MIKE ON TV: One Last Emmy Mention

http://edition.cnn.com/video/savp/evp/?loc=int&vid=/video/showbiz/2008/09/21/wynter.emmy.reality.check.cnn

This CNN interview was actually done a few days before the Emmys, so no mention here of how badly the reality TV hosts flopped while emceeing this year’s ceremony. But a number of you have mentioned that you caught me on CNN the other day… so here it is. Marvel as I sprint past the big Variety sign!

Worst Emmys Ever

That seems to be the collective reaction to last night’s Primetime Emmy Awards — yikes was it bad. As usual, I was backstage in the deadline press room, writing up an analysis piece as it happened.

Check out Variety’s full Emmy coverage here.

My thoughts: No more lip service, the TV academy needs to overhaul this thing. Create a new longform Emmys ceremony, for starters — and perhaps televise it on HBO. That will free up some time for the awards show to add more entertaining elements and not just go from category to category.

Another thing: Comedians should always host. The end. Reality hosts’ strong suits — keeping a show moving and blending into the scenery — doesn’t work for an awards show, where spontaneous, improved humor is a must.

And please, no more half-assed looking back at the past. Either make it a truly big, memorable moment, or stick with honoring what’s great about TV now. (That “Laugh-In” bit probably looked great on paper, but was such a disaster that it’s probably ruined people’s fond memories of that groundbreaking show.)

My pal Tim Goodman has even more ideas in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Now that you’ve given director Louis J. Horvitz (yet another) Emmy, it’s time to fire him. He certainly bears a great deal of the blame here.

It’s also time to fire pretty much everybody with their name in the credits last night. Listen, when the people you’re honoring are making fun of how god-awful the event is, you are past due on change.

You should view last night’s effort as a cry for help from the people inside the industry. They knew it was bad almost immediately. They talked about how inept the writing was and how the pacing rushed off the actors and writers normal folks actually tune in to see and hear. Your inability to fix the Emmys when year after year critics tell you how broke the thing is can no longer be tolerated.

For the love of God and all things entertaining, flush out the old guard and bring in some new blood. Last night was the nadir. Last night your cluelessness was mocked by the people you were trying to celebrate. Open your eyes – they were directing those jabs at you. Maybe they thought that by admitting – live on television – how bad the show was that maybe you’d fix it. Whatever cache the Emmys had evaporated last night.

If you value these awards, come out of the bunker and blow the thing to pieces and restart. Otherwise you might as well just put on the People’s Choice Awards or the Billboard Awards or something equally pathetic.

Embrace change. And start now. No, really, right now.

But first, take out full page ads in Daily Variety, the Hollywood Reporter and Television Week – and apologize. To the industry. And to viewers.

May Day Melee Leads to KTTV/Fox 11 Emmy

KTTV’s coverage of last year’s May Day melee in MacArthur Park — in which two of the station’s staffers were injured — has netted the Fox-owned outlet a pair of Emmys. (Here’s a clip above.)

KTTV picked up the awards Saturday night at the 60th annual Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, handed out at the TV Academy’s Leonard H. Goldenson Theater in North Hollywood.

As it did last year, NBC-owned KNBC led the total Emmy tally, netting eight. PBS outfit KCET, which tied KNBC last year for most wins, scored the second most this time around with six.

Also, KCBS continued its streak in the category for newscasts 35 minutes or less, as its “CBS2 News at 11,” anchored by Paul Magers and Laura Diaz, won for the fourth year in a row — the first time any station has achieved that feat. Sister station KCAL won the Emmy for newscasts over 35 minutes.

KTTV’s Emmys include one for live coverage of an unscheduled news event for its coverage of last year’s May Day march and resulting melee. The station’s entire news team will share that prize.

The station’s follow-up report, “After the Melee,” also earned KTTV an Emmy. Reporter Phil Shuman and producers Pete Noyes and Debbie Kim were behind “Melee,” which won for news special.

KTTV reporter Christina Gonzales and camerawoman Patti Ballaz were hurt during the May 1, 2007, clash, in which Los Angeles police officers used batons and force to break up a rally. This July, the LAPD brought disciplinary charges against 17 officers and two sergeants for their roles in the incident.

“After the Melee” won against tough competition: KTLA’s “A Tribute to Hal Fishman,” which aired during the “KTLA Prime News” slot following the death of the legendary anchor.

(Originally written for Variety.)

