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The Sopranos, Best Drama Series?

Tony Soprano's fate may remain a mystery, but he is almost certain to muscle his way back into the Emmy race one last time when nominations for US television's highest honors are unsealed today.

HBO's celebrated mob saga The Sopranos, which ended its six-season run last month with a famously ambiguous blackout, is heavily favored to grab one of five nominations in the contest for best drama series, the title it claimed back in 2004.

Some pundits have said the gangster drama is a shoo-in to win, thanks largely to the media hype leading up to its finale and the outpouring of debate over the meaning of its fill-in-the-blank conclusion.

"It will dominate the nominations, and it will no doubt win," says Ray Richmond, a TV columnist and critic for the Hollywood Reporter.

If Richmond's prediction comes true, it would mark the first time in Emmy history a drama series has won the top prize after leaving prime time, according to Tom O'Neil, host of the Los Angeles Times entertainment award site, TheEnvelope.com.

He said the only other post-finale Emmy winners for best series have been comedies - among them Everybody Loves Raymond, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Barney Miller.

Emmy watchers say the biggest contenders for the four remaining best-drama slots include the 2005 champion, ABC castaway mystery Lost, and two hit medical shows nominated last year - Grey's Anatomy from ABC and House on Fox.

Film society to salute Gerard Depardieu

French actor Gerard Depardieu (pictured) will be honored at this year's salute by the Film Society of the Lincoln Center, which recognizes the extraordinary careers of distinguished film artists each year.

About 20 of Depardieu's films will be shown from Aug 3-19 as part of the tribute, including his Academy Award-nominated role as the literary hero in Cyrano de Bergerac.

"Depardieu's to European cinema in the '70s what Brando was to American cinema in the '50s," Kent Jones, associate director of programming at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, says in a statement.

"He was able to connect to and represent the whole gamut of European males: tough guy, stud, intellectual, bourgeois, anarchic rebel, hedonist."

Jones said Depardieu, 58, was also an emblematic figure in American movie-going, seen by anyone with adventurous tastes in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

"Doing this series now is not just saluting him, its saluting an era of movie-going."

He has won a list of awards during the career including a Cannes Film Festival acting award, an Oscar nomination for Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), and twice won France's Cesar Award for Best Actor.

OK Computer turns 10, evokes nostalgia

It's been 10 years since Radiohead (pictured) released OK Computer, and no album since has been "fitter, happier or more productive".

Appropriately, the anniversary of Radiohead's dystopic vision of an automated future is being best celebrated online. After all, the Internet is filled with dudes who "talk in maths", as Thom Yorke sang on Karma Police.

To commemorate OK Computer, the music blog Stereogum.com commissioned a full cover album: OKX: A Tribute to "OK Computer", (http://www.stereogum.com/okx/Stereogum). The site turned to a dozen indie acts and buzzed-about artists the sort of bands the site likes to hype to put their spin on the album's 12 tracks. Among them are Cold War Kids, My Brightest Diamond, Twilight Sad, John Vanderslice, David Bazan and others.

Agencies

(China Daily 07/19/2007 page18)