48th Primetime Emmy Awards

48th Primetime Emmy Awards
Date	September 8, 1996 (Ceremony) September 7, 1996 (Creative Arts Awards)
Location	Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hosted by	Michael J. Fox Paul Reiser Oprah Winfrey
Highlights
Most awards	Dennis Miller Live Frasier Gulliver's Travels Kennedy Center Honors Picket Fences Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny The X-Files (2)
Most nominations	The Larry Sanders Show (12)
Outstanding Comedy Series	Frasier
Outstanding Drama Series	ER
Outstanding Miniseries	Gulliver's Travels
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series	Dennis Miller Live
Television/radio coverage
Network	ABC
Produced by	Al Schwartz [1]
Directed by	Louis J. Horvitz [1]
← 47th Primetime Emmy Awards 49th →

The 48th Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. The awards were presented over two ceremonies, one untelevised on September 7, 1996, and other televised on September 8, 1996. It was hosted by Michael J. Fox, Paul Reiser, and Oprah Winfrey. Two networks, A&E and AMC, received their first major nominations this year.

Frasier took home Outstanding Comedy Series for the third straight year, and won two major awards overall. In the drama field, ER came into the ceremony as the most nominated drama for the second straight year with eleven major nominations, it defeated defending champion NYPD Blue to win Outstanding Drama Series. This turned out to be the only major award ER won. No show won more than two major awards.

The HBO comedy The Larry Sanders Show made Emmy history when it became the first show outside the Big Three television networks to receive the most major nominations (12). Furthermore, Rip Torn won the Supporting Comedy actor award, the first for HBO.

Another first came with Amanda Plummer for Showtime's The Outer Limits. Not only was it the first time a cable network won in her category (Guest Actress, Drama) but was Showtime's first ever Acting Emmy win.

For the twelfth and final season of Murder, She Wrote, Angela Lansbury was once again nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, she had been nominated for every season of the show, but she was defeated once again. In the process she set records for being the most nominated actress in the category (18), as well as the most nominated actress without winning. Both of these records still stand.

Winners and nominees[]

^[2]

Programs[]

Outstanding Comedy Series	Outstanding Drama Series
Frasier, (NBC) Friends, (NBC) The Larry Sanders Show, (HBO) Mad About You, (NBC) Seinfeld, (NBC)	ER, (NBC) Chicago Hope, (CBS) Law & Order, (NBC) NYPD Blue, (ABC) The X-Files, (Fox)
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series	Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special
Dennis Miller Live, (HBO) Late Show with David Letterman, (CBS) Muppets Tonight, (ABC) Politically Incorrect, (Comedy Central) The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, (NBC)	The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts, (CBS) The 68th Annual Academy Awards, (ABC) The Best of Tracey Takes On..., (HBO) Dennis Miller: Citizen Arcane, (HBO) Sinatra: 80 Years My Way, (ABC)
Outstanding Made for Television Movie	Outstanding Miniseries
Truman, (HBO) Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story, (Lifetime) The Heidi Chronicles, (TNT) The Late Shift, (HBO) The Tuskegee Airmen, (HBO)	Gulliver's Travels, (NBC) Andersonville, (TNT) Hiroshima, (Showtime) Moses, (TNT) Pride and Prejudice, (A&E)

Acting[]

Lead performances[]

