'Sopranos' Mobbed With Emmy Nods

"Grey's" got some good news after a very bad year public-relations-wise, in which cast member Isaiah Washington was dumped after twice using an anti-gay slur. The hot docs drama nabbed a hefty 10 nominations, including nods for supporting cast members Katherine Heigl, Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh and T.R. Knight (the alleged target of Washington's slur). None of the lead actors, including Washington, was nominated.

"30 Rock" star Baldwin also had a lousy year PR-wise, after a recorded phone call -- in which he screamed at his daughter -- was released to the media. Baldwin's daughter lives with Kim Basinger, his ex-wife, with whom he has been in a protracted court battle. But unlike Washington, Baldwin got an Emmy nomination -- the sixth of his career. And he's considered the odds-on favorite to win; his competition is last year's winner, Tony Shalhoub of USA's "Monk," Ricky Gervais of HBO's "Extras," Steve Carell of "The Office" and Charlie Sheen from "Two and a Half Men."

Joining Ferrera as nominees for best comedy actress are last year's winner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus of CBS's "New Adventures of Old Christine," Felicity Huffman of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," "30 Rock's" Fey, and Mary-Louise Parker of Showtime's "Weeds."

Gandolfini runs in a pack with Hugh Laurie, star of Fox hit "House"; James Spader of ABC's "Boston Legal"; Denis Leary of FX's "Rescue Me"; and last year's winner, Kiefer Sutherland of "24."

Falco's competition includes last year's winner, Mariska Hargitay of NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"; Minnie Driver of FX's "The Riches"; Patricia Arquette of NBC's "Medium"; Sally Field of ABC's "Brothers & Sisters"; and Kyra Sedgwick of TNT's "The Closer."

Sedgwick, along with "Two and a Half Men" star Jon Cryer, announced the glam-category nominations on TV from academy headquarters in North Hollywood.

The nation's most popular TV show, Fox's "American Idol," could become the biggest Emmy loser ever on awards night. The singing competition, which previously was nominated 22 times but never won, will have seven chances this year to break that streak.

If the reality series goes 0 for 7, however, it will dethrone the record-holding "Bob Newhart Show," O'Neil says. That sitcom, in which Newhart played a Vermont innkeeper, never won despite 25 nominations.

On the other hand, Fox's ooh-it's-from-Steven-Spielberg! reality series, "On the Lot," received just one nomination -- for best title music.

A full list of nominations is available on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Web site, Emmys.com.

By network, HBO once again led the pack with a total of 86, followed not closely by ABC with 70 and NBC with 69.

Ironically, NBC's newly named co-chairman, Ben Silverman, bagged himself 24 nominations Thursday -- tying PBS, nearly matching Fox's 28 nods and beating all cable networks except HBO. Silverman was a producer before joining NBC's staff in late May; among his programs are "Ugly Betty" with its 11 noms, "The Office" with nine and Showtime's crunchy-gravel drama "The Tudors" with four.