53rd Primetime Emmy Awards

53rd Primetime Emmy Awards
Date	November 4, 2001 (Ceremony) September 8, 2001 (Creative Arts Awards)
Location	Shubert Theatre, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (ceremony) Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (Creative Arts Awards)
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hosted by	Ellen DeGeneres
Highlights
Most awards	The West Wing (4)
Most nominations	The Sopranos (14)
Outstanding Comedy Series	Sex and the City
Outstanding Drama Series	The West Wing
Outstanding Miniseries	Anne Frank: The Whole Story
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series	Late Show with David Letterman
Website	http://www.emmys.com/
Television/radio coverage
Network	CBS
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The 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, November 4, 2001, seven weeks later than originally scheduled. The ceremony was rescheduled twice from its original date of September 16 at the Shrine Auditorium because of the September 11th attacks that occurred five days prior to the event. It was also removed from its rescheduled date of October 7 again at the same venue as a result of the start of the War in Afghanistan. The event was then relocated to the smaller Shubert Theater, which had previously hosted the 1973 and 1976 ceremonies, and would be demolished in 2002. The ceremony was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and was broadcast on CBS.

Barbra Streisand sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" in a surprise appearance at the close, in honor of the victims of the attacks.^[1]

Sex and the City became the first premium channel show to win Outstanding Comedy Series; this was its only major award. The NBC cult hit Freaks and Geeks accomplished a rare feat: though it only ran for one season, it was nominated in two different years for writing. Frasier, now in its eighth season, earned its final Outstanding Comedy Series nomination after eight consecutive nominations including five consecutive wins (seasons 1–5).

The episode "Bowling" made Malcolm in the Middle just the second show, and first comedy, to have two different episodes win awards for directing and writing. The Defenders was the first show to do this in 1963 and 1965. (Specific episodes were not nominated in the comedy categories until the late 1960s). Game of Thrones would also achieve this in 2015 and 2016.

For his portrayal of John Cage in Ally McBeal, Peter MacNicol won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, the first in this category for Fox and the first in this category for any show outside the Big Three television networks.

In the drama field, The West Wing won Outstanding Drama Series for its second straight year and led all shows with four major awards on the night. The Sopranos led all shows with 14 major nominations and was second to The West Wing with three major wins.

Mike Nichols' win made him the ninth person to become an EGOT winner.