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
John Lithgow as Dr. Dick Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun (Episode: "Dick Smoker"), (NBC) Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane on Frasier (Episode: "You Can Go Home Again"), (NBC) Paul Reiser as Paul Buchman on Mad About You (Episode: "Dream Weaver"), (NBC) Jerry Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld on Seinfeld (Episode: "The Gum"), (NBC) Garry Shandling as Larry Sanders on The Larry Sanders Show, (HBO)	Helen Hunt as Jamie Buchman on Mad About You (Episode: "The Finale"), (NBC) Ellen DeGeneres as Ellen Morgan on Ellen (Episode: "Witness"), (ABC) Fran Drescher as Fran Fine on The Nanny (Episode: "The Hockey Show"), (CBS) Patricia Richardson as Jill Taylor on Home Improvement (Episode: "The Longest Day"), (ABC) Cybill Shepherd as Cybill Sheridan on Cybill (Episode: "When You're Hot, You're Hot"), (CBS)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Dennis Franz as Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue (Episode: "Closing Time"), (ABC) Andre Braugher as Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street (Episode: "For God and Country"), (NBC) George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross on ER (Episode: "Hell and High Water"), (NBC) Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene on ER (Episode: "A Shift in the Night"), (NBC) Jimmy Smits as Bobby Simone on NYPD Blue (Episode: "A Death in the Family"), (ABC)	Kathy Baker as Jill Brock on Picket Fences (Episode: "Bottled"), (CBS) Gillian Anderson as Dr. Dana Scully on The X-Files (Episode: "Piper Maru"), (Fox) Christine Lahti as Dr. Kate Austin on Chicago Hope (Episode: "Transplanted Affection"), (CBS) Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote (Episode: "Death by Demographics"), (CBS) Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis on ER (Episode: "Take These Broken Wings"), (NBC)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special
Alan Rickman as Grigori Rasputin on Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny, (HBO) Alec Baldwin as Stanley Kowalski on A Streetcar Named Desire, (CBS) Beau Bridges as President Richard Nixon on Kissinger and Nixon, (TNT) Laurence Fishburne as Hannibal Lee on The Tuskeegee Airmen, (HBO) Gary Sinise as President Harry S. Truman on Truman, (HBO)	Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison on Prime Suspect IV: Scent of Darkness, (PBS) Ashley Judd as Norma Jean Dougherty on Norma Jean & Marilyn, (HBO) Jessica Lange as Blanche DuBois on A Streetcar Named Desire, (CBS) Mira Sorvino as Marilyn Monroe on Norma Jean & Marilyn, (HBO) Sela Ward as Jessica Savitch on Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story, (Lifetime)

Supporting performances[]

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Rip Torn as Arthur on The Larry Sanders Show (Episodes: "Arthur After Hours" + "The P.A."), (HBO) Jason Alexander as George Costanza on Seinfeld (Episodes: "The Pool Guy" + "The Invitations"), (NBC) David Hyde Pierce as Dr. Niles Crane on Frasier (Episodes: "The Last Time I Saw Maris" + "Moon Dance"), (NBC) Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld (Episodes: "The Pool Guy" + "The Wait Out"), (NBC) Jeffrey Tambor as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show (Episodes: "Hank's New Assistant" + "Nothing Personal"), (HBO)	Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine Benes on Seinfeld (Episodes: "The Soup Nazi" + "The Wait Out"), (NBC) Christine Baranski as Maryann Thorpe on Cybill (Episodes: "A Who's Who for What's His Name" + "Wedding Bell Blues"), (CBS) Janeane Garofalo as Paula on The Larry Sanders Show (Episodes: "Conflict of Interest" + "I Was a Teenage Lesbian"), (HBO) Jayne Meadows as Alice Morgan-DuPont-Sutting-Cushing-Ferruke on High Society (Episodes: "Family Val's" + "Alice Doesn't Pump Here Anymore"), (CBS) Renée Taylor as Sylvia Fine on The Nanny (Episodes: "Where's the Pearls?" + "The Cantor Show"), (CBS)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Ray Walston as Henry Bone on Picket Fences (Episodes: "Witness for the Prosecution" + "My Romance"), (CBS) Héctor Elizondo as Dr. Phillip Watters on Chicago Hope (Episodes: "A Coupla Stiffs" + "Sweet Surrender"), (CBS) James McDaniel as Arthur Fancy on NYPD Blue (Episodes: "The Backboard Jungle" + "Cold Heaters"), (ABC) Stanley Tucci as Richard Cross on Murder One (Episodes: "Chapter One" + "Chapter Twenty"), (ABC) Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter on ER (Episodes: "The Right Thing" + "John Carter, M.D."), (NBC)	Tyne Daly as Alice Henderson on Christy (Episodes: "Echoes" + The Road Home), (CBS) Barbara Bosson as Miriam Grasso on Murder One (Episodes: "Chapter Eighteen" + "Chapter Twenty"), (ABC) Sharon Lawrence as Sylvia Costas on NYPD Blue (Episodes: "Auntie Maimed" + "Closing Time"), (ABC) Julianna Margulies as Carol Hathaway on ER (Episodes: "Home" + "The Healers"), (NBC) Gail O'Grady as Donna Abandando on NYPD Blue (Episodes: "Auntie Maimed" + "A Death in the Family"), (ABC)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special
Tom Hulce as Peter Patrone on The Heidi Chronicles, (TNT) Andre Braugher as Benjamin O. Davis on The Tuskegee Airmen, (HBO) John Goodman as Harold 'Mitch' Mitchell on A Streetcar Named Desire, (CBS) Ian McKellen as Tsar Nicholas II on Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny, (HBO) Treat Williams as Michael Ovitz on The Late Shift, (HBO)	Greta Scacchi as Tsarina Alexandra on Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny, (HBO) Kathy Bates as Helen Kushnick on The Late Shift, (HBO) Diana Scarwid as Bess Truman on Truman, (HBO) Mare Winningham as Sheila on The Boys Next Door, (CBS) Alfre Woodard as Queen of Brobdingnag on Gulliver's Travels, (NBC)

