Plane-crash controversy darkens Emmys

LOS ANGELES -- The latest edition of the Emmy Awards proved that timing really is everything.

Clock-watching action series "24" finally got its due after five seasons, nabbing three trophies including best drama, best actor for star Kiefer Sutherland and a directing award.

But Sunday's ceremony on NBC, despite being one of the most entertaining awards shows in years and with host Conan O'Brien in top form, found itself accused of bad timing and worse.

The show opened with an elaborately produced pre-taped comedy skit featuring O'Brien in a spoof of the jetliner crash in "Lost" -- on the same day a commuter plane crashed on takeoff in Lexington, Ky., killing 49 people.

The proximity of the accident to the show's airing was unacceptable and the sequence should have been pulled, some observers said.

"We wish somebody had thought this through. It's somewhere between ignorance and incompetence," said Tim Gilbert, the general manager of NBC's Lexington affiliate, WLEX.

The network issued a statement Monday expressing sympathy for those who lost family members in the crash and for the Lexington community.

"In no way would we ever want to make light of this terrible tragedy," the statement continued. "The filmed opening during the Emmy telecast was meant to spoof some of television's most well-known scenes. The timing was unfortunate, and we regret any unintentional pain it may have caused."

The ceremony also suffered because of scheduling. NBC pulled it from its usual home in September, at the start of the new TV season, to accommodate the network's addition of Sunday-night football to its schedule.

That put the Emmys (which rotate among the major networks annually) smack into the least-viewed month of the year. Early ratings seemed to reflect that: The audience fell 14 percent compared to 2005, with 16.1 million watching vs. 18.6 million last year.

That's the fourth-smallest audience ever for the Emmys, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen Media Research.

The show faced competition that included an airing of the original "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie on ABC, an original episode of "Big Brother" on CBS and the season finale of "Entourage" on HBO.

The nominations themselves may have contributed to the ratings drop.

New rules that relied on blue-ribbon panels rather than a membership-wide vote to determine nominees in major categories, may have kept out audience favorites including Hugh Laurie of "House" and "Lost," the best drama series winner last year.

The TV academy has referred to the change as a one-year experiment.

But winner Louis-Dreyfus, of "Seinfeld" fame, begged to differ.

"I have no problem with the system, by the way," she said backstage Sunday. "Although I will tell you I don't understand it. ... Let's keep it."

Besides "24," other big winners Sunday were "The Office," named best comedy series, and best-actor honorees Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and Tony Shalhoub of "Monk."

Also, Megan Mullally was honored a second time as supporting comedy actress for "Will & Grace," and Alan Alda was named best supporting actor in a drama for "The West Wing." His award gave the show, canceled after seven season, a drama-series record of 26 Emmys.

HBO earned the most Emmys, a total of 26 including the awards given out at the Aug. 19 creative arts ceremony for technical and other achievements.

NBC, facing an uphill ratings climb in the coming season, got a psychological boost with its cumulative 14 awards, the most for any broadcast network. ABC won 11 Emmys and Fox received 10, including its first best drama series trophy. CBS had 10, followed by PBS with nine.

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