Emmys to Tip a Hat to Katrina Relief

LOS ANGELES - Sunday's Emmy Awards will open on a somber note, with a tribute to Hurricane Katrina's victims and the rescue workers still laboring on the Gulf Coast, before Hollywood turns to the business of handing out its prizes.

Host Ellen DeGeneres plans an opening that acknowledges the disaster before easing into comedy — a balancing act the ceremony faced once before, when the 2001 awards were twice postponed after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The telecast, on CBS from the Shrine Auditorium, will also carry a fundraising appeal for Katrina relief; several nominees have said they will wear ribbons, and the after-parties have been toned down at the academy's request.

The awards themselves promise a real race. "Lost," ABC's island mystery, leads the drama field with 12 nominations after a debut season that made the network's year; it faces HBO's "Six Feet Under," which closed its run with a finale critics called the best series ending ever aired.

On the comedy side, "Desperate Housewives" is the heavyweight, but it faces a backlash argument — that the show is a soap, not a sitcom — plus challenges from "Everybody Loves Raymond" in its final season and Fox's "Arrested Development," the critics' darling that Emmy voters keep rescuing from cancellation.

DeGeneres is nominated herself for her talk show, and the ceremony marks her first Emmy-hosting gig since the 2001 show she is widely credited with rescuing.

Among the performers: Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman of "Desperate Housewives" are all nominated for lead comedy actress, against each other — a three-way split that could open the door for a surprise winner.

HBO leads all networks with 93 nominations; the broadcasters, whose audiences keep shrinking, will be watching whether the trophies keep migrating to cable too.