A whole lotta folks loved Raymond. The West Wing won the popular vote. Tony and Carmela whacked the competition. And Friends could've used some pals among Emmy voters.

Such were the major storylines at Sunday night's 55th Primetime Emmy Awards, which played much like a repeat of last year's ceremony.

Despite a ratings dip and the recent defection of Rob Lowe and series creator Aaron Sorkin, defending champ West Wing was named Best Drama Series for the fourth year in a row. That left favored contender Six Feet Under out in the cold for the second year in a row. Even with a leading 16 nominations HBO's funereal series failed to make an impression, winning just one technical award for casting.

Everybody Loves Raymond, entering its eighth and likely final season, won its first Emmy for Best Comedy, something executive producer Phil Rosenthal attributed to the show's classic, old-fashioned values.

The dysfunctional-family sitcom was a widespread favorite this year, scoring consecutive Best Supporting Actor and Actress nods for previous winners Brad Garrett (who until recently had been holding out for a bigger contract--a move that provided one of the evening's running jokes) and Doris Roberts, respectively.

No such luck for star and previous winner Ray Romano, who lost the Lead Actor title to Monk's neurotic detective, Tony Shalhoub--one of the evening's bigger upsets. However, it was a bittersweet victory for Golden Globe winner Shalhoub, who dedicated his award to a nephew who died earlier in the week.

The thesp's somber mood generally set the tone for the evening, which included tributes to dearly departed Hollywood greats Bob Hope, John Ritter, Gregory Hines and Fred Rogers, among others.

Hardly an upset but remarkable all the same, Debra Messing broke her zero-for-Emmy slump, taking home the award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series after three successive losses. "Oh my God!" squealed Messing. "I never thought this was going to happen." Undoubtedly, nor did fellow contenders and critical faves Jennifer Aniston or Sarah Jessica Parker.

Other big winners were Ma and Pa Soprano, as costars Edie Falco and James Gandolfini swept the Lead Drama category, while fellow castmember Joe Pantoliano was named Best Supporting Actor in a Drama.

William H. Macy doubled his pleasure, winning for both starring in and cowriting TNT's telepic Door to Door, the true story of Bill Porter, a salesman with cerebral palsy. Door to Door also won for Best TV Movie and Best Direction of a TV Movie on Sunday night.

All told, Door to Door scored six trophies counting its two wins at last weekend's Creative Arts portion of the Emmys. Everybody Loves Raymond notched five prizes and The Sopranos and Will & Grace each had four.

Steven Spielberg's alien-abduction miniseries Taken was named TV's top miniseries. It was the second year in a row a Spielberg-helmed series had taken that prize. His Band of Brothers collected the hardware last year.

Perhaps the biggest shocker came when the inaugural Emmy for Reality Competition was announced and the winner wasn't Survivor or American Idol but the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Amazing Race.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart claimed two trophies, for Outstanding Variety Show and Best Writing in a Variety Show. Stewart, one of the evening's myriad cohosts, thanked "the war" for helping his show score.

Bill Cosby picked up a standing ovation before picking up the second Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, in which he fondly remembered his late son, Ennis, gave props to his wife, Camille, and paid tribute to Fred Rogers.

The final network tally went like this: HBO, 18; CBS, 16; NBC, 15; ABC, nine; Fox and PBS, seven apiece.

The night's big losers, so graciously serenaded by Martin Short and Paul Shaffer, were sure things Sex and the City, Friends and Six Feet Under...and even the Emmycast itself for not choosing just one host to steer the off-course ship and get the broadcast in at under three hours. Instead, we got a dozen comics handling emcee duties with only marginal yuks, Wanda Sykes refreshingly rude reporter-at-large routines and the Brad Garrett-Garry Shandling spit-swapping moment, notwithstanding.

Complete list of Emmy winners.