderful two-hour finale, "Through the Looking Glass."

Peacock's "30 Rock" (pictured left) impressed by scoring a comedy series bid -- it certainly would've been enough for the first-year show to land bids for star-creator Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, whose much publicized parenting issues obviously didn't get in the way of Emmy voters evaluating his work. Ricky Gervais was a surprise in that category as well for HBO's "Extras." Would've expected Zach Braff to pop up in the funny-men heat but he was probably elbowed out by Gervais. Very, very cheered to see Rainn Wilson and Jenna Fischer break into the supporting field on the comedy side for "The Office."

No surprise whatsoever to see "Sopranos" clean up with 15 noms in its swan-song year. Who could deny the show a deserved last hurrah? James Gandolfini, Edie Falco and Michael Imperioli, Aida Turturro and Lorraine Bracco all are deserving of the recognition, as is Tim Daly, who played the writer friend Christopher Moltisanti whacked during his downward spiral in his last days and is up for guest actor. "Sopranos" as usual dominated he drama writing field with three noms, including one for capo David Chase and the much-discussed finale, "Made in America."