The Emmys and Politics Take Center Stage

The Emmy nominations for the 1999 television season have been announced. HBO's THE SOPRANOS and NBC's WEST WING tied for the most nominations - 18. NBC lead all networks with 97 nominations.

Two nominations are particularly sentimental for television academy members, Nancy Marchand and Michael J. Fox.

The late Nancy Marchand received a posthumous nomination for her role as Livia Soprano, matriarch of the Soprano family on HBO's mob drama series. Marchand is probably best known for her role as Mrs. Pynchon, the publisher of the fictional Los Angeles Tribune on the former CBS series LOU GRANT. She also received acclaim for her role as a homely single woman longing for love in the 1953 television production of MARTY.

Michael J. Fox received a nomination for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for his role in ABC's SPIN CITY. Fox left the series last season due to his battle with Parkinson's disease.

Some other Emmy nomination highlights:

Best Drama Series: ER (NBC); LAW & ORDER (NBC); THE PRACTICE (ABC); THE SOPRANOS (HBO); THE WEST WING (NBC).

Best Comedy Series: EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND (CBS); FRASIER (NBC); FRIENDS (NBC); SEX AND THE CITY (HBO); WILL & GRANCE (NBC).

Best Miniseries: ARABIAN NIGHTS (ABC); THE BEACH BOYS: AN AMERICAN FAMILY (ABC); THE CORNER (HBO) JESUS (CBS); P.T. BARNUM (A&E).

Best Television Movie: ANNIE (ABC); IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK 2" (HBO); INTRODUCING DOROTHY DANDRIGE (HBO); OPRAH WINFREY PRESENTS: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE (ABC); RKO 281 (HBO).

For more information on the Emmy telecast, and a complete list of nominees, check out http://www.emmys.org and http://www.emmycast.com.

Republican Convention Coverage

The Republican Convention is being held this week but viewers of the broadcast networks will hardly know it. The major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) have scheduled fewer hours of coverage than ever before. Political junkies will have to get their fix from PBS, CNN and C-SPAN.

Network officials site the fact that there is little drama or news value in the conventions this year as the nominations from both the Republican and Democratic parties are already decided. They also site the fact that there is not expected to be any floor fights on important issues either as even the vice presidential nominations will all but be decided prior to both conventions.

Critics say that the broadcast networks have an obligation to televise these events over the public airwaves as the conventions are part of the democratic process and deserve to be seen.

One thing is certain, if it were not for public television, viewers without cable (and that is just over 30% of the viewing public) would not be able to see the conventions in their totality.

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