Patricia Heaton returns to the type of role that won her two Emmy Awards during the nine-year run of "Everybody Loves Raymond" -- a sassy suburban mom -- in the new ABC sitcom "The Middle." And TV reviewers are heaping loads of praise on her for this new twist on an old format.

Two years ago, Heaton and time-slot mate Kelsey Grammer ("Hank") teamed up as battling exes in "Back to You." That Fox workplace comedy failed to find favor with either critics or the public. Now with "The Middle," Heaton is back where she belongs -- in a domestic situation comedy.

And she could well find herself back on the red carpet. For her performance on "Everybody Loves Raymond," she was nominated for the lead actress in a comedy series Emmy  seven years in a row (1999-2005). She won the award in 2000 and 2001. While she was snubbed by the Golden Globes for the entire run of the show, those Emmy-winning years for her marked the only two times Ray Romano landed a Globe bid.

Reviewing "The Middle,"  Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times said, "Ms. Heaton is less acerbic than she was on 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' but just as comical playing an overwhelmed Midwesterner who works at Orson’s only surviving car dealership. Frankie touches up her roots with a brown felt-tip pen and throws fast-food bags on the dining room table with the words, 'I cooked.' Though the troubled economy is only glancingly mentioned in the show, it colors the landscape, and that makes Frankie’s ill-founded optimism all the more amusing."

For Robert Bianco of USA Today, "ABC may be on to something with 'The Middle,' a perfectly timed, down-to-earth comedy that calls to mind 'Roseanne' and 'Home Improvement' (with a little of Fox's 'Malcolm in the Middle' thrown in)." And David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun enthused, "This family will make you smile a lot, especially Frankie's stressed-out, manic attempts to keep this house of nutsiness almost functioning. Heaton is an outstanding comic performer who really deserved all those Emmys in the 'Raymond' days."

Jay Leno may have sat behind the desk at the "Tonight Show" for 17 years, but the hoopla surrounding his departure is definitely muted. On Thursday, Leno announced that Conan O'Brien — his successor in the time slot — will be his final guest on the May 29 finale. While this display of network team spirit makes for good PR and sets to rest rumors of any discord between the two men, it certainly lacks sizzle.

Remember the national countdown that accompanied the signing off of Leno's predecessor, Johnny Carson, in 1992 after almost three decades? The weeks leading up to Carson's final show saw the couch filled with a string of celebs paying homage to the undisputed king of late-night TV. While his last telecast on May 22, 1992, was a low-key affair — with Carson sitting on a stool reminiscing with sidekick Ed McMahon and bandleader Doc Severinsen — the previous night's installment was one for the ages.

First up was Robin Williams, who dazzled Carson with his rapid-fire delivery. The final guest was Bette Midler who serenaded her longtime mentor with several songs, including a specially penned version of "You Made Me Love You," with new lyrics by her musical director Marc Shaiman. She and Carson performed an impromptu duet on one of his favorite tunes, the war-time "Here's That Rainy Day." And then Midler sang the ultimate saloon song — "One for My Baby" — in tribute to Carson. Both got caught up in the emotion of the moment, as seen below.

Unlike Johnny Carson — his predecessor on "The Tonight Show" — Jay Leno is unlikely to win an Emmy Award for his final season of the late-night talk fest. Since taking over the fabled franchise in 1992, Leno's version of the talk-show staple has won the Emmy for best variety comedy or music series exactly once, way back in 1995. And the last of its nine nominations in that category came in 2003.

Just why is that? Leno's middle-of-the-road approach to humor naturally works with middle America, but it lacks the cool factor for Emmy voters, who prefer the edginess of David Letterman (his "Late Show" won five Emmys in a row beginning in 1998) and the savage satire of Jon Stewart (his version of "The Daily Show" has won the last six races). Conan O'Brien — Leno's soon-to-be successor at the "Tonight Show" — failed to win any of five successive bids (2003-07) for his version of "Late Night" as best variety series.

However, while Leno and his gag writers have never been Emmy nominees, O'Brien and company have been in the writing race every year since 1996 (but for 2005) and finally won the award in 2007. That brought an end to a four-year winning streak for "The Daily Show" scribes. David Letterman won four consecutive Emmys as part of the writing team on the original "Late Night" beginning in 1984 and has been a perennial writing nominee for "Late Show," including last year.

O'Brien has never competed for the individual performance Emmy while Leno has lost that race twice — in 1998 to Billy Crystal, who hosted the Academy Awards, and in 2005 to Hugh Jackman, who emceed the Tony Awards. Letterman was also in that 1998 race, and he has lost an additional four times (2001, 2006-2008). O'Brien's replacement, Jimmy Fallon, has never vied for an Emmy in any category.

