15 Greatest Emmy Moments

In 1965, America had heard plenty about Broadway's hottest new star, Barbra Streisand. TV viewers got their chance to see her perform when the 23-year-old ingénue appeared in her first tube special, My Name Is Barbra, which went on to win five Emmys. The ''Funny Girl'' lived up to her title when she appeared at the awards podium, giggling and joking about a run in her stocking. ''This is too fantastic!'' she gushed. ''When I was a kid — I mean a younger kid — my favorite shows were the Oscars and the Emmys. I didn't care who won then, just how she looked, how he looked...was he drunk? Television is a marvelous business.''

Lucille Ball's appearance at the podium to present the prize for best comedy series of 1975 was marked by a mishap that would unnerve even the unflappable Mrs. Ricardo. ''Oh, I'm really in trouble!'' gasped the 64-year-old star when she tried to read the winner's name and realized she didn't have her eyeglasses. Milton Berle jumped up from the audience and handed her a wineglass, saying ''Here, look through this!'' Uncle Miltie eventually saved the day by fetching real glasses, which Lucy donned before trumpeting the news of the winner: first-timer The Mary Tyler Moore Show. That program would eventually reap 29 Emmys during its seven years on the air, more than any other series in the awards' history.

Alan Alda was so excited about winning an Emmy for writing in 1979 that he did a cartwheel down the aisle en route to the podium — and landed in Emmy's pantheon in the process. This wasn't his first victory. He'd been hailed as best comedy actor in 1974 and earned a statuette in 1977 for directing the M*A*S*H episode ''Dear Sigmund'' (which also earned him a writing nom). Alda's scripting success for the episode ''Inga'' made him the only person in Emmy history to win for acting, directing, and writing.

''Oh, boy!'' a shocked Daniel J. Travanti cried when he won best actor in a drama series for Hill Street Blues in 1981. It was an equally stunning moment for Emmy viewers. The previous year's big winner, Lou Grant, was expected to sweep the drama categories again, but instead found itself topped by a gritty police drama that was ranked 87th among the 96 prime-time programs. Hill Street Blues' record-breaking eight victories that night — including best drama series — helped the struggling new series stave off early cancellation. It remained on the air for six more seasons, eventually becoming the Emmys' biggest champ among all dramas, with 26 awards.

Cheers star Kirstie Alley (right) stunned Emmy watchers in 1991 when she accepted the award for best comedy actress and thanked her husband Parker Stevenson, ''the man who has given me the big one for the last eight years.'' Even the usually cool Jerry Seinfeld appeared flustered immediately afterward when he appeared at the podium to resume his hosting duties. ''The big one?'' he asked with a sly shrug. ''That could be anything!'' Alley's joke turned out to be a truly big hit when, moments later, Burt Reynolds (left) won best comedy actor for Evening Shade and thanked his then wife, Loni Anderson, for giving him ''two big ones.''

''Dad, if you're watching, this is for you!'' said Candice Bergen as she thrust her statuette heavenward after winning Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Murphy Brown in 1989. The gesture was more than just a daughter's salute to a beloved showbiz legend — ventriloquist Edgar Bergen — who'd died 11 years earlier. It was a moving reach across the awards' history. Pere Bergen was Emmy royalty — he'd been the first president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1947. Soon after winning her first award from that organization 42 years later, Edgar's little princess reigned as an Emmy queen, winning the lead acting award four more times to tie the record held by Peter Falk, Carroll O'Connor, and Mary Tyler Moore. But that first triumph was extra special. ''I really wanted it a lot,'' she told reporters backstage. ''I was dying for it.''

After eight Emmy nods and no wins, Cheers star Ted Danson was none too happy when media wags called him ''the Susan Lucci of prime time.'' He smiled good-naturedly, though, when costar Kirstie Alley ribbed him at the 1990 ceremony, likening his bad luck to that of a guy who takes a ''tease'' to a drive-in movie. An hour later, Danson finally scored. When he won best comedy series actor, he vaulted up to the stage, and the audience leaped out of their seats as well. ''This is exactly what happened to me in the drive-in,'' gasped an excited Danson. ''When I first got lucky, they all stood up and applauded.'' Then he added somberly, ''I guess you'll be saying 'You've been robbed' to some other boy. I'll miss that.''