MUMBAI: It was a night where the best that American television has to offer shone in the limelight. The stars of American television were out in full force at the 57th edition of the Primetime Emmy Awards which took place last night in Los Angeles. Not surprisingly, it was a close battle for top honours between regular Emmy favourite HBO and what is currently the hottest network on the block ABC.

HBO picked up the most awards - seven. Its movie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers with Geofrey Rush in the title role picked up three awards. ABC which gained a lot of ground last year followed with six awards. Felicity Huffman won for her role as a harried mother in Desperate Housewives. Charles McDougall won an Emmy for directing the pilot episode. JJ Abrams won the Emmy for directing the action adventure show Lost which deals with a group of plane crash survivors.

It was a sweet night for the stars of Everybody Loves Raymond

The show also won the award for drama series. Brad Garett and Doris Roberts won awards for acting in the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. In what might be interpreted as a sentimental vote, the sitcom which came to an end earlier this year after nine years, also beat Desperate Housewives for best comedy series. In India while Lost airs on Star Movies the other two shows air on Star World.

Lost won the award for drama series

With Hurricane Katrina dominating American news it was appropriate that the attendees wore magnolias in honour of those hit by the natural disaster. Blythe Danner who won for Huff which recently commenced airing in India on HBO concluded her speech by saying "Let's get the heck out of Iraq."