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Here's something crazy: It's going to be difficult for Sunday's 59th Primetime Emmy Awards to top last weekend's Creative Arts Emmy extravaganza that found Kathy Griffin managing to use Christ's name in vain during an acceptance speech and Elaine Stritch declaring, "I'm a recovering alcoholic, a riddled diabetic and I've got laryngitis -- but I just won an Emmy!"

Indeed, Tony Soprano has nothing on Griffin, whose outstanding reality series triumph for her Bravo series My Life on the D-List inspired her to utter remarks that are being censored from Saturday night's taped telecast on E! even though a Saturday Night Live parody tune titled "Dick in a Box" earned its own Emmy the same night.

By contrast, decorum is expected to carry the night Sunday at the Shrine Auditorium -- along with 15-time nominee The Sopranos. It would, to be sure, prove a monumental upset were the iconic HBO mob hour somehow to be denied the statuette for outstanding drama series in its much-hyped swan song campaign.

However, if these confounding awards have taught us anything, it's that the Emmys are rarely anyone's rubber stamp. Were a long shot to derail the Sopranos coronation, it would prove on a par with Michael Chiklis' shocking victory in 2002 as lead drama series actor for FX's The Shield. This, despite the fact a victory would make Sopranos the first drama in 30 years -- since PBS' Upstairs, Downstairs in 1977 -- to win in the category in its final season.

Of the four other nominees for outstanding drama, ABC's Grey's Anatomy is given the best shot at pulling the upset, more so than ABC's Boston Legal, Fox's House or NBC's freshman hit Heroes.

The race looks to be significantly more wide open for top comedy series, where there is no true heavy favorite and a case can be made for each of the five nominees.

Britney Spears is in talks to appear at the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday - just one week after her poor performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, according to reports. The troubled pop star took to the stage at the Las Vegas awards ceremony on September 9 to perform her new song, "Gimme More" - but her set was panned by critics and celebrities alike. And the 25-year-old is now looking to get her reputation and career back on track - by addressing her lacklustre MTV comeback at the Primetime Emmys. Spears is said to be "in negotiations" with American TV network Fox to put in an appearance on the show, although nothing has been agreed just yet. A source at Fox tells Usmagazine.com, "The idea is to have her come on and apologise for the VMAs. She's weighing the offer." Another source close to Spears adds, "I can't say this is 100 per cent not true. All I can say is that the Emmy people aren't dealing with her record company, her manager or her agents at William Morris. So if she is doing anything for the Emmys then it's not going through the official channels." The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live from Los Angeles on Sunday.

TV movie Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee emerged victorious at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday night, winning five prizes. The HBO drama took home the awards for Best Make-Up, Best Picture Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Cinematography. Elsewhere, filmmaker Spike Lee's New Orleans documentary When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts won four awards, including Best Director for Lee. Singer Justin Timberlake was also a surprise winner when his spoof track "Dick In A Box," which he performed alongside Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg, walked away with Best Original Music And Lyrics. Speaking at the Los Angeles ceremony, Samberg joked, "I think it's safe to say that when we first set out to make this song, we were all thinking, 'Emmy!' The other thing we were thinking was, 'Hey! There's this young up-and-comer, Justin Timberlake, who is clearly very talented and could really use a break'." Comedienne Kathy Griffin was also a winner - her TV show Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List won Best Reality Program. The Creative Arts Emmys are a precursor to the September 16 airing of The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards.

"American Idol" executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick have stepped down as exec producers of this year's Primetime Emmy Awards.

The 59th annual edition of the awards show will now be executive produced by Ken Ehrlich, the awards show veteran who has produced 27 Grammy telecasts and three Emmy shows, among others.

In a joint statement, Lythgoe and Warwick explained their decision to step down.

"After we wrapped the enormous effort of 'Idol Gives Back, ' we looked at our upcoming slate of projects, including the 'American Idol' finale and the additional shows we will be involved in this summer, and realized that we could not devote the creative energy and time necessary to make the Emmys outstanding for the academy and Fox," they said.

Fox and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced in February that Lythgoe and Warwick would be running the show (HR 2/22). There were high hopes that the duo would jazz up the telecast, with Warwick promising to produce "the best Emmys to date."

ATAS chairman and CEO Dick Askin, who made the announcement Friday with Fox Broadcasting Co.