About the best thing to be said for Sunday's seemingly endless Emmy Awards show on Fox was that Britney Spears did not make an appearance.

For the 59th edition of the TV awards-giving blowout, instead of a dazed pop starlet, we got "American Idol's" ubiquitous Ryan Seacrest. I'm not sure that qualifies as trading up.

Not surprisingly, the night served up some wins for "The Sopranos," the HBO show that has often dominated the Emmys since its 1999 debut; it took home awards for best drama, writing and directing.

The Emmys spread the love around a bit, with Second City veteran Tina Fey picking up a best comedy award for her freshman series "30 Rock." "Grey's Anatomy," "The Office" and "My Name Is Earl" also won Emmys, and Chicago's Jeremy Piven got another supporting actor award for his work in "Entourage."

Beyond the wins, there were plenty of low points in the three-hour, 11-minute broadcast.

As Fox grappled with a series of winners who swore onstage, viewers were treated to strange cutaway shots of a disco ball high above the theater.

Sally Field got the longest bleep of the night when she said that "if mothers ruled the world, there would be no more (expletive) war."

Told backstage that she had been bleeped, Field responded: "Oh, well. I've been there before. Well, good. I don't care. I have no comment other than, Oh, well.' I said what I wanted to say. I wanted to pay homage to the mothers of the world, and let their work be seen and valued." Pressed for more comment, she said: "I think I probably shouldn't have said the God in front of the.

"I would have liked to have said more bleeped-out words."

Some highlights and lowlights from Sunday's Emmy death march:

Most honestly tender moment: The montage of late-night talk-show hosts paying tribute to the passing of Tom Snyder, a presence who will truly be missed. Can you imagine Snyder hosting the Emmys? Now that would have been must-see TV.

Embarrassing goof No. 1: During a rather pointless comedy routine by presenter Ray Romano, the camera cut away to that strange angle and the sound went out, apparently because of a saucy line or two from Romano.

Embarrassing goof No. 2: An announcer mispronounced "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl's name (as high-jell) as she took the stage.

Embarrassing goof No. 3: Although Fox muted the sound, it was obvious Heigl said a profanity when her name was announced as best supporting actress in a drama. But she quickly recovered by giving an entertaining speech in which she said her own mother had predicted that she "didn't have a shot in hell." At least, though, she pointed out, that time the announcer got her name right. (It's pronounced High-gull.)

Best decision by an Emmy winner: Judy Davis, who won as best supporting actress in a miniseries for "The Starter Wife." She didn't bother showing up.

Most deserved tribute: The standing ovation for the cast of "The Sopranos."

Best rant: Lewis Black screaming about promotional bugs appearing onscreen during TV shows. "Here's a message from all the viewers: We don't care about the next show!" Black yelled.

Grossest joke: Count on Brad Garrett to say crass and unprintable things. Trust me, you don't want to hear the liberty he took with the name of the miniseries "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Most honest statement: Broadway legend Elaine Stritch struggled to read her TelePrompTer at one point, and her ad-lib could have served as the broadcast's slogan: "I'm not faking this; I really don't know what the hell I'm doing."

— Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services