Alliance Atlantis Communications has put on a show of prominence among the 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards nominees, and not just by Canadian standards.

With 26 nominations spanning five programs, the Toronto house tops the list of multiple nods, coming in just short of The Sopranos (22) and The West Wing (18), with 13 nominations for Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (a copro with IN-Motion AG, in association with Story Line Entertainment).

‘We have a certain size, scope and penetration, so it’s not a huge surprise that we [cornered the Canadian market for nominations],’ says Peter Sussman, AAC’s president of television production. ‘Anyway, we don’t tend to hold ourselves up against other Canadians. We think in terms of how we did compared to everyone else, like AOL Time Warner…’

In the miniseries category alone, AAC picked up two of the five nominations with Life With Judy Garland and Nuremberg (a copro with Productions La Fete, in association with TNT, British American Entertainment and Cypress Films), which garnered a total of four nominations.

AAC series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation also picked up four Emmy nods, with Holocaust miniseries Haven (a copro with Citadel Entertainment, in association with Paulette Breen Productions) grabbing three and tennis-match miniseries When Billie Beat Bobby (produced in association with Cherry Alley Productions) scoring two.

‘We have a lot of passion for miniseries,’ says Sussman. ‘We like to tell stories that are entertaining yet weighty, and miniseries tend to draw on those things because of the size, scope and money allocated to them. Projects that are twice the time tend to get three times the money, so it’s an attractive place to be.

‘Also, more and more TV is going the route of motion pictures, where projects either have to be event-like or cheap cooking shows, and nothing in the middle.’ The synthesis: ‘Miniseries keep us engaged creatively and have proved to be smart in the business world. They help us stick out in the 500-channel universe.’

Outside of the AAC nominations, few Canadian projects received much primetime Emmy attention this year, with the exception of The Awful Truth with Michael Moore, which garnered a nod in the non-fiction program category. The comedic doc series, although not homegrown, is produced by Dog Eat Dog Films in coproduction with Salter Street Films – now, of course, owned by AAC. Salter Street principal Michael Donovan exec produces the series.

Category nominations for Life With Judy Garland, reminiscent of AAC’s 13 nominations for miniseries Joan of Arc in 1999, include: miniseries (exec producer Sussman, producers John Ryan and Robert L. Freedman); directing for a miniseries, movie or special, for Robert Allan Ackerman; writing for a miniseries or movie, for teleplay writer Robert L. Freedman; lead actress in a miniseries or movie, for Judy Davis; supporting actor in a miniseries or movie, for Victor Garber; supporting actress in a miniseries or movie, for Tammy Blanchard; casting for a miniseries, movie or special, for Toronto casting exec Tina Gerussi, as well as casting execs Mary V. Buck and Susan Edelman; cinematography for a miniseries or movie, for DOP James Chressanthis; single-camera picture editing for a miniseries, movie or special, for editor Dody Dorn; costumes, for costume designer Dona Granata; hairstyling, for Andrea Traunmueller and Marie-Ange Ripka; and makeup, for Pamela Roth.

‘Hopefully, this 13 doesn’t share the same fate as the 13 nominations for Joan of Arc, which, if you remember, only won in one category,’ says Sussman, who was disappointed that this year’s nominations didn’t include best miniseries for When Billie Beat Bobby, best actor for Ron Silver’s role in it and best actress for Natasha Richardson in Haven.

The most visible competition for best miniseries is ABC’s Anne Frank (produced by Honey Productions in association with Dorothy Pictures), admits Sussman. The American miniseries has picked up 11 nominations.

Category nominations for CSI include: lead actress in a drama series, for Marg Helgenberger; art direction for a single-camera series, for production designer Cherie Baker and set decorator Brenda Meyers-Ballard; single-camera picture editing for a series, for editors Alec Smight and Alexandra Mackie; and sound editing for a series, for supervising sound editor David Van Slyke and team.

Category nominations for Nuremberg include: miniseries (exec producer Sussman and producers Ian McDougall and Mychele Boudrias); supporting actor in a miniseries or movie, for Brian Cox; sound editing for a miniseries, movie or special, for sound effects editor Paul Shikata, dialogue editor Rick Cadger and foley artist Donna G. Powell; and single-camera sound mixing, for rerecording mixers Lou Solakofski, Orest Sushko and Ian Kankin.

Haven’s three nominations are: special visual effects for a miniseries, movie or special, for visual effects supervisor Tom Turnbull and a team of GVFX and Calibre Digital Pictures compositors, 3D animators and matte artists; music composition for a miniseries, movie or special, for composer Lawrence Shragge; and supporting actress, for Anne Bancroft.

When Billie Beat Bobby’s two Emmy nods are: lead actress in a miniseries or movie, for Holly Hunter; and casting for a miniseries, movie or special, for casting exec Molly Lopata.

Finally, two episodes of Stargate SG-1, MGM’s sci-fi series shot in Vancouver, have been nominated in the special visual effects for a series category, lauding Vancouver house Image Engine Design for its compositing and 3D animation.

Life With Judy Garland, Nuremberg, Haven, When Billie Beat Bobby and CSI have all been broadcast in Canada over the past year on CTV.

The Awful Truth is broadcast in Canada on Bravo!

The Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast on CTV Sept. 16.

Nominations are culled from programs broadcast between June 1, 2000 and May 21, 2001. *

-www.emmys.tv/awards