Farrah Fawcett details her fight against cancer in the documentary "Farrah's Story" that is to air Friday night on NBC. Last night, the two-hour special screened at the Paley Center in L.A. with her long-time love Ryan O'Neal introducing the event. Among the most gripping of scenes were those depicting the loss of Fawcett's famous tresses to the effects of chemotherapy.

"Farrah's Story" could compete at the Emmy Awards as either outstanding nonfiction special or for the juried award for exceptional merit in nonfiction filmmaking. But before being judged by Fawcett's TV peers, it seems that the documentary is to be considered by a court of law.

TMZ is reporting that Fawcett's one-time producing partner Craig Nevius is "suing for a declaration from the court that he has a binding deal to manage the project. He's also suing for damages." The pair worked together on the 2005 TV Land reality series "Chasing Farrah" and Nevius alleges he was pushed out of this project by O'Neal and Fawcett's friend Alana Stewart, who shot much of the footage.

As Stewart told People last week, "It was never meant to be a documentary. Farrah just took her little hand-held camera to the doctor one day." It was on that 2007 doctor's visit that Farrah Fawcett was told her cancer had come back. She had been diagnosed with anal cancer the previous year and thought she had beaten the disease. With conventional treatments no longer working, Fawcett went to Germany to pursue alternative therapies.

"Lost" finished up its fifth season with a two-hour finale that, as usual, posed even more questions than it answered. Many TV critics were rapturous in their reviews of this wrap-up written by showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. In 2005, the pair shared in the first-season Emmy win by "Lost" as best drama series. And they were part of the team recognized in last season's nomination in that category.

Ironically, their two Emmy nods as writers on "Lost" came in the second and third seasons when the show itself was not nominated. In 2006, they were up for "The 23rd Psalm" and in 2007 for "Through the Looking Glass." In each of those races, they lost to an episode of "The Sopranos."

 Though "Lost" was not an Emmy contender for best drama series in its second and third seasons, it was a top 10 finalist. However, it did not make the cut with the judging panels. This year, the Emmy Awards are doing away with those judging panels and the nominees will be determined strictly by popular vote.

This season, "Lost" has faced off against ratings powerhouse "American Idol" but earned good results in the key 18-49 demographic and respectable numbers overall. And buoyed by the great reviews for the finale, it enters this year's Emmy race in a strong position.

As Frazier Moore of the AP said, "Jack wanted an explosion and he got his explosion, on the explosive season-ender of 'Lost.' It was a mind-bending finale that, in the best tradition of the series, cleared things up, then confused them again, with exhilarating richness."

Matthew Gilbert of the Boston Globe thought, "the episode was 'Lost' at its most vigorously entertaining, as the action leaped from Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and the gang in 1970s Dharmaville, Ben and (what appeared to be) Locke in contemporary times, and a variety of character backstories, all of which included the presence and the touch of the mysterious and unaging Jacob. 'Lost' has the uncanny ability to be riveting even while it is being mind-bendingly complex, and so there wasn't a dull moment right up until the explosive end, when the doomed Juliet detonated the bomb that may undo the crash of Oceanic 815."

The nominations for the BAFTA TV Awards — the British equivalent of the Emmy Awards — are almost exclusively home-grown this year. Only "Wallander" — the Kenneth Branagh detective series that will play on "Masterpiece Mystery" in the coming months — has the requisite American production partner to make it Emmy eligible. Branagh earned his fourth TV nod from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for producing this adaptation of the bestselling series by Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell. The show competes in the drama series category against a trio of past champs: "Spooks" (2003), "Shameless" (2005) and "Doctor Who" (2006).

Branagh was snubbed in the best actor race, which pits three actors from single drama biopics — Stephen Dillane ("The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall"), Jason Isaacs ("The Curse of Steptoe") and previous nominee Ken Stott ("Hancock and Joan") — against Ben Whishaw for the miniseries "Criminal Justice."

Contending for best actress, also a catch-all category that includes performances in one-offs, minis and series, are three first-time nominees — June Brown ("EastEnders"), Maxine Peake ("Hancock and Joan") and Andrea Risborough ("Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley") — and one previous winner, Anna Maxwell Martin ("Poppy Shakespeare").

The international category is all American with three drama series — "Dexter," "Mad Men" and "The Wire" — up against "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart."

The award show broadcast, hosted by Graham Norton at the Royal Festival Hall, is scheduled to air on BBC1 on April 26. The BAFTA website has the full list of nominees.

BAFTA splits up its awards between on-air and behind-the-scenes talent and will announce nominees for the Craft BAFTAS next week with that ceremony to be held May 17.

An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to "Hancock and Joan" as "Hancock and June" and this error has been corrected.

