ALEC BALDWIN - CABLE TRIUMPHS AT EMMYS

It was a big night for cable TV at the Emmys Sunday night as AMC's Mad Men won for best drama series (the first basic-cable program to take the award) and HBO's John Adams won in 13 categories, the most for any show, including best miniseries. NBC's 30 Rock took the award for best comedy series, with its two stars, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, winning the best comedy actress and actor trophies. Actors appearing in cable shows took the drama awards, Glenn Close for the FX series Damages, and Bryan Cranston for the AMC series Breaking Bad . Commenting on the success of so many cable shows at this year's Emmys, Los Angeles Times TV columnist Scott Collins observed that "cable could easily corner the market on 'quality' programming." The telecast received some of its worst ratings ever -- never rising about second place in any half-hour period. It averaged a 9.5 rating and a 15 share.

22/09/2008