Hugh Laurie is a nominee at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, broadcast Sunday night at 7 on Fox.

This year, the Emmy Awards could get 'Ugly'.Which would be a beautiful thing, at least for the first-year series that's going into the television industry's biggest night with the most nominations of any new show. ABC's Ugly Betty has 11 bids, but it's topped in series overall by HBO's The Sopranos, nominated 15 times for its final season. Leading the whole pack with 17 is the TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, also from HBO.

Ryan Seacrest presides over the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards when Fox televises the event Sunday, September 16, from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The night will be busy for Seacrest, a Fox staple thanks to his American Idol duties; in his capacity for E! Entertainment Television, he'll also be part of the Emmy red-carpet coverage as celebrities arrive.

Some are likely to wear green, in keeping with the ceremony's theme. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is making these the first environmentally friendly Emmys, extending to organic food at the Governors Ball after the show. Recyclable materials have been used when possible, as hav energy sources and hybrid vehicles.

Critical favourites

For many people, though, the essence of the Emmys remains who did or didn't get nominated. After last year's controversy over a second tier of nominations by a 'blue-ribbon panel', some critical favourites have been shunned by the Emmys again.

At its July awards, the Television Critics Association named NBC's Friday Night Lights last season's outstanding new programme. In the Emmys, it's only up twice, for outstanding casting and outstanding directing.

Similarly, the TCA gave Michael C. Hall its honour for individual achievement in drama for Showtime's Dexter, but he's absent from the Emmy roster (though the show has three nominations in less-prominent categories). On the other hand, Alec Baldwin - the TCA's choice for individual achievement in comedy - also is an Emmy candidate for NBC's 30 Rock.

Room has been made for other acting nominees from new shows of last season, including America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Sally Field (ABC's Brothers & Sisters) and Minnie Driver (FX's The Riches).

Among Emmy veterans again nominated are Kiefer Sutherland (Fox's 24), Tony Shalhoub (USA Network's Monk), Hugh Laurie (Fox's House), Felicity Huffman (ABC's Desperate Housewives) and Sopranos stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco.

Mystery movie

Also up for an Emmy again is Tom Selleck, who will have just returned from filming his fifth Jesse Stone CBS mystery movie in Nova Scotia. He's nominated for the fourth one (Jesse Stone: Sea Change) as outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or a movie. Selleck won for his series Magnum, P.I. in 1984, the same year he was the Emmys' host, so he's never made the ceremonial trip from an audience seat to the stage.

"For some strange reason, I want to go," says Selleck, who joins NBC's Las Vegas in its new season, "even though I'll probably end up being the guy in the camera close-up going, 'I'm so happy that (someone else) won!' You get nominated by your peers, but the winner is selected by a panel that I'm sure is eminently qualified. I know it sounds kind of corny, but the nomination really is a huge honour."

- Jay Bobbin, Zap2it