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There is a spirited debate in the forums about whether Angela Bassett of "ER" should put herself forward in the lead or supporting category at this year's Emmy Awards. The Oscar-nominated actress ("What's Love Got to Do With It") has joined the cast of the NBC medical drama as attending physician Cate Banfield for the final season of its 15-year run. Were she to get a lead nod and then win, Angela Bassett would make Emmy history as the first African American actress to prevail for a regular lead role on a drama series.

"ER" has won 22 of its record 122 Emmy nominations. However, only one of those Emmys went to a series regular — Julianna Margulies as supporting actress for the first season in 1995. And the last series regular to be nominated was Maura Tierney in that same category in 2001. But, as forum moderator Darrin "DoubleD" Dortch points out, "'ER's' buzz has skyrocketed. Since this has been a relatively dim TV season for series television, I'm wondering if 'ER' will score some major nods after years of being ignored." While some disagree with his assessment of the quality of other shows, other forum posters build on his theory.

Poster lovemyshowGIRL sums up the history of African American women in the lead races at the Emmys. Only one — Isabel Sanford — has won for lead actress in a comedy series. She did that in 1981 on the third of her seven consecutive nods for "The Jeffersons." And just three others have been nominated for lead actress in a comedy series: Diahann Carroll for "Julia" in 1969, Nell Carter for "Gimme a Break" in 1982 and 1983, and Phylicia Rashad for "The Cosby Show" in 1985 and 1986.

While Rashad was the last African American actress to contend for comedy series lead actress, her sister — Debbie Allen — was the first to be nominated for lead actress in a drama series. She earned four consecutive nods for "Fame" from 1982 to 1985. In the first year, she lost to Michael Learned, who won for the single season of "Nurse." For each of the next three years, Tyne Daly of "Cagney & Lacey" prevailed.

In 1986, Alfre Woodard picked up the third of her eventual 15 Emmy nominations with her sole bid for lead actress in a drama series for her work on "St. Elsewhere." She lost to the other half of "Cagney & Lacey" Sharon Gless.

Three years earlier, Woodard had become only the second African-American woman to prevail in the supporting actress drama series category with her win for "Hill Street Blues." The first was Gail Fisher who won this award in 1970 for her work as the loyal secretary on "Mannix." Madge Sinclair won this award in 1991 for "Gabriel's Fire" as did Mary Alice for "I'll Fly Away" in 1993. Jackee Harry remains the only African American woman to win the supporting comedy race with her 1987 victory for "227."

The star of the heartwarming family drama "I'll Fly Away" Regina Taylor was a lead actress nominee in  1992 and 1993. First she lost to Dana Delany for "China Beach" and then to "Picket Fences" star Kathy Baker. Baker also edged out the most recent African American woman to be nominated for lead actress in a drama series — Cicely Tyson for "Sweet Justice" — in 1995. Ironically, Tyson had been the first African American actress to win an Emmy for a leading role with the groundbreaking 1974 telefilm "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."

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The return of George Clooney to "ER" on Thursday gave the long-running medical drama its best rating in two years. NBC says 10.7 million people tuned in to catch up on what had happened to George Clooney's character since we last saw Doug Ross at the end of Season 6. While Clooney had left the show at the end of the fifth season when his contract expired, he returned then to film a cameo that saw him reuniting with on-again, off-again love Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) in Seattle.

Thursday's episode came almost nine years after that last appearance and we learned that the pair are now happily married and working together at a hospital in Seattle. While they delicately dealt with a grandmother (Susan Sarandon) deciding whether to donate the organs of her dying grandson, another fan favorite — Eriq La Salle as Peter Benton — was seen once more in a Chicago hospital. In a nice touch, he tended to his one-time student John Carter (Noah Wyle) as he underwent a kidney transplant.

Though those ratings are respectable enough in today's 100-plus channel universe — especially for a show finishing its 15th season — they are a far cry from the staggering numbers that "ER" used to get. For those first five seasons with George Clooney onboard, the show averaged an audience of just less than 30 million. Even for the next five seasons, the Thursday night staple still averaged a viewership of almost 22 million. Beginning with Season 11, the medical drama dropped out of the top 10. Last year — Season 14 — saw viewership fall below 10 million for the first time. Even though "ER" came in at only No. 54, that still put it in on a par with Emmy contenders such as "Boston Legal" (No. 51) and "Ugly Betty" (No. 53).

However, with the decline in ratings came a corresponding drop in Emmy attention. Over the course of its first 14 years, "ER" has amassed a record 122 Emmy nominations, with 22 wins. Beginning with its first season, it earned seven consecutive bids for best drama series, winning for Season 2 in 1996. But no regular cast member has been nominated for an Emmy since Season 7 when Maura Tierny contended for supporting actress. (She lost to Allison Janney for "The West Wing.") And the show has earned only 22 of its total Emmy nods since then, winning two tech awards and the guest actor Emmy for Ray Liotta in Season 11. While Tierney left "ER" at the beginning of this season, she is slated to return in this week's episode.

