Focus : Advice for the Emmy-Worn

By HOWARD ROSENBERG

Aug. 30, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES TELEVISION CRITIC

Put on a pot of coffee and tape open those eyelids.

Count em’--30 Emmys. And you get to see each bestowed and accepted--what do you think about 30 thank-you speeches?--during the “44th Annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards.” Hosted by Tim Allen, Kirstie Alley and Dennis Miller, the Fox telecast airs Sunday night.

I don’t know about you, but I’m still fuming about many of last year’s winners. How much longer must I suffer the poor taste and judgment of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences voters? Year after year, I give them my best advice. Year after year, they reject it.

Well, no more Mr. Nice Guy! One more chance is all they get. If they don’t honor my choices this time, I JUST MAY NOT DO THIS AGAIN!!!

DRAMA SERIES

That CBS high-achiever “Northern Exposure” is not only the class of this category, but arguably (with the possible exception of “The Simpsons”) the class of prime time.

Among the four NBC also-rans, “I’ll Fly Away,” “Law & Order” and “Quantum Leap” have enough good stuff for a highlight reel. But over-the-hill “L.A. Law” is a moose.

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

I didn’t see Kate Nelligan in the Disney Channel’s “Avonlea” or Shirley Knight’s guest work in “Law & Order.” Not that the new academy rule pitting guest performers against regular series performers makes any sense at all.

Among the other nominees, my choice is Regina Taylor of “I’ll Fly Away” over Dana Delany of ABC’s departed “China Beach,” Angela Lansbury of “Murder, She Wrote” and Sharon Gless of “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill,” both on CBS.

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Those nominated guests shots by Christopher Lloyd in “Avonlea,” Kirk Douglas in HBO’s “Tales From the Crypt” and Harrison Page in “Quantum Leap” slipped by me. Amazingly, the possibility exists that “Quantum Leap” one-time guest Page could win an Emmy here over “Quantum Leap” star Scott Bakula, who deserves the award for consistently meeting the challenge of playing a radically different character each week.

The other nominees are Rob Morrow of “Northern Exposure,” Sam Waterston of “I’ll Fly Away” and Michael Moriarty of “Law & Order.”

COMEDY SERIES

NBC’s “Seinfeld” deserves the nod in one of Emmys’ stronger fields. Also nominated are NBC’s “Cheers,” ABC’s “Home Improvement,” “Brooklyn Bridge” on CBS and Dan Qualye’s personal favorite, that other CBS comedy, “Murphy Brown.” HBO’s “Dream On” and ABC’s “Dinosaurs” head the deserving-but-overlooked category.

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Marion Ross of “Brooklyn Bridge” has a boffo Yiddish accent, but Kirstie Alley has comic instincts that merit her a second Emmy for her work on “Cheers.” Candice Bergen of “Murphy Brown,” Roseanne Arnold of ABC’s “Roseanne” and Betty White of NBC’s former “Golden Girls” are nominees, too, as is Tyne Daly for her guest work on NBC’s “Wings,” which I didn’t see.

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

The concept and writing are unconventional and first-rate. Without Jerry Seinfeld, however, there wouldn’t be a “Seinfeld.” So please give this guy the Emmy already.

The potential for more weirdness looms here, with “Cheers” supporting actor Kelsey Grammer nominated in this starring category for his guest shot on “Wings,” thus getting a chance to beat out “Cheers” lead Ted Danson, who is a nominee here along with John Goodman of “Roseanne,” Craig T. Nelson of ABC’s “Coach” and Burt Reynolds of CBS’ “Evening Shade.”

MINISERIES

Once the jewels in prime-time’s crown, multi-part limited series have regressed creatively to the point of becoming, in effect, television footnotes. None of the nominees here is particularly noteworthy. NBC’s “Cruel Doubt” deserves the Emmy by default over NBC’s “A Woman Called Jackie” and “Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel,” CBS’ “In a Child’s Name” and “The Burden of Proof” on ABC.

