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Tony Soprano's fate may remain a mystery, but he is almost certain to muscle his way back into the Emmy race one last time as nominations for US television's highest honours are unsealed today.
HBO's celebrated mob saga The Sopranos, which ended its six-season run last month in
the US with an ambiguous blackout, is heavily favoured to grab one of five nominations in the race for best drama series, the title it claimed in 2004.
Some pundits have said the gangster drama is a shoo-in to win, thanks largely to the media hype leading up to its finale and the outpouring of debate over the meaning of its fill-in-the-blank conclusion.
"It will dominate the nominations, and it will no doubt win," said Ray Richmond, a TV columnist and critic for the Hollywood Reporter.
If Richmond's prediction comes true, it would mark the first time in Emmy history a drama series has won the top prize after leaving prime time, according to Tom O'Neil, host of the Los Angeles Times entertainment award site, TheEnvelope.com.
He said the only other post-finale Emmy winners for best series have been comedies - among them Everybody Loves Raymond, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Barney Miller.
Emmy watchers say the biggest contenders for the four remaining best-drama slots include the 2005 champion, ABC castaway mystery Lost, and two hit medical shows nominated last year - Grey's Anatomy from ABC and House on Fox.
Two freshman NBC shows, the hit superhuman serial Heroes, and the low-rated teen-football story Friday Night Lights, also are given strong odds to clinch a best-drama bid.
Those shows will put to the test recent Emmy rule changes designed to give newcomers and underdogs a better shot at the winners' circle, O'Neil said, adding that Friday Night Lights was the show many critics were backing.
Among comedies, a consensus of the most likely candidates seemed easier to come by, according to O'Neil's poll of leading Emmy pundits.
Last year's best-comedy winner, the popular NBC workplace satire The Office, is seen as a front-runner along with two newcomers - ABC's Ugly Betty and NBC's ratings-challenged but critically praised show-within-a-show, 30 Rock.
NBC's offbeat hospital comedy Scrubs and the bawdy CBS hit sitcom Two and a Half Men also rank as strong contenders to return to the nominees list, while HBO's Hollywood satire Entourage is favoured by some critics.
Unlike the Oscars or Grammys, Emmys don't usually translate into greater commercial success for TV shows, except where a new series is struggling to build an audience.
Such was the case with shows like All in the Family, Hill Street Blues and Cheers, all of which took off as hits after winning Emmys early in their runs, O'Neil said. The same may prove true for 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights.
Sopranos stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco are tipped as favourites to add to their respective best-actor and best-actress Emmy collections. Each has won three times.
Front-runners for comedy performers are Steve Carell in The Office and Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock among actors, and America Ferrera in Ugly Betty and Tina Fey for 30 Rock among actresses.
- REUTERS