“The Sopranos” staked out record-setting turf Monday with four of its episodes receiving Directors Guild of America nominations for dramatic series night for 1999.
Only the pilot episode of NBC’s “The West Wing,” directed by Thomas Schlamme, stood in the way of a clean sweep of the category by the HBO series. All four “Sopranos” directors — Daniel Attias for “46 Long”; Henry J. Bronchtein, “Nobody Knows Anything”; David Chase, the series’ pilot; and Allen Coulter, “College” — were first-time nominees.
“The Sopranos” eclipsed the previous record held by “ER” and “Hill Street Blues” for most nominations earned in one year by a series in a single category. “ER” received three nominations for dramatic series night and one in the movies for television category in 1994; “Hill Street Blues” took three nods each in 1981 and 1983, years in which the DGA made only three noms in the category.
With the powerful showing by “The Sopranos,” HBO dominated nominations with six of a possible 15. The cable network also took a nod for Victoria Hochberg with her “The Man, the Myth, the Viagra” episode for “Sex and the City” in the comedy series category and for Dennie A. Gordon with “Tracey Takes On … End of the World” in the musical variety category.
NBC took four nominations, with three in comedy series — two for “Frasier,” with Pamela Fryman, “The Night Before Christmas,” and Katy Garretson, “Dr. Nora”; and one for James Burrows for the “Yours, Mine, Ours” episode of “Will & Grace.”
The network’s “Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary,” directed by Beth McCarthy Miller, received a nomination in the musical variety category.
Schlamme received two nominations Monday, with his second coming for the “Small Town” episode of ABC’s “Sports Night” in the comedy series category, which he won last year for the “Sports Night” pilot. He also received nominations in 1996 and 1997 in the category for “Tracey Takes On.”
Burrows’ nomination was his 16th. His previous noms were for the “Frasier,” “Will & Grace” and “Dharma and Greg” pilots; 10 “Cheers” episodes; and one each for “Friends” and “Taxi.” Hochberg has received three other DGA noms, while Fryman has two. Garretson is the only first-timer in the category.
Besides the “Saturday Night Live” and “Tracey Takes On” specials, musical variety category nominees included Gerard Foley for CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman,” Rob Marshall for ABC’s “Annie” and Louis J. Horvitz for ABC’s “71st Annual Academy Awards.” It was the sixth DGA nom for Horvitz and the second for Foley, while Gordon, Marshall and Miller are first-timers.
The DGA announced film nominations two weeks ago and is scheduled to release the commercials candidates today, followed by daytime serials and children’s programming nominations on Feb. 15. Winners will be announced March 11 at the 52nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
DGA nominations recognize the director’s entire team. A complete list follows:
Dramatic Series Night
Daniel Attias, “The Sopranos”: unit production manager, Henry J. Bronchtein, Alene Landress; first assistant director, Mark McGann; second assistant director, Michelle L. Keiser.
Henry J. Bronchtein, “The Sopranos”: unit production manager, Ilene S. Landress; first assistant director, Mark McgGann; second assistant director, Michelle L. Keiser.
David Chase, “The Sopranos”: unit production manager, Alysse Bezahler; first assistant director, Henry J. Bronchtein; second assistant director, Kenneth G. Brown.
Allen Coulter, “The Sopranos”: unit production manager, Henry J. Bronchtein; first assistant director, Michale DeCasper; second assistant director, Kristin Cameron-Bernstein.
Thomas Schlamme, “The West Wing”: unit production manager, Jean Higgins; first assistant director, Tony Adler; second assistant director, Brian Charles Bettwy.
Comedy Series
James Burrows, “Will & Grace”: unit production manager-first assistant director: Dale White; second assistant director, Caryn Rae Shick; technical coordinator, Russell D. Sherman.
Pamela Fryman, “Frasier”: unit production manager, Bill Carroll; first assistant director, Katy Garreston, second assistant director, Mark Stirdivant; technical coordinator, Jim Rose.
Katy Garretson, “Frasier”: unit production manager, Bill Carroll; first assistant director, Mark Stirdivant; second assistant director, Jerri Churchill; technical coordinator, Jim Rose.
Victoria Hochberg, “Sex and the City”: unit production manager, Jane Raab; first assistant director, Mark McGann; second assistant director, Michelle L. Keiser.
Thomas Schlamme, “Sports Night”: unit production manager, Bruce Chevillat; first assistant director, Keri McIntyre; second assistant director, Nicole Burke.
Musical variety
Gerard Foley, “Late Show With David Letterman”: associate directors, Randi Grossnack, Jessica Santini; stage managers, James “Biff” Henderson, Arthur “Corky” Ramirez, Frank Comito.
Dennie A. Gordon, “Tracey Takes On … End of the World”: unit production manager, Stewart Lyons; first assistant director, Carol L. Vitkay; second assistant director, Nina Halvorsen.
Louis J. Horvitz, “71st Annual Academy Awards”: associate directors, James Tanker, Christine Clark, Kathleen Marie Fortine, Allen Kartun, Timothy Kettle, Michael Polito, Sharon Taylor; stage managers, Garry W. Hood, Dency Nelson, Denny Barry, Steve Burgess, Rita Cossette, Mervin Hawkins, Alissa Levisohn, Peter M. Margolis, Gary Natoli, Vincent Poxon, Jason Seligman, Doug Smith, Ken Stein, David Wader , Debbie Williams.
Rob Marshall, “Annie”: unit production manager, John Whitman; first assistant director, Yudi Bennett; second assistant director.
Beth McCarthy Miller, “Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary”: associate directors, Robert Caminiti, Ingrid Behrens, Mark Jankeloff, Axel Coen, Christopher Dalrymple, Martin M. Brumbach, Thomas A. Behrens; stage managers, Robert N. Van Ry, Gena Rose Rositano, Joseph L. Disco, Christopher Joseph Kelly.
