Posted on: Sunday, October 7, 2001
New mood at Emmys might give show boost
By Ann Oldenburg
USA Today
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| Ellen Degeneres is the MC.
Advertiser Library Photo |
News flash: There will be humor at the Emmys tonight.
The show's coordinators said Walter Cronkite will open the bicoastal show, intended to be somber and serious in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, which delayed it. But hostess Ellen DeGeneres will appear soon after Cronkite, said the show's executive producer, Don Mischer.
"I've spoken a lot with Ellen. She will have some things to say, but her role will be that of moving us through the show, and she'll do that with humor," said Mischer, adding, "We can't do it with irreverence the way Garry Shandling did last year. We're going to be very careful this year."
Other aspects of the show:
• Patriotism. Mischer says that "at some point in the evening," the viewers in 99 countries will be addressed on "how they have supported us" since the Sept. 11 attacks. Tribute segments are being put together on police and firefighters, as well as on TV people working in front of and behind the cameras. But there will be no images of planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers.
• Venue. NBC is providing Studio 6A at Rockefeller Plaza to CBS, which is airing the Emmys but didn't have a place available for the three to four days of setup time required. More than 100 guests are expected; there will be no East Coast host. Actors and people associated with HBO nominees, including "The Sopranos" and other New York-based shows, are now slated to attend. Edie Falco and James Gandolfini will present an award. Sarah Jessica Parker isn't planning to be there, because of a play rehearsal. The show will cut to New York probably at least "four to five times," Mischer says, about 20 percent to 25 percent of the show.
• Rules on what presenters say. None. Speech time is suggested to be no more than 40 to 45 seconds, as it has always been.
• Music. There will be music, but "much less music and fanfare than we have normally had," Mischer says. There are no plans to sing "God Bless America," but "I would say it's possible."
• Security. "The only word you can use is 'unprecedented,'" said Bryce Zabel, chairman and CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Increased security has been a cooperative effort involving the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and Los Angeles police. Guests will be able to choose whether to walk down the red carpet or go into the building in a "non-public way." (There will be no bleachers along the red carpet; fans will be kept well away.)
• Length. The show is planned to last the usual three hours.
• Cost. Mischer estimated that the postponement of the show cost CBS "in the range of $500,000." Zabel says the academy has had costs to bear as well, but couldn't name a figure.
• Dress. The new "business dress" code has only "increased people's interest in what people will be wearing," Zabel says.
As with any live show, a lot of it will come together at the last minute. "I don't recall a two-week period in my career where there was so much uncertainty on my part," Mischer says. "I know no matter what we do, there will be people who are not happy with it."
But, Zabel says, "it will be heartfelt and authentic."
