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FMS FEATURE...

July 16, 2009
Emmy Music Nominations Announced
Categories brimful of previous winners, double noms by Jon Burlingame

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—Sean Callery, William Ross and Justin Timberlake scored double Emmy nominations among the 2008-09 Emmy honors, announced today by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Callery, who has won twice (out of six nominations) for his music for Fox's 24, managed dual honors for two more 24 scores – in the "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)" category and in the "Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or Special" category for the 24 movie Redemption.

Ross, who won in 2007 for his music direction of the Academy Awards, was nominated for his music direction on CBS's Streisand: The Concert special as well as for "Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics" (the song category) for Hugh Jackman's opening number at this year's Oscars (shared with three other composers and lyricists).

Timberlake, who won in 2007 for his controversial Saturday Night Live song "Dick in a Box," was nominated for his lyrics for two more TV songs: "I Love Sports" at the 2008 ESPYs on ESPN and for "Motherlover" on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Several members of the "Box" team were also nominated for one or the other.

A number of previous Emmy winners have a shot at another statuette: John Williams (who has four, including two for TV-movies and two for his Olympics music) was nominated for "Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music" for his new Great Performances signature.

Two TV veterans each received their 29th nomination in music categories: Eleven-time winner Ian Fraser, for his music direction on the annual Christmas in Washington special on TNT; and two-time winner Alf Clausen, for the "Gone Maggie Gone" episode of Fox's The Simpsons.

Four-time winner Jeff Beal was nominated for his score for the CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame film Loving Leah; and perennial bridesmaid Mark Snow received his 15th Emmy nomination, so far without a win, for an episode of CBS's The Ghost Whisperer. David Michael Frank received his fourth Emmy nod for his theme for ABC's The Mole, while Rachel Portman received her second nomination for HBO's acclaimed made-for-cable film Grey Gardens.

Veteran singer-songwriter Paul Williams received his second nomination for a Muppet special, for his song score for NBC's A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa; his previous nomination was for the now-classic 1981 Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. In the music-direction category, Harold Wheeler received his third Emmy nod for ABC's Dancing With the Stars, Rickey Minor a third for CBS's telecast of the Grammy Awards, and Rob Mathes, his second for CBS's Kennedy Center Honors.

Joe LoDuca received his 10th Emmy nomination for an episode of the syndicated Legend of the Seeker series. And the songwriting team for HBO's Flight of the Conchords – James Bobin, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement – repeated with another nomination this year for the song "Carol Brown."

Among composers receiving their first Emmy recognition were Oscar winner Gabriel Yared (The English Patient), for his pilot score for HBO's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency; Robert Duncan (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) for the first episode of ABC's Castle; veteran British composer Howard Goodall (Blackadder, Red Dwarf) for HBO's Winston Churchill movie Into the Storm; veteran BBC composer John Lunn (Bleak House) for PBS's Little Dorrit; and Marcelo Zarvos (Kissing Jessica Stein) for HBO's film Taking Chance.

Composers who were much talked-about this year but failed to secure a nomination included Michael Giacchino for Lost and Bear McCreary for Battlestar Galactica.

The complete list of music nominees follows:

Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)
  • Sean P. Callery – 24 episode "7:00AM - 8:00AM"
  • Alf H. Clausen – The Simpsons episode "Gone Maggie Gone"
  • Robert Duncan – Castle episode "Flowers From Your Grave"
  • Joe LoDuca – Legend of the Seeker episode "Prophecy"
  • Mark Snow – Ghost Whisperer episode "Leap of Faith"
  • Gabriel Yared – The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Pilot
Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
(Original Dramatic Score)
  • Jeff Beal – Loving Leah
  • Sean P. Callery – 24: Redemption
  • Howard Goodall – Into the Storm
  • John Lunn – Little Dorrit, Part 5
  • Rachel Portman – Grey Gardens
  • Marcelo Zarvos – Taking Chance
Outstanding Music Direction
  • Ian Fraser – Christmas in Washington
  • Rob Mathes and Rob Berman – The Kennedy Center Honors
  • Rickey Minor – The 51st Annual Grammy Awards
  • William Ross – Streisand: The Concert
  • Harold Wheeler – Dancing With the Stars
Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics
  • "Carol Brown" from Flight of the Conchords episode "Unnatural Love"
    Music and lyrics by James Bobin, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement
  • "Hugh Jackman Opening Number" from The 81st Annual Academy Awards
    Music by William Ross and John Kimbrough
    Lyrics by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab
  • "I Love Sports" from The 2008 ESPYS
    Music by Katresse Barnes
    Lyrics by Justin Timberlake, Steve Higgins, Alex Baze, Rachel Hamilton, Kevin Miller, Jonathan Drubner and Dave Drabik
  • "I Wish I Could Be Santa Claus" from A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa
    Music and lyrics by Paul Williams
  • "Motherlover" from Saturday Night Live episode host Justin Timberlake
    Music by Asa Taccone and Drew Campbell
    Lyrics by Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake
  • "Much Worse Things" from A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All
    Music by Adam Schlesinger
    Lyrics by David Javerbaum
Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
  • Tim Delaughter – United States of Tara
  • David Michael Frank – The Mole
  • Bill Sherman – Storymakers
  • Bob Thiele (music and lyrics), Dave Kushner (music), Curtis Stigers (lyrics) and Kurt Sutter (lyrics) – Sons of Anarchy Pilot
  • John Williams – Great Performances
©2009 Jon Burlingame
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