DATE: Sunday, September 14, 1997            TAG: 9709130128

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:  151 lines

JOB AS EMMY HOST PUTS GUMBEL CONVENIENTLY IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Excuse me for being Mr. Cynic here, but I think it's more than a coincidence that CBS picked Bryant Gumbel to host the ``49th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards'' just 17 days before he launches a newsmagazine for guess what network.

C . . . B . . . S . . .

The man says he can't sing, dance or tell a joke without stumbling over the punch line. So why was Gumbel selected over the likes of Paul Reiser, Garry Shandling, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell to host a program that is the television industry's bright and shining moment?

He doesn't have a clue.

``When I got the word, I was surprised with a capital `S,' '' Gumbel said in a recent interview.

Yes, it crossed Gumbel's mind that having his face before a huge prime-time audience (620 million viewers in 90 countries) for three hours could give a teensy-weensy boost to ``Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel,'' which is competing with ``The Drew Carey Show'' and ``3rd Rock from the Sun.''

But no, he doesn't think that CBS gave him the job of hosting the show that starts tonight at 8 just to give his new series a jump start. ``That would have been unseemly of CBS,'' Gumbel said.

He went so far as to ask the network to go easy on promoting ``Public Eye'' during station breaks. ``I don't want to see a bunch of `Public Eye' promos.''

In the next breath, Gumbel acknowledged that hosting the Emmys, in which cable is expected to beat the beejeebers out of the broadcast networks, is not exactly bad for ``Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel.''

``One will wash the other,'' he said.

As for Gumbel's appearances between the moments when the Emmys are passed out, here in his own words is what he will not do: ``I won't become a comedian overnight. I won't come out there and do a side-splitting, gut-wrenching stand-up act. Don't expect guffaws.''

Fine. So, what will Gumbel do when the telecast begins from the Pasadena, Calif., Civic Auditorium?

``I'll frame the evening in the appropriate light.''

And how will he do that?

``Don't press me for details.''

In case you're counting, the Emmys will be presented in 28 categories with Home Box Office (90 nominations) and NBC (89 nominations) most likely to have the most to boast about on Monday morning. ``ER,'' the winner as outstanding drama series a year ago, has 22 nominations in 1997 - 62 in all since ``ER'' premiered four seasons ago.

Gumbel acknowledged that not so very long ago, the Emmy did not carry the prestige of the Oscar, Tony and Grammy. It was the show biz award that was made to sit at the small folding table with the kids.

No longer.

With the quality that came as cable grew - more than 70 percent of the homes in Hampton Roads are hooked up - and the deep involvement of movie studios and movie stars in television, the Emmys have become huge.

If they weren't huge, would E! Entertainment Television be putting on ``The 1997 Live Emmy Award Pre-Show'' Sunday night at 6 with 15 cameras?

``Once, it was hip not to be part of the Emmys,'' Gumbel said.

``Today, people are anxious to be seen at the ceremonies, anxious to be nominated and win.

``And I will admit there is a certain amount of prestige in hosting. I wouldn't be human if I didn't look in the mirror and say, `I'm hosting the Emmys. Me.' ''

Here is how your humble columnist picks the Emmys:

OUTSTANDING DRAMA - ``Chicago Hope,'' ``ER,'' ``Law & Order,'' ``The X-Files,'' ``NYPD Blue.''

Who should win - ``Law & Order.'' Cast members come and go. No matter. It is TV's consistently best drama.

Who will win - The truth is out there. ``The X-Files'' finally connects with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' older votes.

OUTSTANDING COMEDY - ``Frasier,'' ``The Larry Sanders Show,'' ``Seinfeld,'' ``3rd Rock from the Sun,'' ``Mad About You.''

Who should win - ``The Larry Sanders Show.'' After 46 nominations, it's due to win the big one. Satire is rare on TV. Great satire is the pearl in the oyster.

Who will win - ``Seinfeld.'' The industry pays homage to a sitcom that's made many people very rich.

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS, DRAMA - Gillian Anderson (``The X-Files''), Roma Downey (``Touched by an Angel''), Christine Lahti (``Chicago Hope''), Julianna Margulies and Sherry Stringfield (``ER'').

