'West Wing' has the power when it comes to awards

TV Critic: The West Wing was the big winner at this year's Emmy awards, held in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

The TV industry's version of the Oscars handed the political series the title of best drama for the third year running, while its cast walked away with several awards.

It also proved to be a good year for Friends - named best comedy series for the first time - and for British actor Albert Finney. His portrayal of Winston Churchill in The Gathering Storm won him an outstanding actor prize.

The night's biggest surprise was the snubbing of Six Feet Under. The much-touted drama, following a family of undertakers, had secured 23 nominations yet failed to win a single award.

Perhaps benefiting from an increased patriotism following September 11th, as well as the absence of The Sopranos this year, The West Wing won four awards.

John Spencer took a best supporting award for his role as White House chief-of-Staff, Leo McGarry, while Allison Janney - she plays press secretary C.J. Cregg - was named outstanding actress in a drama series.

Stockard Channing won two supporting actress awards, including one for her role as The West Wing's first lady.

Jennifer Aniston, who plays Rachel Green in Friends, was considered best comedy actress. Her husband, Brad Pitt, who made a cameo on the show last year, lost out as outstanding guest in a comedy.

The other big comedy winner was ratings-topper Everybody Loves Raymond, which took three awards.

Tom Hanks was among the eight directors recognised for their work on the epic second World War mini-series Band of Brothers. Hanks, who also co-produced the series with Steven Spielberg, accepted the prize with magnanimity. "All we did was bring to fiction what happened in history - it is our great pleasure."

Band of Brothers was also voted best mini-series, while The Gathering Storm was best TV movie.

There were also awards for the ground-breaking series 24, which won an outstanding writing award, and for cult comedy Sex In The City, which was rewarded for outstanding directing.

September 11th was acknowledged with the handing of the variety, music or comedy special award to America: A Tribute to Heroes, a song and dance telethon which raised millions for survivors of the attacks.