The 55th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 21, 2003. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox. The Sci Fi channel received its first major nomination this year for Outstanding Miniseries for Taken; the series won the award.
| 55th Primetime Emmy Awards | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Date |
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| Location | Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California |
| Presented by | Academy of Television Arts and Sciences |
| Highlights | |
| Most awards |
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| Most nominations | The Sopranos (10) |
| Outstanding Comedy Series | Everybody Loves Raymond |
| Outstanding Drama Series | The West Wing |
| Outstanding Miniseries | Taken |
| Outstanding Reality-Competition Program | The Amazing Race |
| Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series | The Daily Show with Jon Stewart |
| Website | http://www.emmys.com/  |
| Television/radio coverage | |
| Network | Fox |
With the win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Debra Messing, Will & Grace became only the third television show to have all credited actors win a Primetime Emmy Award for their respective role, following All in the Family and The Golden Girls (also later tied by The Simpsons). For its seventh season, Everybody Loves Raymond won its first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. It led all comedies with four major wins and ten major nominations. The West Wing won Outstanding Drama Series for the fourth consecutive year, tying the record set by Hill Street Blues (also later tied by Game of Thrones and Mad Men).
Despite failing to win Outstanding Drama Series, The Sopranos continued to rake in the awards, leading all dramas with four major wins, including James Gandolfini and Edie Falco winning their third and final trophy for their respective category. Also Joe Pantoliano's win for Supporting Actor in a Drama marked the first time HBO had won in this category.
Additionally, for the first time, not only did the Lead Male in a Comedy award go to a show outside the Big Four TV networks, with Tony Shalhoub's win, for Monk on the USA Network, it was that network's first ever Acting win.
For the first time since 1991, the Outstanding Drama Series field did not include Law & Order; it was nominated 11 times in the category, a record for drama series that still stands. The mark tied the overall record held by comedy series M*A*S*H and Cheers. For the first time since its premiere, Frasier, then in its tenth and penultimate season, didn't win a major award, with its only major nominations going to David Hyde Pierce and John Mahoney for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. The ceremony featured 11 presenters, which included: Ellen DeGeneres, Brad Garrett, Darrell Hammond, George Lopez, Conan O'Brien, Bernie Mac, Dennis Miller, Garry Shandling (who opened the show with a comedic monologue), Martin Short, Jon Stewart, and Wanda Sykes.[1]
Winners and nominees
editWinners are listed first and highlighted in bold:[2]
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Programs
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Acting
editLead performances
editSupporting performances
editIndividual performances
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Directing
editWriting
editMost major nominations
edit| Network | No. of Nominations |
|---|---|
| HBO | 53 |
| NBC | 38 |
| CBS | 28 |
| Program | Category | Network | No. of Nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sopranos | Drama | HBO | 10 |
| Everybody Loves Raymond | Comedy | CBS | 8 |
| The West Wing | Drama | NBC | |
| Curb Your Enthusiasm | Comedy | HBO | 7 |
| Six Feet Under | Drama | ||
| Door to Door | Movie | TNT | 6 |
| Sex and the City | Comedy | HBO | |
| Will & Grace | NBC | ||
| My House in Umbria | Movie | HBO | 5 |
| Hysterical Blindness | 4 | ||
| Live from Baghdad | |||
| Normal | |||
| 24 | Drama | Fox | 3 |
| Alias | ABC | ||
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Variety | Comedy Central | |
| Friends | Comedy | NBC | |
| Late Show with David Letterman | Variety | CBS | |
| Robin Williams: Live on Broadway | HBO | ||
| The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone | Movie | Showtime | |
| Saturday Night Live | Variety | NBC | |
| The 75th Annual Academy Awards | ABC | 2 | |
| The Bernie Mac Show | Comedy | Fox | |
| Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band | Variety | CBS | |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Drama | ||
| Frasier | Comedy | NBC | |
| Hitler: The Rise of Evil | Miniseries | CBS | |
| Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story | Movie | Lifetime | |
| Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Variety | NBC | |
| Malcolm in the Middle | Comedy | Fox | |
| Napoléon | Miniseries | A&E |
Most major awards
edit| Network | No. of Awards |
|---|---|
| HBO | 8 |
| CBS | 7 |
| NBC | 4 |
| TNT | |
| Comedy Central | 2 |
| Program | Category | Network | No. of Awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Door to Door | Movie | TNT | 4 |
| Everybody Loves Raymond | Comedy | CBS | |
| The Sopranos | Drama | HBO | |
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Variety | Comedy Central | 2 |
| Hysterical Blindness | Movie | HBO | |
| The West Wing | Drama | NBC |
Presenters
editThe awards were presented by the following people:[3]
In Memoriam
edit- Roone Arledge
- David Bloom
- Ben Brady
- David Brinkley
- Charles Bronson
- Nell Carter
- Johnny Cash
- James Coburn
- Jeff Corey
- Richard Crenna
- Hume Cronyn
- Buddy Ebsen
- Buddy Hackett
- Katharine Hepburn
- Gregory Hines
- Bob Hope*
- Michael Jeter
- Bob Keene
- Bruce Paltrow
- Gregory Peck
- Peg Phillips
- John Ritter
- Fred Rogers
- Edgar Scherick
- Jack Smight
- Robert Stack
- Mike Stokey
- Lynne Thigpen
- Notes
- ^ a b "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories.
References
edit- ^ "55th Primetime Emmy Awards". Digitalhit.com. Digital Hit Entertainment/ Multiplex Theatre Properties Inc. 2003-09-21. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
- ^ Emmys.com list of 2003 Nominees & Winners
- ^ "55th Primetime Emmy Awards". DigitalHit. Retrieved March 30, 2023.