| 59th Primetime Emmy Awards | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Date |
|
| Location | Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California |
| Presented by | Academy of Television Arts and Sciences |
| Hosted by | Ryan Seacrest |
| Highlights | |
| Most awards |
|
| Most nominations | The Sopranos (10) |
| Outstanding Comedy Series | 30 Rock |
| Outstanding Drama Series | The Sopranos |
| Outstanding Miniseries | Broken Trail |
| 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 |
| Produced by | Ken Ehrlich |
| Directed by | Bruce Gowers |
The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 16, 2007, honoring the best in U.S. prime time television programming at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition (on tape delay three hours later on the West Coast of the United States at 8:00 p.m.). It was also the most recent Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony to be held at the Shrine Auditorium, as it was then relocated to the Nokia Theatre from the following year (PDT/3:00 UTC). The ceremony was hosted by Ryan Seacrest.[1]
The ceremonies were supposed to be produced by Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick, executive producers of American Idol, but because of their heavy work load with Idol, Ken Ehrlich, last year's producer, resumed the producer's role for the fourth time.[2] Ratings plunged further down to a near an all-time low as an estimate 12.87 million, 19% lower than the past year,[3] making it the second smallest television audience in Emmy history, behind the 1990 telecast.
The nominations were announced on July 19 at 5:40 a.m. PDT (12:40 UTC) by Jon Cryer and Kyra Sedgwick.[4]
Meanwhile, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony, hosted by comedian-actor Carlos Mencia, were presented eight days earlier on September 9.[5]
Freshman series 30 Rock defeated defending champion The Office to claim Outstanding Comedy Series; this was the only major award for 30 Rock.
Going into its final ceremony, The Sopranos needed just three major awards to tie the drama series record of 18 major wins set by Hill Street Blues. It was nominated in ten major categories coming in and ended the night with three wins, including its second win for Outstanding Drama Series. This tied the record and gave both shows identical résumés—18 major wins and 74 major nominations. This win for The Sopranos was also the first time any show's sixth season had won for the Outstanding Drama award, later achieved by Game of Thrones as well, another HBO drama.
AMC, a smaller cable network, won big with Broken Trail winning three Emmys. It won Outstanding Miniseries and the network's first Acting wins, for the series' stars, Thomas Haden Church and Robert Duvall.
- ^ [1] [dead link]
- ^ "American Idol's Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick Named Executive Producers For 59th Primetime Emmy Awards". Zap2it. Archived from the original on 2007-05-09. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
- ^ "Emmy "Sopranos" send-off ranks as ratings dud". Reuters. September 17, 2007. Archived from the original on September 15, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
- ^ "Academy of Television Arts & Sciences". Archived from the original on 2009-03-07. Retrieved 2008-02-18. Retrieved 2007-09-16
- ^ "HBO Tops 59th Creative Arts Emmys, NBC Leads Nets". Archived from the original on October 14, 2007. Retrieved September 15, 2007.