Guest performances[]

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Tim Conway as Kenny on Coach (Episode: "The Gardener"), (ABC) Griffin Dunne as Bob on Frasier (Episode: "The Friend"), (NBC) Mandy Patinkin as Himself on The Larry Sanders Show (Episode: "Eight"), (HBO) Larry Thomas as The Soup Nazi on Seinfeld (Episode: "The Soup Nazi"), (NBC) Harris Yulin as Jerome Belasco on Frasier (Episode: "A Word to the Wiseguy"), (NBC)	Betty White as Herself on The John Larroquette Show (Episode: "Here We Go Again"), (NBC) Shelley Long as Diane Chambers on Frasier (Episode: "The Show Where Diane Comes Back"), (NBC) Rosie O'Donnell as Herself on The Larry Sanders Show (Episode: "Eight"), (HBO) Marlo Thomas as Sandra Green on Friends (Episode: "The One with the Lesbian Wedding"), (NBC) Irene Worth as Mrs. Mellon on Remember WENN (Episode: "A Rock and A Soft Place"), (AMC)
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Peter Boyle as Clyde Bruckman on The X-Files (Episode: "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"), (Fox) Danny Glover as Phillip Marlowe on Fallen Angels (Episode: "Red Wind"), (Showtime) Michael Jeter as Bob Ryan on Chicago Hope (Episode: "A Coupla Stiffs"), (CBS) Richard Pryor as Joe Springer on Chicago Hope (Episode: "Stand"), (CBS) Rip Torn as Warren Shutt on Chicago Hope (Episode: "Hello Goodbye"), (CBS)	Amanda Plummer as Theresa Givens on The Outer Limits (Episode: "A Stitch in Time"), (Showtime) Louise Fletcher as Christine Bey on Picket Fences (Episode: "Bye Bye, Bey Bey"), (CBS) Penny Fuller as Mrs. Constantine on ER (Episode: "Welcome Back Carter"), (NBC) Carol Kane as Marguerite Birch on Chicago Hope (Episode: "Stand"), (CBS) Maureen Stapleton as Maggie MacPhee on Road to Avonlea (Episode: "What A Tangled Web We Weave"), (Disney) Lily Tomlin as Rose Halligan on Homicide: Life on the Street (Episode: "The Hat"), (NBC)

Directing[]

Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Comedy Series	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Drama Series
Michael Lembeck, for Friends (Episode: "The One After the Superbowl"), (NBC) Andy Ackerman for Seinfeld (Episode: "The Soup Nazi"), (NBC) James Burrows for 3rd Rock from the Sun (Episode: "Pilot"), (NBC) Todd Holland for The Larry Sanders Show (Episode: "Arthur After Hours"), (HBO) Michael Lehmann, for The Larry Sanders Show (Episode: "I Was a Teenage Lesbian"), (HBO)	Jeremy Kagan for Chicago Hope (Episode: "Leave of Absence"), (CBS) Christopher Chulack for ER (Episode: "Hell and High Water"), (NBC) Charles Haid for Murder One (Episode: "Chapter One"), (ABC) Mimi Leder for ER (Episode: "The Healers"), (NBC) Mark Tinker for NYPD Blue (Episode: "Blackboard Jungle"), (ABC)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Variety or Music Program	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Miniseries or a Special
Louis J. Horvitz for The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts, (CBS) Ellen Brown for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, (NBC) Jerry Foley for Late Show with David Letterman, (CBS) Michael Lindsay-Hogg for Marsalis on Music (Episode: "Sousa to Satchmo"), (PBS) Jeff Margolis for The 68th Annual Academy Awards, (ABC)	John Frankenheimer for Andersonville, (TNT) Paul Bogart for The Heidi Chronicles, (TNT) Charles Sturridge for Gulliver's Travels, (NBC) Betty Thomas for The Late Shift, (HBO) Peter Werner for Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story, (Lifetime)

Writing[]

Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Comedy Series	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Drama Series
Joe Keenan, Christopher Lloyd, Rob Greenberg, Jack Burditt, Chuck Ranberg, Anne Flett-Giordano, Linda Morris, Vic Rauseo for Frasier (Episode: "Moon Dance"), (NBC) Spike Feresten for Seinfeld (Episode: "The Soup Nazi"), (NBC) Maya Forbes, Steve Levitan, Garry Shandling for The Larry Sanders Show (Episode: "Roseanne's Return"), (HBO) Peter Tolan for The Larry Sanders Show (Episode: "Arthur After Hours"), (HBO) Jon Vitti for The Larry Sanders Show (Episode: "Hank's Sex Tape"), (HBO)	Darin Morgan for The X-Files (Episode: "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"), (Fox) Neal Baer for ER (Episode: "Hell and High Water"), (NBC) Steven Bochco, Charles H. Eglee, Channing Gibson, David Milch for Murder One (Episode: "Chapter One"), (ABC) David Mills, William L. Morris for NYPD Blue (Episode: "The Blackboard Jungle"), (ABC) John Wells for ER (Episode: "The Healers"), (NBC)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Miniseries or a Special
Dennis Miller Live, (HBO) Late Night with Conan O'Brien, (NBC) Late Show with David Letterman (Episode: "Video Special II"), (CBS) Politically Incorrect, (Comedy Central) Tracey Takes On..., (HBO)	Simon Moore for Gulliver's Travels, (NBC) Bill Carter, George Armitage for The Late Shift, (HBO) Andrew Davies for Pride and Prejudice, (A&E) Paris Qualles, Trey Ellis, Ron Hutchinson, Robert Williams, T. S. Cook for The Tuskegee Airmen, (HBO) Thomas Rickman for Truman, (HBO)

Most major nominations[]

By network ^{[note 1]}

• NBC – 45
• HBO – 35
• CBS – 27
• ABC – 19

By program

• The Larry Sanders Show (HBO) – 12
• ER (NBC) – 11
• Chicago Hope (CBS) / NYPD Blue (ABC) / Seinfeld (NBC) – 8
• Frasier (NBC) – 7

Most major awards[]

By network ^{[note 1]}

• NBC – 10
• CBS / HBO – 6
• ABC / Fox / TNT – 2

By program

• Dennis Miller Live (HBO) / Frasier (NBC) / Gulliver's Travels (NBC) / The Kennedy Center Honors (CBS)
  Picket Fences (CBS) / Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny (HBO) / The X-Files (Fox) – 2

Notes

In Memoriam[]

References[]

External links[]

• Emmys.com list of 1996 Nominees & Winners
• 48th Primetime Emmy Awards at IMDb