NBC paces TV field for 6th Prism Awards
CBS, ABC follow with five each

By GEOFF BERKSHIRE

Nominees for the sixth annual Prism Awards were announced Wednesday, with NBC leading the TV pack with nine nominations, followed by CBS and ABC with five each. Paramount led all major studios with five nominations (including a television mention for CBS' "Becker").

The Prism Awards honor the accurate depiction of drug, alcohol and tobacco use and addiction in movies, television, video, music, interactive and comicbook entertainment, and are presented in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse/National Institutes of Health. Fifty-six nominees were selected from 236 submissions.

Nominees for feature films are New Line's "Blow," directed by the late Ted Demme, and "Life As a House," directed by Irwin Winkler; "crazy/beautiful," from Touchstone and director John Stockwell; MGM's "Heartbreakers," directed by David Mirkin; and indie "Under Hellgate Bridge," directed by Mike Sergio.

TV comedy series episode nominees are "Becker," "Ed," "King of the Hill," "My Wife and Kids" and "Scrubs."

Drama series episode noms went to "The District," "The Division," "The Education of Max Bickford," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "The West Wing," while "100 Centre Street," "NYPD Blue," "Providence," "Six Feet Under" and "Third Watch" are competing in the multi-episode storyline category.

TV film nominees are "Aberdeen," "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows," "Spinning out of Control," "They Call Me Sirr" and "Things Behind the Sun."

In addition, this year's kudos presents a new category, the Prism Film Festival Award, which is presented to a pic that has not yet been released but is playing the fest circuit. Nominees in the category are "Acts of Worship," "All You Need," "Four Faces," "Smoke and Mirrors: A History of Denial" and "Tweeked."

The awards will be presented May 9 and a telecast will be distributed throughout the United States by Tribune Entertainment.