Can't help but notice in this year's Emmy noms that the lead drama actress category is dominated by vets. Not that it matters -- two of the five are Oscar winners, one's a five-time Oscar nominee and all are good at their craft -- but I was curious about the age spread.

According to the IMDB, "The Closer's" Kyra Sedgwick is the youngest, born the year that President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. "Law & Order: SVU's" Mariska Hargitay arrived the same year the Beatles first played "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Holly Hunter made her debut the year Chuck Berry landed Johnny B. Goode" on the charts. Glenn Close of "Damages" was born the year the Central Intelligence Agency was established (coincidence?). And "Brothers and Sisters" Sally Field (pictured left), the reigning champ in the category, was born the year Winston Churchill famously warned of an "iron curtain" descending across Europe.

Solid as this list is, it's still hard to believe that there wasn't any room for the incredible Connie Britton of "Friday Night Lights" (who was born the year of the Monterey Pop Festival).

Discovery Channel takes over the Greek Theater Wednesday night for a concert and party to tubthump the June 4 debut of its Planet Green channel (the channel formerly known as Discovery Home). Perfs are skedded to include Ludacris, Tommy Lee, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Blue Man Group and others. Proceeds will go to a fund established to help rehab areas around Griffith Park that were torched by recent wildfires....

Thursday's a day for serious yakking. In the afternoon, the Hollywood Radio and Television Society hosts a luncheon event at the Beverly Hilton devoted to how the biz can help keep health care issues at the top of the nation's public policy agenda. Sally Field and Jeffrey Katzenberg are set as speakers. Leeza Gibbons will moderate a panel that is set to include top showrunners of shows that work in scrubs: Neal Baer of "Law & Order: SVU" (who really is a licensed physician), Bill Lawrence of "Scrubs" and John Wells of "ER"... In the evening, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences parses LGBT issues in TV with a sesh at its North Hollywood HQ that will include thesps Billy Baldwin, Billy Crystal, Ron Rifkin, "Dirty Sexy Money" creator Craig Wright and Showtime's Robert Greenblatt. Bruce Vilanch is sure to keep things interesting as moderator...

On Sunday evening, Elmo's in town for the fourth annual presentation of the Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarships, also at the Leonard Goldenson Theater at ATAS' NoHo home base. Three $10,000 scholarships will be presented by ATAS and Ernst & Young to three grad students pursuing careers in children's media, in honor of the late host of PBS' enduring "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Also on hand for the 5 p.m. presentation will be Mrs. Mr. Rogers, Joanne Rogers, and actor David Newell, aka Mr. McFeeley.

Some Emmy tidbits I really should have written up Sunday night before going off to parties:

Consistency, thy name is David Chase. "It's open to interpretation," the "Sopranos" creator said backstage at the Emmys when asked, inevitably and more than once, about the series' famed blackout finale. In a convoluted way, after being pressed by multiple questioners, Chase seemed to say that he knew in his mind what happened to the family, but he had no intention of sharing it with the intimate room full 200 or so reporters. Chase did say that he'd had the notion to take the show out in the way that he did for a long time....

Earlier in the night Alan Taylor told us backstage scribblers that Chase was pleased by the fact that even members of "Sopranos'" production crew debated what the finale really meant. Chase wanted it to be something people would chew over and talk about, Taylor said...

And as for the Emmy snub of James Gandolfini after the tour de force he turned in? Paulie Walnuts had his back, backstage on Sunday. "I think it was a shame. He should've won tonight...but we won all around (for drama series)," Tony Sirico (pictured right) said. "We've been honored. I speak for Jimmy when I say he can handle it." .....

America Ferrera was such a doll in the backstage quip room. She displayed her usual humility and gratitude for the career-making break that "Ugly Betty" has been for her. And she's happy that her star turn has come on a show that is light and frothy on the outside but meaningful on the inside, where it counts, by challenging the conventional notions of beauty and body image for women.
"It's fun and it's funny and entertaining and I feel so incredibly blessed," Ferrera said. "To be acknowledged for it, to know peep are watching it and enjoying it -- it's just a dream for me. This is what I have wanted to do since I was 5 years old. It just reassures me in the power of dreaming. Now I can set my (career) heights even higher." And she was channeling the self-assured Betty Suarez when a questioner tried to pry into her love life. "I don't talk about my personal life. Thank you," she said in a Betty-esque polite-but-firm tone....

Don't ask Terry O'Quinn what's going on in "Lost" in its upcoming fourth season, because he doesn't know. Is John Locke really Jacob? Is he going to somehow kill Jack? Will he ever get near a shower again? I'm telling ya, don't ask because Quinn doesn't know. (And no, winning an Emmy doesn't entitle him to a few free plot points.) Backstage after his win for supporting drama actor, Locke showed off his hot pink shirt and black tie with glittery rhinestones. When asked, Quinn admitted that early on in the show's run he would go on the Internet to see what the fans were speculating about the Deeper Meaning of it all and where the castaways were headed. But not any more. "I'm sated," he said....

Sally Field was feeling strong, confident and not ready to suffer any cliches on Sunday. She made fast work of a question about actresses of a certain (out-of-the-demo) age enjoying a renaissance on cable ("The Closer," "Damages," "Saving Grace," etc.) and why aren't there better roles for women in features and blah blah blah...."I don't listen to any of that stuff. You guys are the ones who are listening to that," Field shot back.

Where fore art thou, Oscar? Jon Stewart had a cheeky response for the reporter who just had to know what it meant to him to be asked to host the Academy Awards a second time. "Whatever emotional hole I had in my soul vanished at that moment and I was complete," he deadpanned. "That's why I decided to do it."...

And thus brings to a close this inaugural edition of live blogging at the Emmys. I'd be remiss without giving a special thank you to the shooters of WireImage, who moved Emmy photos lickity-split last night and thus livened up this blog considerably. Honorable mentions go out to Steve Granitz, Jeffrey Mayer, John Shearer, Jeff Vespa and Todd Williamson.

Sally Field just triumphed as lead actress in a drama for ABC's frosh "Brothers and Sisters." That's huge for the show, and something I didn't see coming given her competish.

I couldn't hear her on stage remarks but there's been a hubbub backstage because some of them were apparently bleeped out on the telecast.

When she came backstage, looking absolutely fabulous, Field reiterated her firm belief that "if mothers ruled the world there would be no wars." When it was pointed out to her that those remarks were sure to be picked up widely tomorrow and undoubtedly put her in the line for harsh criticism, she said "oh well...I've been there before."