Superior to any of the above was the overlooked “Prime Suspect,” a British miniseries aired by PBS as part of its “Mystery” series.

MADE-FOR-TELEVISION MOVIE

“Honor Thy Mother,” the CBS version of the same murderous docudrama depicted in NBC’s longer “Cruel Doubt,” deserves to win. Because entries that aren’t nominated do not receive Emmys, however, the award will go elsewhere.

NBC’s “Miss Rose White” is easily the best of this modestly distinguished lot. Also nominated are Fox’s “Doing Time on Maple Drive,” HBO’s “Without Warning: The James Brady Story” and--resulting from another change in the Emmy rules--the movie-length pilots for the prime-time series “Homefront” and “I’ll Fly Away.”

LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR SPECIAL As the villainous matriarch in the CBS docudrama “A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story,” Meredith Baxter arguably did her best television work ever. That Emmy-worthy performance ranks her ahead of Laura Dern in HBO’s “AfterBurn,” Gena Rowlands in CBS’ “Face of a Stranger,” Anne Bancroft in the PBS “American Playhouse” production of “Mrs. Cage’ and Judy Davis in CBS’ “One Against the Wind.”

All of the above did memorable work except for Davis, a usually fine actress who this time was mortally undermined by a dreadful script. A much better choice would have been Helen Mirren in “Prime Suspect.”

LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR SPECIAL

This category is much weaker than its female counterpart, giving hope that the quality of women’s dramatic roles on TV is on the upswing.

As serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the syndicated “To Catch a Killer,” however, Brian Dennehy, an actor who gorges on evil roles, was at his sinister best. He’s the class of this field, which also includes Hume Cronyn of CBS’ “Christmas on Division Street,” Ruben Blades from TNT’s “Crazy From the Heart,” Maximilian Schell of “Miss Rose White” and Beau Bridges of “Without Warning: The James Brady Story.”

ANIMATED PROGRAM (ONE HOUR OR LESS)

Nickelodeon’s “The Ren & Stimpy Show” is up and coming. But get serious. If Fox’s “The Simpsons” doesn’t win this Emmy again, there should be an investigation by the CIA, the FBI, the NCAA, one of H. Ross Perot’s private eyes, someone !

Other nominees are “A Claymation Easter” on CBS and “Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories” on Showtime.

VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY PROGRAM

NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman” still owns this apples-and-oranges category, although Fox’s “In Living Color” has its moments. HBO’s “Comic Relief V” and “Cirque Du Soleil II: A New Experience,” the PBS production of “Unforgettable, With Love: Natalie Cole Sings the Songs of Nat King Cole” and NBC’s historic “Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” are nominated, too.

INFORMATIONAL SERIES

This is one of those oddly eclectic categories whose existence is based on the assumption that just about everything on television--even color bars--conveys information. That explains the nomination of the syndicated “Entertainment Tonight.”

Also nominated are TNT’s “MGM: When the Lion Roars,” the syndicated “Siskel & Ebert,” NBC’s “Unsolved Mysteries” and “Later ... With Bob Costas,” the NBC wee-hours interview series that deserves the Emmy because of the quality of its guests and the wit and intelligence of its star questioner.

INFORMATIONAL SPECIAL

This is another of Emmy’s stronger fields. The vote here is for the superb “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse” that aired on Showtime. The competition is HBO’s “Abortion: Desperate Choices,” Discovery’s “In the Company of Whales,” the PBS documentary “Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio” and the Barbara Walters special on ABC with Michelle Pfeiffer, Anthony Hopkins and Tom Cruise.

Poor Barbara. If only they gave Emmys for making guests cry.

“ The 44th Annual Prime - Time Emmy Awards “ air Sunday at 8 p.m. on Fox.

THE TELECAST

Here are the Emmy categories in the order they will be awarded Sunday night:

Directing in a comedy series

Supporting actress in a comedy series

Supporting actor in a drama series

Writing in a drama series

Supporting actress in a drama series

Directing in a drama series

Writing in a comedy series

Supporting actor in a comedy series