HOLLYWOOD - Come this fall, television viewers won't be seeing “The West Wing,” “Commander in Chief,” “Six Feet Under,” “The Comeback,” “Will & Grace” or “Malcolm in the Middle” returning to prime time. But these shows will be center stage next month at this year's 58th Emmy Awards.

In fact, 14 actors who received Emmy nominations in major categories this year appeared in nine shows that have either been canceled after wallowing in ratings purgatory or retired after growing mossy with age.

That didn't leave room for many perennial favorites.

“Lost” couldn't be found in the best drama series category. Tony Soprano slept with the fishes in the best actor in a drama series. And remember those four vixens who inhabit Wisteria Lane in “Desperate Housewives”? They won't have a date for the red carpet at the Emmys on Aug. 27, unless it is to present statuettes to the winners.

Instead, nominees included Geena Davis for her role as the president of the United States in the now-canceled ABC drama “Commander in Chief”; Lisa Kudrow, who played an actress trying to revive her career in HBO's short-lived comedy “The Comeback”; and Martin Sheen, another U.S. president in “The West Wing,” which NBC retired after seven seasons.

Under rules changes implemented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, many thought that critically acclaimed underdogs and new faces would make their way into the list of contenders. The jury is still out on whether that was accomplished.

“As someone who has been in the business for 18 years, I've seen a lot of very fine work recognized,” said John Landgraf, president and general manager of FX Networks. “I've also felt that year after year, it was dreary to wake up and see the exact same people nominated. Basically, there's only five people that deserve an acting nomination for the exact same thing they did last year? It makes the whole industry feel hidebound.

“I, for one, applaud the academy for being willing to try something - to take risks.”

But not everyone saw it that way.

“I don't know that we've solved any problems,” said Bob Greenblatt, president of entertainment at Showtime. “There are so many glaring omissions. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. I am as mystified for (the other networks) as for myself. ... I've likened it to the Electoral College. There's huge flaws in having the entire membership vote, but better to have the flaw in the group, which is the basis of democratic thinking.” This year's major nominees are Fox's nail-biting terrorist thriller 󈬈,” which scored the most nominations for a series with 12. The CBS sitcom “Two and a Half Men” - a first-time nominee - led all comedy series with seven“. TNT's epic tale of America's 19th century expansion ”Into the West“ received 16. Meanwhile, Masterpiece Theater's take on Charles Dickens' classic ”Bleak House“ earned 10 nominations, while a pair of made-for-TV movies about doomed United Flight 93 - ”The Flight That Fought Back“ on the Discovery Channel and A&E's ”Flight 93“ - received a combined total of seven.

There is some fresh blood among the nominees, including faces new to television, such as Kyra Sedgwick for TNT's freshman series “The Closer,” and several actors who are finally achieving recognition for their roles in long-running series, such as Christopher Meloni in NBC's “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” Kevin James in CBS' “The King of Queens,” and Charlie Sheen in CBS' “Two and a Half Men.”

But if the rules change was designed to boost the Emmy fortunes of such shows as “The Gilmore Girls,” “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Veronica Mars,” as had been widely speculated, it didn't seem to work. Only “Everybody Hates Chris” received nominations from this trio - and not in a major category.

Without such fan favorites as ABC's “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” in the mix, and because the telecast has been moved earlier in the year to late August, one network insider thinks that viewership for this year's Emmy's could drop 10 percent to 15 percent. Last year, the Emmy telecast with “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” duking it out, drew 18.7 million viewers on CBS, whereas only 13.8 million viewers saw the previous year's show on ABC.

The academy's voting guidelines were altered because in recent years Emmy voters were heavily criticized for selecting fan favorites and hit series, when shows like the critically lauded “Deadwood” went wanting. Now the final contenders are selected not at large, but by a panel of Emmy judges. Emmy voters at large will ultimately select the winners.

AP-NY-07-06-06 1703EDT