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58th Primetime Emmy Awards

58th Primetime Emmy Awards
Promotional poster
Date
LocationShrine Auditorium,
Los Angeles, California
Presented byAcademy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hosted byConan O'Brien
Highlights
Most awards
Most nominationsMrs. Harris (7)
Outstanding Comedy SeriesThe Office
Outstanding Drama Series24
Outstanding MiniseriesElizabeth I
Outstanding Reality-Competition ProgramThe Amazing Race
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy SeriesThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Websitehttp://www.emmys.com/ Edit this on Wikidata
Television/radio coverage
NetworkNBC
Produced byKen Ehrlich
Directed byLouis J. Horvitz
← 57th · Primetime Emmy Awards · 59th →

The 58th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, August 27, 2006, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET (00:00 UTC) with Conan O'Brien hosting the show. The ceremony attracted 16.2 million viewers, 2.5 million fewer than the previous year's ceremony, but still the ratings winner for the week.[1] The Discovery Channel received its first major nomination this year.

This awards show was the first in fourteen years to be held in August because of NBC's request; because of NBC Sunday Night Football, the ceremony moved to accommodate NFL Kickoff Weekend.

A new voting system determined nominees in particular categories (mostly lead acting and outstanding series categories) by a "blue ribbon" panel of judges, which resulted in the exclusion of popular shows such as Desperate Housewives and Lost, and actors like James Gandolfini and Edie Falco from The Sopranos and Hugh Laurie from House. Lost's exclusion was mocked during the opening sequence (see below), when O'Brien, accompanied by Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, heads down a hatch to get to the Emmys. O'Brien asked Reyes if he wanted to come; Reyes says coyly, "Well, we weren't exactly invited", to which O'Brien replies "But you won last year!"

For its second season, The Office won Outstanding Comedy Series; this was its only major award. No comedy series won more than two major awards this year. In the drama field, 24 won Outstanding Drama Series for its fifth season, after being nominated and losing the previous four years. It was also the first time the Fox Network won this award. Its three major awards topped all drama series. Its Outstanding Lead Actor, Drama award (for Kiefer Sutherland) was also the first time Fox had won this award.

Ellen Burstyn was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her role in Mrs. Harris, even though she was onscreen for only fourteen seconds, which caused controversy.

The show that received the most major nominations was Mrs. Harris, with seven. The top-nominated show had not received so few nominations since 1970, when Marcus Welby, M.D. received six. However, there were far fewer nominations back then, with most categories having three slots making this ceremony unique.

The pilot episode of My Name Is Earl joined a select group of TV episodes to win for both directing and writing.

Winners and nominees

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Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold:[2]

Tony Shalhoub, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series winner
Kiefer Sutherland, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winner
Mariska Hargitay, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner
Andre Braugher, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Helen Mirren, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Jeremy Piven, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series winner
Megan Mullally, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series winner
Alan Alda, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winner
Blythe Danner, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series winner
Jeremy Irons, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Kelly Macdonald, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Barry Manilow, Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program winner

Programs

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Programs

Acting

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Lead performances

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Lead performances

Supporting performances

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Supporting performances

Directing

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Directing

Writing

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Writing

Most major nominations

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Networks with multiple major nominations[note 1]
Network No. of
Nominations
HBO 48
NBC 27
CBS 22
ABC 15
Fox 10
Programs with multiple major nominations
Program Category Network No. of
Nominations
Mrs. Harris Movie HBO 7
Bleak House Miniseries PBS 6
Elizabeth I HBO
24 Drama Fox 5
Grey's Anatomy ABC
The Sopranos HBO
The West Wing NBC
The Colbert Report Variety Comedy Central 4
Curb Your Enthusiasm Comedy HBO
Entourage
The Girl in the Café Movie
Six Feet Under Drama
Arrested Development Comedy Fox 3
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Variety Comedy Central
Flight 93 Movie A&E
Late Show with David Letterman Variety CBS
My Name Is Earl Comedy NBC
The Office
Two and a Half Men CBS
Will & Grace NBC
American Idol Competition Fox 2
Boston Legal Drama ABC
The Comeback Comedy HBO
Huff Drama Showtime
Human Trafficking Miniseries Lifetime
Late Night with Conan O'Brien Variety NBC
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Drama
Lost ABC
Malcolm in the Middle Comedy Fox
Real Time with Bill Maher Variety HBO
Thief Miniseries FX
Weeds Comedy Showtime