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On the same day that Jon Stewart smacked down "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer on "The Daily Show" in a moment of must-see TV, came word that the  academy was eliminating the Emmy for individual performance in a variety series or special from the lineup this year. The powers that be are now going to include performers in the slate of nominated producers for those series and specials that make the cut. This move will cut down on the amount of hardware for which people like Jon Stewart, who is already a credited producer of "The Daily Show," can contend. The show has won the Emmy for best variety series for the past six years running.

For his work as the host of "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart lost his bids for the individual performance Emmy in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007. Competing in this catch-all category, he was bested by two singers (Sting in 2002 and Tony Bennett in 2007), a comedian (Wayne Brady for "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" in 2003), and an awards host (Hugh Jackman for the Tonys in 2005). Last year, Stewart was not nominated for his daily work but was a contender for hosting the Oscars. He lost to Don Rickles who won his first Emmy for the HBO documentary "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project."

Stephen Colbert, a one-time correspondent for "The Daily Show," also lost this individual Emmy for his first three years of hosting "The Colbert Report." When Colbert lost his first race in 2006 to Barry Manilow for the special "Music and Passion," he memorably fumed about it to Stewart later during that same Emmycast. He would go to find comedy fodder in this defeat on many an episode of "The Colbert Report," one of which even included an appearance by Manilow. Take a listen to Stephen Colbert as he talked to us last summer about his Emmy wins (three for writing "The Daily Show") and losses. While he too would lose to Don Rickles at the then-upcoming Emmys, he and his team at "The Colbert Report" did win the writing award for the first time.

Below, highlights of the Stewart smackdown with Cramer. The full clip is here.

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The new NBC drama "Kings" debuts Sunday night to mostly mixed reviews. While the critics are not sure what to make of this modern-day version of the Old Testament tale of David and Goliath, they all agree that the show's star — Ian McShane — makes for a compelling presence. Whether the British actor, best known stateside for his Emmy-nominated role as the sly saloonkeeper on "Deadwood," will capture the attention of Emmy voters remains to be seen. Certainly this uniform praise from the press will help his cause.

As Robert Lloyd writes in the Los Angeles Times, "Playing like some weird mix of 'Dirty Sexy Money' and 'Battlestar Galactica,' though I doubt that was the pitch, it is an interesting muddle of a show, smart and silly by turns. It's corny, ponderous, literary, ambitious, obvious and, at the beginning at least, as slow as molasses, but continually re-energized by Ian McShane as King Saul."

Indeed, Lloyd concludes his review with a paean to this veteran actor: "McShane is equal to the script's most extreme theatricality. He's an actor with whom age agrees, his prettiness having fallen away to reveal the substance below, every line on his face conferring an extra degree of authority, amplified by a voice that smacks of Scotch, black coffee and handfuls of earth. Rather like his Al Swearengen on 'Deadwood,' McShane's Silas is a man who identifies his own fortunes with that of his country, to the point that he has no compunction over putting his enemies away. But he's also full of humor and love, and is far and away the best reason to check this odd thing out."

As Maureen Ryan admits in the opening paragraph of her review for the Chicago Tribune, "All 'Kings' had to do was give me an excuse to watch Ian McShane." She goes on to note that, "Happily, this generally well-told tale of a modern-day king and his restive court has more going for it than a charismatic performance from the dependably wonderful 'Deadwood' star. 'Kings' isn't much like anything else on TV, and that’s one of the good things about it. Visually and thematically, however, this tale of royal intrigue does contain echoes of "Heroes,' the series that 'Kings' creator Michael Green worked on previously."

For Robert Bianco of USA Today, the show, "may have manifold flaws, but being run-of-the-mill is not among them. Created by 'Heroes' writer Michael Green, 'Kings' takes the biblical story of David and King Saul and puts it through a Shakespearean sci-fi soap-opera wringer. Much is lost in the multiple washes, but something is gained as well, most notably the sense that you're watching something that isn't like everything else you're watching." And he praises Ian McShane, "in a role that once again showcases his ability to seem ruthless yet charming, and tightly coiled yet only barely under control."

And says Matthew Gilbert of the Boston Globe, "McShane is the big draw here, and anyone who saw him maul the spotlight as Al Swearengen in 'Deadwood' knows what I mean. He is an actor who, with a relatively still face, can mug for the camera with only his eyes. He brings on the tension, as he whispers cruel and incendiary things, like Iago, into the ears of the members of his court. At times, he makes me think of a silent-film villain. [Susanna] Thompson, too, stiffens her face and goes crazy with the eyes — but next to McShane, even she pales. McShane dresses in a contemporary suit and tie, but you may think you saw him wearing red velvet and a crown. The screenplay, too, gives his lines the mannered ring of ye olde royalty."