Retro Friday: Bert Convy Steals the 1975 Daytime Emmy Show

From 1975, the catchy-sounding “The Second Annual Daytime Emmy Award Presentations.” Hosted by Monty Hall and Stephanie Edwards, and held in the middle of the day on a ship. The cheeziness doesn’t end there: Stick around for a musical number from game show host Bert Convy, who croons “You Can Have Her.” Why aren’t awards shows like this anymore?

Retro Friday: Bert Convy Steals the 1975 Daytime Emmy Show

From 1975, the catchy-sounding “The Second Annual Daytime Emmy Award Presentations.” Hosted by Monty Hall and Stephanie Edwards, and held in the middle of the day on a ship. The cheeziness doesn’t end there: Stick around for a musical number from game show host Bert Convy, who croons “You Can Have Her.” Why aren’t awards shows like this anymore?

Whither the Shrine Auditorium?

(Flickr pic by Alan Light.)

Now that it’s official that the Emmys are moving to L.A. Live’s Nokia Theatre, that makes yet another major event that has vacated the Shrine Auditorium.

The Shrine first opened in 1926 as the headquarters for the Shriners’ Al Malaikah Temple. Architect G. Albert Lansburgh designed the building, along with local architects John C. Austin and A. M. Edelman, according to Wikipedia.

The Academy Awards, the Grammys and the Emmys all once made the Shrine their usual home. Slowly, that’s changed, as the Oscars moved to its signature Kodak Theatre home, while the Grammys (which used to swap coasts, but now mostly airs from L.A.) expanded into the Staples Center. Among the holy trinity of Hollywood awards shows, that left the Emmys.

Now, of course, the Emmys move to the Nokia starting this year (with the Governors’ Ball at the Convention Center next door). Another event that also broadcast from the Shrine, the American Music Awards, moved to the Nokia last fall.

To be sure, the Shrine still holds many big events, such as the SAG Awards, and is the venue for USC graduations, among other celebrations. The venerable auditorium isn’t going anywhere. And it’s not like the Shrine has always held these events anyway; the Oscars only moved to the Shrine in the late 1980s after a run at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Emmys just moved to the Shrine a decade ago after a stint at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

But at the same time, people in the rest of the country will be hearing those booming words — “LIVE! From the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles!” — less often in the future. And the Shrine may be destined to join sites such as the Forum, the L.A. Memorial Sports Arena and the Grand Olympic Auditorium as classic L.A. venues whose glory days may be behind them.

Whither the Shrine Auditorium?

(Flickr pic by Alan Light.)

Now that it’s official that the Emmys are moving to L.A. Live’s Nokia Theatre, that makes yet another major event that has vacated the Shrine Auditorium.

The Shrine first opened in 1926 as the headquarters for the Shriners’ Al Malaikah Temple. Architect G. Albert Lansburgh designed the building, along with local architects John C. Austin and A. M. Edelman, according to Wikipedia.

The Academy Awards, the Grammys and the Emmys all once made the Shrine their usual home. Slowly, that’s changed, as the Oscars moved to its signature Kodak Theatre home, while the Grammys (which used to swap coasts, but now mostly airs from L.A.) expanded into the Staples Center. Among the holy trinity of Hollywood awards shows, that left the Emmys.

Now, of course, the Emmys move to the Nokia starting this year (with the Governors’ Ball at the Convention Center next door). Another event that also broadcast from the Shrine, the American Music Awards, moved to the Nokia last fall.

To be sure, the Shrine still holds many big events, such as the SAG Awards, and is the venue for USC graduations, among other celebrations. The venerable auditorium isn’t going anywhere. And it’s not like the Shrine has always held these events anyway; the Oscars only moved to the Shrine in the late 1980s after a run at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Emmys just moved to the Shrine a decade ago after a stint at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

But at the same time, people in the rest of the country will be hearing those booming words — “LIVE! From the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles!” — less often in the future. And the Shrine may be destined to join sites such as the Forum, the L.A. Memorial Sports Arena and the Grand Olympic Auditorium as classic L.A. venues whose glory days may be behind them.

The Final Word on the Emmys

(Pics by Joe on his iPhone.)

Yes, covering the Emmys is the bomb… or so the LAPD would have you think (above).