Most major awards

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Networks with multiple major awards[note 1]
Network No. of Awards
HBO 9
NBC 6
Fox 3
CBS 2
Comedy Central
Programs with multiple major awards
Program Category Network No. of Awards
Elizabeth I Miniseries HBO 4
24 Drama Fox 3
The Girl in the Café Movie HBO
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Variety Comedy Central 2
My Name Is Earl Comedy NBC
Notes
  1. ^ a b "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories.

Presenters and performers

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Presenters

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The awards were presented by the following people:[3]

Presenters at the ceremony
Name(s) Role
Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
Presented the award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series
Introduced Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series winner Leslie Jordan and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series winner Cloris Leachman
Presented the awards for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
Simon Cowell Presented of a special presentation paying tribute to Dick Clark
Presented the award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program
Introduced Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series winner Christian Clemenson and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series winner Patricia Clarkson
Presented the award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
Christian Clemenson Presented the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Presented the awards for Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Candice Bergen Introduced the chairman of Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Dick Askin
Presented of a special presentation paying tribute to Aaron Spelling
Presented the award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie
Presented the award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
Presented the awards for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special
Presented the award for Outstanding Miniseries
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Bob Newhart Presented the award for Outstanding Comedy Series
Annette Bening Presented the award for Outstanding Drama Series

Performers

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Name(s) Performed
Barry Manilow "Bandstand Boogie"

Opening sequence and subsequent controversy

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The plane crash Lost parody

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The opening sequence of the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards show depicted host Conan O'Brien wearing a tuxedo, sitting in luxury on a plane, sipping champagne and mentioning to the flight attendant that this would be the second Emmy's ceremony that he would be hosting. O'Brien then rhetorically asked the flight attendant, "What could possibly go wrong?" Immediately after that, the plane began to experience turbulence and then was portrayed as having crashed on (or near) an island. O'Brien is then seen walking ashore on the beach and onto the island still wearing his (now drenched) tuxedo. Hurley appears and then follows O'Brien to a hatch. When O'Brien asks if he wants to come along, Hurley says that they "weren't exactly invited". O'Brien enters the hatch and arrives on the set of The Office.

The intention of this opening sequence was to parody the premise of the ABC series Lost. However, the sequence reportedly disturbed some viewers because of the Comair Flight 5191 disaster that had occurred earlier in the day. Cincinnati NBC affiliate WLWT-TV had the unfortunate coincidence of running a "Breaking News" scroll about the crash at the same time as the scene was airing.[4]

Entertainment industry critics, such as LA Weekly columnist Nikki Finke, lambasted NBC's decision to not pull the plane crash portion of the opening sequence, in light of the aforementioned crash earlier that day. Finke stated that she believed NBC could have—with relative ease—instructed their writers to come up with a different sketch at the last minute, which could have been used as a substitute.

Other parodies

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The skit also parodied shows such as The Office, 24, House, South Park, and Dateline NBC (specifically, the "To Catch a Predator" segments). An animated Tom Cruise from the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet" appears in a skit where an animated O'Brien hides in Stan Marsh's closet, only to run away when he discovers Cruise has already occupied the closet.

Tributes

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The show featured tributes to two TV legends: Dick Clark ("America's Oldest Teenager"), and Aaron Spelling, producer of such classic TV shows as Dynasty and Beverly Hills, 90210. The former tribute was presented by Simon Cowell, American Idol judge, with a performance by Barry Manilow, who won a Primetime Emmy Award later that evening. Joan Collins, Heather Locklear, and Stephen Collins, along with the original three Charlie's Angels, gave the tribute for Spelling.

In Memoriam

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References

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  1. ^ "Entertainment – Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times.
  2. ^ Emmys.com list of 2006 Nominees & Winners
  3. ^ "Eva Longoria Added To Emmy Presenter List". Access. August 8, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  4. ^ Recording of 2006 Emmy Award opening with a "Breaking News" scroll of a real life plane crash (Youtube). August 27, 2006. Archived from the original on 2021-12-17. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
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