53rd Primetime Emmy Awards
Date	November 4, 2001 (Ceremony) September 8, 2001 (Creative Arts Awards)
Location	Shubert Theatre, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (ceremony) Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (Creative Arts Awards)
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hosted by	Ellen DeGeneres
Highlights
Most awards	The West Wing (4)
Most nominations	The Sopranos (14)
Outstanding Comedy Series	Sex and the City
Outstanding Drama Series	The West Wing
Outstanding Miniseries	Anne Frank: The Whole Story
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series	Late Show with David Letterman
Website	http://www.emmys.com/
Television/radio coverage
Network	CBS
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The53rd Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, November 4, 2001, seven weeks later than originally scheduled. The ceremony was rescheduled twice from its original date of September 16 at theShrine Auditorium because of theSeptember 11th attacks that occurred five days prior to the event. It was also removed from its rescheduled date of October 7 again at the same venue as a result of the start of theWar in Afghanistan. The event was then relocated to the smallerShubert Theater, which had previously hosted the1973 and1976 ceremonies, and would be demolished in 2002. The ceremony was hosted byEllen DeGeneres and was broadcast onCBS. 27 awards were presented.

Barbra Streisand sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" in a surprise appearance at the close, in honor of the victims of the attacks.^[1]

Sex and the City became the firstpremium channel show to winOutstanding Comedy Series; this was its only major award. TheNBCcult hitFreaks and Geeks accomplished a rare feat: though it only ran for one season, it was nominated in two different years for writing.Frasier, now in itseighth season, earned its final Outstanding Comedy Series nomination after eight consecutive nominations including five consecutive wins (seasons 1–5).

The episode "Bowling" madeMalcolm in the Middle just the second show, and first comedy, to have two different episodes win awards fordirecting andwriting.The Defenders was the first show to do this in1963 and1965. (Specific episodes were not nominated in the comedy categories until the late 1960s).Game of Thrones would also achieve this in2015 and2016.

For his portrayal of John Cage inAlly McBeal,Peter MacNicol wonOutstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, the first in this category forFox and the first in this category for any show outside theBig Three television networks.

In the drama field,The West Wing wonOutstanding Drama Series for its second straight year and led all shows with four major awards on the night.The Sopranos led all shows with 14 major nominations and was second toThe West Wing with three major wins.

Mike Nichols' win made him the ninth person to become anEGOT winner.

The ceremony was originally scheduled to be held on September 16, 2001 at theShrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

On September 11, just hours following theSeptember 11th attacks, CBS announced the event would be postponed indefinitely, but were hopeful it would take place September 23.^[2][3]

On September 15, CBS and officials from theAcademy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) announced they had chosen a new date of October 7, with the venue remaining unchanged.^[4]

On October 1, CBS and ATAS announced that a scaled down ceremony would take place in both Los Angeles and New York. The majority of the night's 30 awards given would still be given at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, but some would be given at a simultaneous event in studio 6A atNBC Studios (New York) whereLate Night with Conan O'Brien was normally filmed. According to then-executive producerDon Mischer, this was to accommodate nominees who were reluctant to fly to Los Angeles so soon after the attacks.^[5]

On October 7 at 12:30 p.m. (PST), only hours before the ceremony's 5 p.m. scheduled commencement, CBS and ATAS announced that the ceremony was cancelled due to the start of theWar in Afghanistan earlier in the day.^[6][7]

On October 9, ATAS officials and CBS execs announced their intention to reschedule the ceremony, but that it would not take place at the Shrine Auditorium.^[8]

On October 16, representatives from CBS and ATAS announced that the ceremony would now be held on November 4 at the Shubert Theater in Los Angeles, a smaller venue, and that the simultaneous event in New York would no longer be taking place.^[9][10]

On November 4, the awards ceremony was held at the Shubert Theater in Los Angeles. To ensure security, sharpshooters were placed rooftops, attendees passed through metal detectors, nearby businesses were closed, and the Shubert complex's two lowest underground parking levels were blocked off due to the risk of car bombs.^[11]

The awards took place simultaneously with Game 7 of the2001 World Series. During that game, the broadcast flashed updates across the bottom of the screen, informing viewers about who had won various Emmy Awards.

Winners are listed first, highlighted inboldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).^[12][13][a] For simplicity, producers who received nominations for program awards, as well as nominated writers forOutstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program, have been omitted.

Notes

The awards were presented by the following people:^[14]

• Emmys.com list of 2001 Nominees & Winners
• 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards atIMDb

• Primetime Emmy Award ceremonies
• 2001 television awards
• 2001 in Los Angeles
• November 2001 in the United States
• Impact of the September 11 attacks on television

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata