[AKA2D '91]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The macabre HBO funeral home drama Six Feet Under received a leading 23 Emmy nominations Thursday, as the television academy recognized an unusually wide range of shows and performers.

While Emmy favorite The West Wing was a close second with 21 nominations, top bids also went to actor Michael Chiklis, star of the violent and volatile cable police drama The Shield, and to another cable series, HBO's sardonic comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Besides a best drama series mention, Six Feet Under also earned a half-dozen nominations for cast members including best actor nominees Peter Krause and Michael C. Hall and best actress nominees Rachel Griffiths and Frances Conroy.

Other shows up for best drama series are NBC's The West Wing, which won the category the past two years, CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Fox's 24 and NBC's Law & Order, which received its 11th nomination in the category, tying Cheers and M-A-S-H for the most consecutive bids for a best series nomination, comedy or drama.

The mob heat is off the competition as last year's front-running nominee The Sopranos was out of the running because new episodes didn't show during this year's the eligibility period.

Along with Curb Your Enthusiasm, nominees for comedy series were HBO's Sex and the City, which was last year's winner, CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond, NBC's Will & Grace and Friends.

This was the first time the cast of Friends, last year's highest-rated comedy, put themselves in contention for the lead actor categories — and it paid off. Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry will compete for comedy actor and Jennifer Aniston is up for comedy actress.

Nominated with Hall, Krause and Chiklis for dramatic actor are Martin Sheen of The West Wing and Kiefer Sutherland for 24.

Other dramatic actress nominees besides Griffiths and Conroy: Amy Brenneman for Judging Amy, Jennifer Garner for Alias, and Allison Janney of The West Wing, who won supporting dramatic actress last year for the same role.

HBO collected the most nominations, 93, followed by NBC with 89, CBS with 50, ABC with 35, and Fox with 33. PBS had 11.

Competing with LeBlanc and Perry for best comedy actor is Kelsey Grammer of Frasier, Bernie Mac of The Bernie Mac Show and Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond, Jane Kaczmarek of Malcolm in the Middle, Deborah Messing of Will & Grace and last year's winner, Sarah Jessica Parker of Sex and the City join Aniston in the comedy actress category.