What: The 53rd Annual Prime-time Emmy Awards When: 7 p.m. Sunday Where: Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles Other information: The awards will air on CBS, Sunflower channels 5 and 13.
tvMag
Toning it down
Annual Emmys ceremony will revamp festivities to reflect the national mood
By Mitchell J. Near
mnear@ljworld.com
Walter Cronkite is opening the Emmy Awards this Sunday night.
If there was ever a moment in TV history to encapsulate the seriousness with which Hollywood is taking the recent World Trade Center attack, it's in the decision of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to tone down the usually festive mood of the telecast by having the former news anchor address the audience, instead of the original opening routine by comedian and host Ellen DeGeneres.
Not that Hollywood feels much like partying anyway.
"Walter Cronkite will start out talking about that America will go on — that we'll be OK," says Jim Chabin, president of the Academy. "We're asking him to put it into perspective. He got us through the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam and Watergate. He's been with us
for 40 years, so we thought that this was the best way."
Immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, the Emmys, which were scheduled for the following Sunday, where rescheduled for Oct. 7, the longest postponement ever of a major awards show. And just as quickly, the rumor mill went into overdrive, with word spreading that they would eventually be canceled and the winners just announced, or that a black carpet would replace the traditional red one that celebrities walk down on their way into Shrine Auditorium.
The show is going on, but viewers will be quick to spot changes. The red carpet will be there, but the fan bleachers have been removed. Joan Rivers' fashion talk will probably be out of favor even more than usual since many celebrities are opting for business suits over formal attire. Most post-show bashes are canceled, and the annual Governor's Ball now carries a unity theme.
There will be tributes to victims and rescue workers, including a moment of silence for "Frasier" producer David Angell, who died along with his wife when his plane hit
one of the towers. A major donation pledge is scheduled for announcement, and, most tellingly, the event will be simulcast from both Los Angeles and New York.
That allows for the donation declaration to actually be made in New York City, as well as giving jittery East Coast industry members a chance to attend without flying to L.A.
Security, with help from the FBI, will be extremely tight. And there is still no confirmation on which celebrities are willing to venture out of their homes on such a high-profile night.
"There have been no firm 'no's,'" Chabin says. "But we're all so devastated. Who wants to call someone who's lost people and ask them to come to the awards? That's like asking them to come to Disneyland. I'm not going to ask ('Sopranos' actor) James Gandolfini, who was out there one day talking to the fireman, to come to the Emmys. That's
not a phone call I'd like to make. People are upset and we need to give them time."
Imperfect attendance
The New York telecast will have some awards presented there, so it allows major nominees, like the casts of "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City," to be on hand. Although the "Sex" cast members recently hinted that they might fly out to L.A., right now it's anybody's guess as to who will end up where. That's fine with Chabin, who admits that planning for this year's Emmys will go right down to the wire.
"We're still waiting for the creative packages to come in to determine which one will be on the telecast," says Chabin, a Hutchinson native and Kansas University graduate. "Usually, that would have been done weeks ago. But we'll be making decisions on the show up to Saturday night."
"The mood of the country is changing every day, so we're working on those changes every day, trying to gauge how people are thinking and feeling."
He adds, "We have to decide on how festive it should be. It's not a party atmosphere, so we are sitting here the week of the show not knowing what to think. We don't want to go over the top. Life goes on. We want people to feel good watching the show, not crying for three hours. This is the toughest thing I've ever had to do in my life."
Host DeGeneres has stuck with the show, despite the almost Herculean task she faces of setting the proper mood for an entire industry.
"She deserves an Emmy, and she hasn't stepped onstage, yet. She's devoted to getting it right," Chabin says. "It isn't what she signed on for, but I think she's the right person and the audience will be with her when she comes out
onstage, because no one would want to trade places with her for 28 gazillion dollars."
It's too soon to tell how this will ultimately affect viewers, but recent ratings indicate a preference for lighter fare. "Friends" opened last week to near record ratings, trouncing the reality programs which had regularly been beating the comedy.
"A lot of people are looking
for kinder shows," Chabin says. "As magnificent as reality programs have been in being interesting to watch, I wonder how the public will feel? They've seen the horror and evil that men do, so some shows and plotlines are no longer fun to watch. TV is not going to come back in three or six months and be the same. This has affected what TV will be."
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