The shut-out came as a bit of a shock, given the universal praise for creator/writer Joss Whedon's "death of Buffy's mom" episode, "The Body." (Last year, Whedon did win an out-of-left-field writing nomination for the episode "Hush.")

But, then, this is the Emmys we're talking about, the lamest awards show in the land. In writing, directing and acting, "Buffy" towered over every drama in primetime this season, with the exception of "The Sopranos," but the dust-covered relics who make these nominations can't get their heads around a show with "Vampire" in the title. Or maybe it's the "Buffy" part that throws them off.

Anyway, this was probably the last chance for "Buffy" and star Sarah Michelle Gellar to score a nomination; the show moves to UPN next season and if you think Emmy voters are snobs when it comes to the WB ...

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As for the shows that did get nominated Thursday, well, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences hardly needed to bother with an announcement -- it could have just dug up a tape of last year's nomination proceedings and hit rewind. On awards night last September, Emmy voters took a baby step forward, casting an uncharacteristically wide net and bestowing trophies on deserving first-timers like James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos," Patricia Heaton of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Allison Janney and Richard Schiff of "The West Wing." This year's nominations, though, show the academy members spinning their wheels in one of their familiar ruts.

The five nominees for best drama series are the same as least year: "ER" (NBC), "The Practice" (ABC), "Law & Order" (NBC), "The West Wing" (NBC) and "The Sopranos" (HBO). No "Buffy," of course, but then, no nods for highly-touted newcomers "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (CBS) or "Gilmore Girls" (WB), either, or for TV Guide's "best show you're not watching," "Once & Again" (ABC). Look, I'm no huge fan of those shows, but I'd take any two of them over "ER" and "The Practice," which had ridiculous seasons filled with improbable and mega-melodramatic storylines.

Not that "ER," "The Practice" or "Law & Order" have a prayer when the awards are handed out on CBS on Sept. 16. This is strictly between "The Sopranos," which leads all shows this year with a huge 22 nominations, and "The West Wing," which won a record nine Emmys last year, including best drama. And this time, it's personal: while "The West Wing" racked up Emmy after Emmy last year, "The Sopranos," nominated for 18 awards, won only one, the best lead actor trophy for Gandolfini (Tony Soprano).

This year, "The Sopranos" and "West Wing" go one-on-one in the directing and writing categories. "The Sopranos" has the edge over "West Wing": David Chase's mob series outdrew Aaron Sorkin's White House drama three nominations to two for directing and a whopping four nominations to one in the writing category.

The "Sopranos" episodes nominated for the writing Emmy are "Second Opinion" (Carmela sees a shrink), "Pine Barrens" (Paulie and Christopher's dark night of the soul), "Amour Fou" (Tony and Gloria's affair gets messy) and "Employee of the Month" (Dr. Melfi is raped). "West Wing" gets its writing nod for the assassination-attempt episode, "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen."

The impressive showing for "The Sopranos" is a surprise, considering the amount of criticism the show took this season for its supposed offensive stereotyping of Italian Americans and its violent and allegedly misogynistic storylines. The season's most controversial episode, "University," in which Ralph Cifaretto beat his pregnant girlfriend to death in a graphic depiction of his profound rottenness, received a nomination for director Allen Coulter. And Emmy voters rewarded the women of "The Sopranos" handsomely for their troubles. In addition to Edie Falco (Carmela) and Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Melfi) earning best actress nods for their emotionally shattering work, Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano) received a best supporting actress nomination and Annabella Sciorra, who played Gloria, Tony's difficult mistress, earned a nod in the guest actress category.

The supporting actor category is all "Sopranos" and "West Wing" as well, with last year's "West Wing" winner, Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler), joined by castmates Bradley Whitford (Josh Lyman) and John Spencer (Leo McGarry), and "Sopranos" actors Dominic Chianese (Junior Soprano) and Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti). I would have knocked off Uncle Junior and gone with Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts) for his fine work in the "Pine Barrens" episode, where spiffy and smooth Paulie becomes slowly unhinged with paranoia, but whaddaya gonna do?

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