The Emmys come to praise—and bury—The Sopranos.

Sunday's 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will serve as the final stage for the acclaimed HBO series that ended—on a abrupt note, literally—last June.

Honored with 96 overall nominations going into its sixth and final season, The Sopranos picked up another 15 nominations this year, the most for any drama or comedy series.

Per the oddsmakers at bodog.com, the mobster show is the heavy favorite to win Outstanding Drama Series, while James Gandolfini is a slightly slimmer favorite to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

But the online gaming site is hardly calling a Sopranos sweep—it has Brothers & Sisters' Sally Field as the woman to beat in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series race, over Gandolfini's TV better half, Edie Falco.

Where The Sopranos and the Emmys are concerned, a cautious betting line is probably wise. Though few series dominated the pop-culture discussion as much as Tony Soprano and crew, the show has not dominated the awards-show world. Before this year, The Sopranos—thwarted time and again for Best Drama Series Emmy during The West Wing's four-year winning streak, from 2000 to 2003—made good on only 19 percent of its nominations. Compare that with 24 converting on 32 percent of its chances or, from a smaller sample size, fellow HBO show Deadwood winning 32 percent of the time.

And Saturday's Creative Arts Emmys hurt, not helped, The Sopranos' percentages. The show was shut out in the guest-acting and technical categories.

At least on Sunday—aided by a musical tribute featuring the cast of Broadway's Jersey Boys—The Sopranos will be assured of hitting the high notes one last time.

Here are some other Emmy storylines to watch:

• Will Alec Baldwin want to win?
  
  For Baldwin, an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category, for NBC's 30 Rock, would mean a trip backstage to meet the press, many of whom haven't had a chance to chat with the star since a certain leaked voicemail message. Baldwin is not required to take questions; Jon Stewart, for one, stopped greeting the Emmy backstage press years ago.
  
  Other potentially newsworthy acceptance speeches and/or backstage appearances from potential Emmy winners: Grey's Anatomy's T.R. Knight and How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris, both of whom were, more or less, forced to out themselves in the past year.
  

• Will Kathy Griffin be bleeped?
  
  Fortunately for Fox, hot-topic Griffin won the Emmy for her Bravo reality series, My Life on the D-List, at the Creative Arts Emmys, which E! will air Saturday at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). The TV Academy has said Griffin's choice words for Jesus will not make the edited broadcast. (E! Online is a division of E! Networks.) Griffin, unlike several winners from last weekend, including John Goodman, Leslie Caron and Elaine Stritch, is not scheduled to present on Sunday's Fox show.

• Will Ryan Seacrest need oxygen?
  
  On Sunday, Seacrest is set to cohost E!'s Live from the Red Carpet (6-8 p.m., ET/PT), and host Fox's Emmy telecast (8 p.m. ET/PT). In other words, it looks like he's taking it easy.
  

• Will American Idol's journey end Sunday night?
  
  Of course, say the oddsmakers. (We paraphrase.) Per usual, the smart money in the Reality/Competition category is on CBS' The Amazing Race, looking for its fifth win in five years.
  
  Unlucky Idol did break through at the Creative Arts Emmys with a technical award and a special Governor's Award. But both of those mantlepieces were reserved for the series' "Idol Gives Back" special, not the show itself. Per the TV Academy, Idol, nominated for 29 Emmys since 2003, currently remains as winless as Kanye West at the Video Music Awards. And speaking of Kanye West...
  

• Will Britney Spears attempt to re-revive her career at the Emmys?
  
  Not if there is a good and merciful Emmys producer. But no Spears doesn't mean no spectacle. In addition to the Jersey Boys/Sopranos mashup, and a Family Guy song-and-dance number, the show has locked down the long anticipated face-off between hip-hop's West and, um, The Office's Rainn Wilson. A Justin Timberlake-Andy Samberg duet on their Emmy-winning ballad, "Dick in a Box," remains the stuff of rumor.
  

• Will Ed Asner make history?
  
  Asner has already made history. But if the erstwhile Lou Grant wins a Supporting Actor Emmy for the TV movie The Christmas Card, he'll move one statuette closer to Carl Reiner for most individual Emmys for a male. Currently, Reiner has nine, Asner seven.
  

• Will the show get the munchies?
  
  In honor of the eco-friendly Emmys, crew members will be clad in clothes made of organic cotton or hemp.