49th Primetime Emmy Awards


The 49th Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California in 1997. They were presented in two ceremonies hosted by Bryant Gumbel, one on Saturday, September 13 and another on Sunday, September 14. The September 14th ceremony was televised on CBS.
Frasier became the first series to win Outstanding Comedy Series four consecutive years, it joined Hill Street Blues which won Outstanding Drama Series four straight years a decade earlier. For the first time since 1979, James Burrows did not receive a Directing nomination, ending his run at 17 consecutive years. Beginning the following year, Burrows would begin a new streak that lasted another six years. In the drama field perennial nominee Law & Order won for its seventh season, the first time a show had won for this specific season. In winning Law & Order became the first drama series that did not have serialized story arcs since Hill Street Blues perfected the formula. Law & Order remains the only non-serialized winner since 1981.
Ratings champion ER also made Emmy history on the night, but not in the way it had hoped. ER came into the ceremony with 17 major nominations, the most on the night and, at that point, second most ever for a comedy or drama series. However, the series did not hear its name called, going 0/17 in major categories, smashing the record for largest shutout in major categories set by Northern Exposure in 1993, which went 0/11. ER won three Creative Arts awards to bring its total output to 3/21, this meant that Northern Exposure still held the title for worst total shutout with an 0/16 tally.
For the first time, not only did the Fox Network win the Lead Actress, Drama award, with Gillian Anderson, for The X-Files, but hers was also the network's first win in any of the Major Acting categories.
This ceremony marked the end of a 20-year residency for the Primetime Emmy Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium dating back to the 29th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1977 ceremony.
This is the most recent year in which the Big Four Networks took home the top 14 Emmys.

Winners and nominees

Programs

Outstanding Comedy SeriesOutstanding Drama Series

  • Law & Order,
  • * Chicago Hope,
  • * ER,
  • * NYPD Blue,
  • * The X-Files,
    • Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy SeriesOutstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special
  • Tracey Takes On...,
  • * Dennis Miller Live,
  • * Late Show with David Letterman,
  • * Politically Incorrect,
  • * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,
  • ,
  • * The 50th Annual Tony Awards,
  • * The 69th Annual Academy Awards,
  • * Bette Midler in Concert: Diva Las Vegas,
  • * ',
    • Outstanding Made for Television MovieOutstanding Miniseries
  • Miss Evers' Boys,
  • * Bastard out of Carolina,
  • * Gotti,
  • * If These Walls Could Talk,
  • * In the Gloaming,
  • Prime Suspect V: Errors of Judgement, '
  • * In Cold Blood,
  • * The Last Don,
  • * The Odyssey,
  • * The Shining'',

    • Acting

    Lead performances

    Supporting performances

    Guest performances

    Directing

    Writing

    Most major nominations

    ;By network
    ;By program
    ;By network
    ;By program
    ;Notes