Cutting-room floor

HBO was the big winner again at this year's Emmy Awards. The cable network had a record 109 nominations and won 18 Emmys. CBS came in second with 16 awards; Fox, which aired the ceremony, came away with nothing. Past award winners were again at the top of the heap: The West Wing won for best drama series, and The Sopranos took home several acting, writing, and directing awards. Everybody Loves Raymond won the comedy series award for the first time.

Emmy award-winning actor Kelsey Grammer is the latest Hollywood celebrity to "come out of the closet"-as a conservative, that is. He appeared on both MSNBC and the Fox News Channel last week to talk about what it's like to be a Republican in Hollywood. He suggested that he may one day run for the U.S. Senate in California.

Two NBC affiliates-in Salt Lake City, Utah, and South Bend, Ind.-have refused to air the network's new fall sitcom, Coupling, because of objectionable content. A spokesman for the University of Notre DameÐowned WNDU-TV said that the show's humor "push[es] the envelope well beyond the boundaries of our community's standards."

Not to be outdone by Mel Gibson in the controversy department, director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Matchstick Men) will reportedly soon begin work in Morocco on a film about the Crusades. In an interview with the San Bernardino County Sun, Mr. Scott says that at least one of the film's heroes will be the Muslim leader Saladin.