Spent most of Sunday once again reporting on TV’s big night — actually, given the dismal ratings, can it even be called that? Backstage in the “Deadline Press Room” (a chilly, air-conditioned trailer complete with a live feed of the Emmy telecast), I whipped up several pieces for Variety on topics ranging from AMC’s rise as an original programming source (as the big haul for “Broken Trail” proved) to the large number of new faces scoring Emmys (a rarity for an organization that couldn’t stop handing out the prize to Doris Roberts).

Then again, James Spader’s best drama actor win was a reminder that the TV academy still has a way to go.

Check out Variety’s coverage here.

\As for the after parties, my colleague Joe and I first hit the big Entertainment Tonight/People mag soiree at the Disney Concert Hall — where I got to congratulate Tony Bennett for his multiple Emmy wins (and saw D-listers Tori Spelling and Kathy Griffin — who, as a newly minted Emmy winner, may have graduated to C-list territory) and see Duran Duran perform live. The Disney Hall is a great place for a party — spread out comfortably, unlike the past cramped ET/People affairs at the Sky Bar. It was also nice to quickly speed from the Shrine to the Disney Hall; let’s hope more parties move downtown next year (and given the likelihood that the Emmys are moving into Downtown’s L.A. Live “Nokia Theater,” that’s a real possibility.)

After ET/People, we hopped on Beverly down to West Hollywood, where HBO was serving up a Thailand-themed extravaganza at the Pacific Design Center. People clutching their new pointy Emmy statuette were all over the place. Then we lept across the street to DirecTV’s first-ever Emmy shindig, highlighted in the center by a rave-like dance balloon where partyers who wanted to shake to the loud music could do so. But it was late, and the party had mostly cleared out by the time we arrived. And no, since we’re not an Emmy winner or big-name celeb, no free flat-screen TV for us. (Yes, that was really a VIP party perk at the DirecTV shindig for VIPs). For all that cross-town party hopping, I was back at home by 1:30. It was a school night, after all, and TV folk are notoriously the least party-minded arm of the entertainment biz (although NBC U’s Ben Silverman is working hard to change that stereotype).

The Final Word on the Emmys

(Pics by Joe on his iPhone.)

Yes, covering the Emmys is the bomb… or so the LAPD would have you think (above).

Spent most of Sunday once again reporting on TV’s big night — actually, given the dismal ratings, can it even be called that? Backstage in the “Deadline Press Room” (a chilly, air-conditioned trailer complete with a live feed of the Emmy telecast), I whipped up several pieces for Variety on topics ranging from AMC’s rise as an original programming source (as the big haul for “Broken Trail” proved) to the large number of new faces scoring Emmys (a rarity for an organization that couldn’t stop handing out the prize to Doris Roberts).

Then again, James Spader’s best drama actor win was a reminder that the TV academy still has a way to go.

Check out Variety’s coverage here.

\As for the after parties, my colleague Joe and I first hit the big Entertainment Tonight/People mag soiree at the Disney Concert Hall — where I got to congratulate Tony Bennett for his multiple Emmy wins (and saw D-listers Tori Spelling and Kathy Griffin — who, as a newly minted Emmy winner, may have graduated to C-list territory) and see Duran Duran perform live. The Disney Hall is a great place for a party — spread out comfortably, unlike the past cramped ET/People affairs at the Sky Bar. It was also nice to quickly speed from the Shrine to the Disney Hall; let’s hope more parties move downtown next year (and given the likelihood that the Emmys are moving into Downtown’s L.A. Live “Nokia Theater,” that’s a real possibility.)

After ET/People, we hopped on Beverly down to West Hollywood, where HBO was serving up a Thailand-themed extravaganza at the Pacific Design Center. People clutching their new pointy Emmy statuette were all over the place. Then we lept across the street to DirecTV’s first-ever Emmy shindig, highlighted in the center by a rave-like dance balloon where partyers who wanted to shake to the loud music could do so. But it was late, and the party had mostly cleared out by the time we arrived. And no, since we’re not an Emmy winner or big-name celeb, no free flat-screen TV for us. (Yes, that was really a VIP party perk at the DirecTV shindig for VIPs). For all that cross-town party hopping, I was back at home by 1:30. It was a school night, after all, and TV folk are notoriously the least party-minded arm of the entertainment biz (although NBC U’s Ben Silverman is working hard to change that stereotype).

Thursday, Emmy Thursday

Slow posting today, I know… been up since 5 a.m. covering the Emmy nominations and all the fall out. Check out Variety’s full coverage here.