Ed Bark

AP

Kiefer Sutherland won the Emmy for best actor in a drama series for 24, which also was recognized as best drama.

Bright, fresh comedy from host Conan O'Brien and what looked to be another rehash of timeworn winners made much of Sunday night's Emmy Awards show both fun and frustrating on NBC.

But then things suddenly took a sharp turn in the show's closing half-hour, with Fox's 24 and NBC's The Office breaking through for the first time to win the marquee Emmys in drama and comedy. 24 star Kiefer Sutherland also took home his first Emmy, as best lead actor in a drama series.

"My father [fellow nominee Donald Sutherland] is sitting over there," said Mr. Sutherland, who plays world-saving counterterrorist agent Jack Bauer. "Hi. We're going to have to have dinner now."

The night's surprise winner was HBO's little-seen The Girl in the Cafe , which won three statues, including for best TV movie.

Earlier, in the same-old, same-old category, CBS' The Amazing Race won its fourth straight Emmy in the reality-competition category, rubbing out TV's most popular show, Fox's American Idol.

Alan Alda, who did not attend, has his sixth Emmy, this one for playing a presidential candidate on The West Wing. Tony Shalhoub claimed a third acting Emmy for USA's Monk, and Helen Mirren now has three as well after winning for HBO's Elizabeth I. Both Megan Mullally (NBC's Will & Grace) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine) nabbed their second Emmys.

Jon Stewart's The Daily Show won its eighth and ninth Emmys. But Mr. Stewart clearly wanted the awards to go to pal Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report, which follows him on Comedy Central.

"I think this year you actually made a terrible mistake. But thank you," he said.

Ms. Mirren had the night's most bawdily descriptive acceptance speech.

"My great triumph," she said, "is not falling [butt] over [bosom] as I came up those stairs."

The night also featured poignant tributes to deceased TV hit-maker Aaron Spelling of Dallas and American Bandstand creator Dick Clark, who attended the ceremony while still recovering from a stroke.

Mr. O'Brien inventively held the show to its allotted three hours by using comedy legend Bob Newhart as a recurring prop.

"There are no consequences for running over – until now," Mr. O'Brien said before showing Mr. Newhart in an airtight chamber with just three hours of oxygen.

"If the Emmys run over, Bob Newhart dies," he declared.

The host later donned a mustache to briefly address NBC-owned Telemundo's audience in Spanish.

"Yes, what an incredible waste of time," he then rejoined before the camera cut to an increasingly vexed Mr. Newhart.

NBC won the night's first two Emmys, for Will & Grace and The West Wing, just minutes after Mr. O'Brien skewered his once-dominant but now ratings-starved home network in a nifty musical number from The Music Man.

"My lawyer checked and I can't be sued," he warbled.

Conan the Contrarian, who last hosted in 2002, scored repeatedly with a wide array of spot-on putdowns. His guidelines for brisk Emmy speeches included: "Please don't thank your parents. If you were raised in a nurturing environment, you wouldn't be in show business."

The host began with an opening short film that had him en route to the Emmys aboard a suddenly malfunctioning shaking aircraft. A plane crash in Kentucky that claimed 49 lives Sunday morning made that a shaky if not entirely off-base premise. But the tuxedoed host needed this particular vehicle to crash-land on the island of ABC's Lost, where he encountered the show's Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia).

"You wanna come with me?" Mr. O'Brien asked as he prepared to go down Lost's hatch in hopes of still making it to the Emmys.

"Well, we weren't exactly invited," rejoined Hurley, referencing the show's snub in the best-drama category after its victory last year.

HBO again won the most major Emmys, claiming one-third of the 27 awarded. NBC also fared well, winning six statues to lead all broadcast networks. ABC received just one, for its telecast of this year's Oscars.

E-mail ebark@dallasnews.com