By Lisa de Moraes
Friday, July 7, 2006; C01

HOLLYWOOD, July 6 Changing how the TV academy comes up with its list of Primetime Emmy nominees worked out well for CBS's "Two and a Half Men," which Thursday snagged its first-ever nominations, for best comedy series and for stars Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer.

But for the more artsy, so-called niche network programming the change was supposed to help -- not so much.

Never-nominated "Gilmore Girls" star Lauren Graham, who became the poster child this year for the need to change the nominations process, got snubbed again by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Ditto "Battlestar Galactica," which Emmy-watchers expected to be the glam-category beneficiary of the change -- and of a massive Sci Fi for-your-consideration campaign. It received three noms -- for costumes, sound mixing and special visual effects.

On the other hand, some good did come of the tinkering.

"The academy totally [slapped] 'Desperate Housewives' and really roughed up 'The Sopranos,' " Tom O'Neil, who wrote the book -- literally -- on the Primetime Emmys -- told The TV Column. Loosely translated, that means none of the three lead housewives on the ABC series was nominated, including Felicity Huffman, who took home last year's trophy for best sitcom actress. And the show itself -- last year's Emmy-winningest series, was shut out of the best-comedy derby.

O'Neil, whose "The Emmys" is considered the definitive tome on all things Primetime Emmy, also was saying that "Sopranos" leads James Gandolfini and Edie Falco did not get their taken-for-granted Emmy noms this time around. HBO did, however, continue to squash all competitors with 95 nominations -- more than CBS (47) and NBC (47) combined -- thanks to its total control of the movie and miniseries races. That domination included 13 nominations for Helen Mirren starrer "Elizabeth I" and 12 for the Annette Bening vehicle "Mrs. Harris." On the other hand, the most nominated miniseries this year -- heck, the most nominated program of any genre -- is TNT's 12-hour, Steven Spielberg-produced "Into the West," with a total of 16.

For the first time, special panels chose nominees from among the shows or actors who had received the most votes from academy members. The change was intended to bring fresh names from smaller networks into the competition.

But all 10 nominees for best drama and comedy series this year air on a Big Four broadcaster or HBO -- business as usual.

In drama they are ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," HBO's "The Sopranos," NBC's "The West Wing" and Fox's "House" and "24," which is this year's most nominated series, with a haul of 12.

Comedy contenders are Fox's "Arrested Development," HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," NBC's "The Office" and "Scrubs," and CBS's aforementioned "Two and a Half Men."

Only three actors in the lead-acting derbies hailed from niche networks: FX's "Rescue Me" star Denis Leary, TNT's "The Closer" lead Kyra Sedgwick and USA's "Monk" star Tony Shalhoub. But both Leary and Shalhoub have been nominated before, and Shalhoub has won the trophy for best comedy actor twice.

Besides Leary, the race for best drama series actor includes Peter Krause of "Six Feet Under"; Kiefer Sutherland, "24"; Martin Sheen, "The West Wing"; and this year's only surprise, Christopher Meloni of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Leary reacted to the news with one of those carefully crafted, too-hip-for-the-room, spontaneous-reaction quotes that make covering trophy-show nominations such a thrill: "My son and I were on our way to work and we had forgotten it was Emmy day. We were trying to get the baseball scores from last night."

Joining Sedgwick in the race for best drama series actress: first-timer Geena Davis, "Commander in Chief"; and repeaters Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: SVU"; Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under"; and Allison Janney, "The West Wing."

Charlie Sheen, Kevin James and Shalhoub will duke it out for best comedy actor with Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and Steve Carell of "The Office."

And four of the five nominees for best sitcom actress worked on shows that have been canceled: Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Debra Messing ("Will & Grace"), Lisa Kudrow ("The Comeback") and Stockard Channing ("Out of Practice"). The fifth nominee is Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose "The New Adventures of Old Christine" is the only sitcom in the batch that's returning this fall.

"It's hard to even believe it. You dream about these kinds of things and then it happens and it doesn't seem real, kind of. I'm still digesting this," Louis-Dreyfus said in her carefully crafted, spontaneous-reaction quote, which she might have pulled off had she not been nominated every year from '92 through '98 for her role on "Seinfeld."

On the other hand, Kaczmarek -- back for her seventh try at the best sitcom actress statuette -- hit a spontaneous-reaction-quote home run with, "I'm the nominee who won't go away."

The jaw-dropping lack of fresh names sent shockwaves through the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre at the TV academy's North Hollywood headquarters, where Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Garrett announced the glam-category nominees early Thursday morning.

You could see the outrage in the heaving bosoms of the celebrity suck-up show hostesses, dressed in snug, revealing tops, who were there to cover the Emmy noms, as they grilled Louis-Dreyfus about the tight, white, cleavage-revealing number into which she had poured herself for the morning's festivities.

Male on-air talent who were there to cover the nominations were outraged, too; you just couldn't see their chests heaving under their dark suits. But their eyes flashed, which is almost as good:

"It's television's biggest night! The Emmy nominations are in and we'll tell you who's got some serious celebrating to do!"

Okay, maybe that guy isn't such a good example. But how about this: "It didn't accomplish its goal to boost those other networks," said O'Neil, the Yoda of prime-time Emmy nominations, who'd come to do commentary for CNN Headline News and pick up inside dope for his all-things-trophy-show Web site.

In one of few nominations that seem to have benefited from the change in the process, Craig Ferguson received the first-ever nomination for "The Late Late Show," for best individual performance in a variety or music program. Ferguson, the third host, snagged the nomination in his first year on the CBS show.

Noticeably missing from yesterday's nominations was Graham, darling of some TV critics, and of O'Neil. "That Lauren Graham is not here is going to cause industry outrage," O'Neil told The TV Column. "Many think the system was tinkered with so she could finally get her due. . . . The system that was designed to help mostly the artsy stuff ended up boosting 'Two and a Half Men.' "

Talking to CNN Headline News, he added that "TV critics of America say she's given the best performance on the tube."

"There are some surprises, but the surprises we'd hoped to see were not here," he said.