Who should win - Lahti. Was there any emotion she didn't portray last season as Dr. Kate Austin?

Who will win - Downey in an upset.

OUTSTANDING ACTOR, DRAMA - David Duchovny (``The X-Files''), Anthony Edwards (``ER''), Dennis Franz and Jimmy Smits (``NYPD Blue''), Sam Waterston (``Law & Order'').

Who should win - Edwards. He's achieved the goal to which all actors aspire. Edwards makes you forget he's acting the part of Dr. Mark Greene.

Who will win - Edwards.

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS, COMEDY - Ellen DeGeneres (``Ellen''), Fran Drescher (``The Nanny''), Helen Hunt (``Mad About You''), Patricia Richardson (``Home Improvement''), Cybill Shepherd (``Cybill'').

Who should win - Richardson as sexy, smart Jill Taylor after three nominations. It's not easy being Tim Allen's straight man. He can bowl you over.

Who will win - Hunt. Hollywood loves her.

OUTSTANDING ACTOR, COMEDY - Michael J. Fox (``Spin City''), Kelsey Grammer (``Frasier''), John Lithgow (``3rd Rock from the Sun''), Paul Reiser (``Mad About You''), Garry Shandling (``The Larry Sanders Show'').

Who should win - Lithgow. As Dick Solomon, he does one-liners and physical comedy and does them well.

Who will win - Shandling. After 15 nominations (for this and his previous show), it's about time.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA - Kim Delaney (``NYPD Blue''), Laura Innes, CCH Pounder and Gloria Reuben (``ER''), Della Reese (``Touched by an Angel'').

Who should win - Reuben. Her character, Jeanie Boulet, shows there is life, and a good life, after AIDS.

Who will win - Reuben.

SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA - Adam Arkin and Hector Elizondro (``Chicago Hope''), Eriq LaSalle and Noah Wyle (``ER''), Nicholas Turturro (``NYPD Blue'').

Who should win - LaSalle. One magazine called his Dr. Benton character the best bastard on TV. He's that - all power.

Who will win - LaSalle. Now maybe they'll put his picture on the cover of TV Guide.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY - Christine Baranski (``Cybill''), Janeane Garofalo (``The Larry Sanders Show''), Kristen Johnson (``3rd Rock from the Sun''), Lisa Kudrow (``Friends''), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (``Seinfeld'').

Who should win - Louis-Dreyfus. She was pregnant last season but her character, Elaine Benes, wasn't. Under those trying circumstances, Louis-Dreyfus was never better.

Who will win - Louis-Dreyfus.

OUTSTANDING MINISERIES - ``In Cold Blood,'' ``The Last Don,'' ``Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement,'' ``The Odyssey,'' ``Stephen King's The Shining.''

Who should win - ``Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgment.'' Another triumph for Helen Mirren, who's up for an Emmy as lead actress in a miniseries.

Who will win - ``Prime Suspect 5.'' Can you believe it? Hollywood is making a ``Prime Suspect'' film without Mirren.

OUTSTANDING MADE FOR TELEVISION MOVIE - ``Bastard Out of Carolina,'' Showtime; ``Gotti,'' HBO; ``If These Walls Could Talk,'' HBO; ``In the Gloaming,'' HBO, ``Miss Evers' Boys,'' HBO.

Who should win - ``Miss Evers' Boys'' in a category dominated by cable, which meant no nominations for NBC's ``Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?''

Who will win - ``Miss Evers' Boys'' despite sentiment for Christopher Reeves' debut as a director in ``In the Gloaming.'' In ``Miss Evers' Boys,'' HBO revived the story of injustices done to black men in a government-sponsored medical ``study'' at Tuskegee Institute decades ago.

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES - ``Dennis Miller Live,'' ``Late Show with David Letterman,'' ``Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher,'' ``The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,'' ``Tracey Takes On . . . ''

Who should win - Tracey Ullman for her HBO series in which she's the woman of a thousand faces and voices.

Who will win - Maher. He's Hollywood hip.

Bring on Bryant Gumbel. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Gumbel

ASSOCIATED PRESS photos

Gary Shandling and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, pictured at previous awards

shows, are nominated again.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu