The Mafia family drama The Sopranos claimed 22 Emmy nominations yesterday to 18 for White House show The West Wing, setting up what looks to be a rematch of last year's rivalry for television's top awards.
Each show was nominated for favourite drama by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences which hands out the Emmys, and were joined by legal favourites The Practice, Law and Order and hospital programme, ER.
Will & Grace was joined in the best comedy grouping by long-running shows Everybody Loves Raymond and Frasier and more recent programmes, Malcolm in the Middle and Sex and the City.
Nominees for best actor in a drama included last year's winner, James Gandolfini, who plays Mafia boss Tony Soprano in The Sopranos.
He faces a tough battle with two stars from West Wing - Martin Sheen, who portrays US President Josiah Bartlet, and Rob Lowe as White House official Sam Seaborn. Joining the group are Emmy veteran Dennis Franz for NYPD Blue and Andre Braugher for medical drama Gideon's Crossing.
The Sopranos claimed two of the nominations for best actress in a drama, one for Edie Falco and the other for Lorraine Bracco. Also in the category were Sela Ward for Once and Again, Amy Brenneman for Judging Amy and Marg Helgenberger in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.