THE PEACOCK NETWORK STRUTS : HOT NBC LEADS TALLY, FOLLOWED BY CABLE'S HBO.

Byline: Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writer

NBC proved it's not only the ``Must See TV'' network but the ``Must Win'' company as well, as the Peacock took the most awards and most of the top categories at the 48th annual Prime-time Emmy Awards on Sunday night.

Already the ratings leader, NBC turned its popular success into an artistic triumph by capturing 20 Emmys. Although the total is eight fewer than last year, the awards came in a series of important divisions. Peacock shows ``Frasier'' and ``ER'' won top comedy and dramatic series, respectively, and the network's Ted Danson-Mary Steenburgen miniseries ``Gulliver's Travels'' tied Fox's ``The X-Files'' as the most-honored show of the evening with five statuettes.

It was the third straight best-comedy win for ``Frasier,'' a sophisticated sitcom set in Seattle.

NBC also won for freshman sitcom ``3rd Rock From the Sun'' and ratings-winning comedy ``Friends.''

HBO followed NBC as the most-honored network with 14 wins, one fewer than last year but more than ABC, which earned 12, and CBS, which netted 11. This is the first year a cable company has placed second in the annual Emmy tally.

In one aspect, the ceremony at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium proved a night of contradictions: While longtime veterans of television were remembered for decades of work in a nostalgia-laced show celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, statuettes were awarded to a series of first-time winners.

And unlike past years, there were no sweeping individual winners. ``ER'' was a top winner and also a big loser, failing in 16 of 17 nominated categories. ``Chicago Hope,'' nominated for 15 awards, won only two. HBO's ``The Larry Sanders Show,'' up for 12 comedy categories, captured just one. Of ``The X-Files' '' five awards, only one was in a televised category; the rest were technical honors handed out at a separate banquet on Saturday.

``Frasier'' won four awards, including a nod for writing and two technical honors (sound mixing and multi-camera editing). Two HBO movies won three awards each, the World War II drama ``Tuskegee Airmen'' and ``Rasputin.'' Indeed, the cable network had a banner year.

The awards honored newcomers and those shut out in the past.

Among them: The first Emmy for NBC's hit comedy ``Friends'' went to director Michael Lembeck.

Freshman comedy ``3rd Rock From the Sun,'' an NBC midseason replacement series and big ratings winner, won its first Emmy for lead actor John Lithgow.

Supporting actor for a comedy series, the first award of the evening, went to Rip Torn, who plays Arthur in HBO's hip Hollywood talk-show sendup ``The Larry Sanders Show.'' Torn's Emmy was the first for the cable comedy, which had been nominated a collective 18 times in 1995, '94 and '93 but had never won.

Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who had been shut out of five previous nominations, won her first statuette for supporting actress. Louis-Dreyfus plays Elaine on NBC's ``Seinfeld.''

Moments before her name was read, she mouthed the word ``Please.''

In a similar moment, Helen Hunt won her first Emmy for her lead role in the NBC sitcom ``Mad About You.'' Hunt had been nominated three times previously.

She thanked Candice Bergen, who declined a nomination this year for ``Murphy Brown.'' Bergen set a record last year for winning five Emmys in row for the newsroom-based sitcom.

Tom Hulce won his first Emmy for his portrayal of Peter Patrone in TNT's ``The Heidi Chronicles.'' Hulce, who had been nominated once before, called the honor a ``sweet marker'' in his career. He thanked ``Frasier's'' David Hyde Pierce, who played Patrone on Broadway, for being too busy for the TV project.

Helen Mirren won her first Emmy (Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries) for PBS' ``Prime Suspect: Scent of Darkness.'' She had been nominated twice before for her role in the occasional series.

Of course, several TV vetera`ns were honored, too, including Tyne Daly, who, winning her fifth Emmy, made history as the winningest dramatic actress. She won Sunday for her supporting role on CBS's canceled ``Christy.''

And Ray Walston, a fixture on TV since playing one of the medium's original alien on ``My Favorite Martian,'' won his second Emmy for CBS' ``Picket Fences,'' which, like ``Christy,'' will not return this fall.

His ``Picket Fences'' co-star Kathy Baker picked up her third Emmy for lead actress in a drama for her portrayal of Jill Brock. She beat out Angela Lansbury, who lost for the 16th time. She was nominated for the canceled CBS series ``Murder, She Wrote,'' for which she received 12 of those nominations.

``This wasn't supposed to happen again,'' Baker said.

Dennis Franz also became a multiple winner when he went home for a second year with the lead actor in a drama series award for his role as Detective Sipowicz on ABC's ``NYPD Blue.''

Director John Frankenheimer, who won best directing of a miniseries for TNT's ``Andersonville,'' collected his third Emmy. He captured the first in 1956.

``I'm overwhelmed by this,'' he said, calling the Turner production about a Civil War prisoners camp ``a fabulous experience.''

Fox's creepy paranormal drama ``The X-Files,'' which swept the technical Emmys Saturday night with four awards, was kept to just one Emmy, for writer Darin Morgan.

This year's broadcast was hosted by the affable Paul Reiser, a previous host of the Grammys, whose opening monologue took shots at the medium being honored.

Reiser took the stage just after the orchestra played a medley of TV theme songs.

Reiser also announced that the Emmys broadcast was being beamed to 600 million people in more than 100 nations.

And the Emmy went to . . . COMEDY

Series: ``Frasier''

Lead Actor: John Lithgow, ``3rd Rock From the Sun''

Lead Actress: Helen Hunt, ``Mad About You''

Supporting Actor: Rip Torn, ``The Larry Sanders Show''

Supporting A`ctress: Julia Louis Dreyfuss, ``Seinfeld''

DRAMA

Series: ``ER''

Lead Actor: Dennis Franz, ``NYPD Blue''

Lead Actress: Kathy Baker, ``Picket Fences''

Supporting Actor: Ray Walston, ``Picket Fences''

Supporting Actress: Tyne Daly, ``Christy''

CAPTION(S):

6 Photos, Box

Photo: (1-2-3--color) MUST SEE TV

NBC is proud as a peacock, taking top honors with 20 Emmys

Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, above, won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Below left, John Lithgow celebrates his award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. ``Frasier's David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves ham it up before their show was named Outstanding Comedy Series for the third year in a row.

(1,2) Hans Gutknecht/Daily News

(3) Phil McCarten/Daily News

(4) The academy gave a thumbs up to Rip Torn for supporting actor in a comedy series, but HBO's ``The Larry Sanders Show'' - nominated for 12 awards - captured just the one.

(5) Nominated three times before, Helen Hunt finally takes home an Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series on NBC's ``Mad About You.''

(6) Tyne Daly becomes the winningest dramatic actress in Emmy history as she's honored for her supporting work on CBS' canceled ``Christy.''

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News

Box: And the Emmy went to . . . (see text)