Emmy Awards move to earlier date

The Emmy Awards, which are usually held in the middle of September, will move next year to Aug. 29, executives announced Wednesday.

NBC's early announcement that it will air the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards a few weeks earlier than usual will give the network and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences a "head start on creative discussions," said Paul Telegdy, executive vice president of alternative programming for NBC and Universal Media Studios.

-- Greg Braxton

Emmys go to news and documentaries, with a special honor for Barbara Walters

The Emmys just don't stop, do they? Three weeks ago it was the Daytime Emmys. Sunday night it was the Primetime Emmys. And tonight, in New York City, they handed out the 30th annual News and Documentary Emmys.

PBS was the big winner among the networks, picking up six statuettes for such programs as "Frontline," "Nova," "Bill Moyers Journal" and "P.O.V."

CBS and NBC followed with five apiece. CBS' venerable "60 Minutes" collected three, as did "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams." NBC was also honored for its election night coverage last November.

ABC got only two, but it had something else to celebrate. Barbara Walters, a fixture on American television since 1964 and currently the grande dame of ABC's "The View," was presented with a lifetime achievement award. She got her start on NBC's "Today" show but then moved to ABC in 1976, where she has anchored the evening news, "20/20" and her prime-time interview specials.

The Emmy for best documentary went to HBO's "Taxi to the Dark Side," which previously won an Oscar as best documentary. The film, about U.S. policy on torture, picked up a second Emmy tonight for research.

The awards were presented by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The full list of winners is available on its website.

— Lee Margulies

Photo credit: Evan Agostini / Associated Press

2009 Emmy Awards Live

Live-blogging the 2009 Emmy Awards

8:05 p.m.: Closing thoughts. Whoever has the Emmys next year should break with tradition and hire Neil Patrick Harris to host. Might be time to ban "30 Rock" from further nominations. Bryan Cranston is finally getting the recognition he deserved from "Malcolm in the Middle." Keep the movie and miniseries awards. It isn't that taxing to the telecast. And lastly, don't schedule it opposite a Giants-Cowboys game. You can turn the channel now.

8:04 p.m.: Backstage buzz: Cherry Jones says she didn't expect to win while Amy Poehler lets us in on a little secret. Everyone wants to win.

8:03 p.m.: NPH closes show hoping we'll see everyone on broadcast TV next year. I think that's pretty much assured.

8:02 p.m.: Matt Weiner says he worked very hard not to have "Mad Men" stink in the second year. What about the third year? Hey, just kidding!

8:01 p.m.: Best drama coming. Will Philip Morris Co., uh, I mean "Mad Men" win? YES! It's "Mad Men."

7:56 p.m.: Backstage update: Alec Baldwin asked why he didn't thank Jeff Zucker. Baldwin says you can't thank everyone and noted that he didn't thank the person at Starbucks who makes his coffee either.

7:54 p.m.:And it's "30 Rock." Tina Fey says, "that was a nail-biter." Wonder if she was being sarcastic. Naah, we'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Not sure there are enough people up on stage. Whoa, Tina gives the first Ben Silverman shout of the night!

7:52 p.m.: Bob Newhart about to give best comedy Emmy to ... any guesses folks?

7:52 p.m.: Nope, we're on time.

7:50 p.m.: Cranston says he is thankful Glenn Close is actually a woman.

7:48 p.m.: Can't tell if this show is running late. Bryan Cranston wins for second year in a row. "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm being restrained in his chair.

7:40 p.m.: Best actress for drama is next. While it would've been funny and ironic if Holly Hunter won just because the studio that made "Saving Grace" canceled the show, it's Glenn Close for FX's "Damages."

7:35 p.m.: Best writing on dramatic series is up. Lots of "Mad Men" jokes since it is nominated for four of the five awards. "Mad Men" wins and Matt Weiner thanks AMC for his complete creative freedom. Thank them for that new big deal they gave you too, Matt!

We're live-blogging the Emmys!

TV's big night is here, and we'll be blogging live. 

Show Tracker's color commentary -- from pre-show coverage to on-stage critiques and all the backstage action -- kicks off at 4 p.m. PDT (7 p.m. EDT). Stay tuned!

Photo credit: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Daytime Emmys droop to record ratings low on CW

Plenty of daytime shows are hurting for viewers. But the audience is positively fleeing the Daytime Emmys.

Sunday's 36th Annual Daytime Emmy telecast -- which aired for two hours in prime time on the CW -- skidded to an all-time low of 2.2 million total viewers, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. That's a 58% plunge from last year's show on ABC.

The closing days of summer seldom produce blockbuster audiences, and on Sunday what viewers there were flocked to an NFL pre-season matchup between the Bears and the Broncos on NBC (9.9 million). But the Daytime Emmys have been drooping for years, and this year's results are likely to raise questions about the ceremony's future.

Those daytime fans who did tune in saw the hosts of ABC's "The View" upset repeat winner Ellen DeGeneres in the talk-show host category, while "Sesame Street" took home a lifetime achievement honor.

-- Scott Collins

'Family Guy' team talk abortions, variety shows and Emmy odds

Seth MacFarlane isn’t taking any chances with “Family Guy’s” nomination for a comedy series Emmy (the second ever for an animated series), so he threw together “An Evening With Family Guy” last night at the Montalban Theatre in Hollywood to woo Emmy voters or, as he put it, “drum up support so we could lose by fewer votes.”

MacFarlane, alongside cast members Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis, John Viener and Alec Sulkin, as well as writer Dan Smith, took the stage for a night of song, dance and beer-drinking, and a table reading of one of the series' most controversial episodes, “Partial Terms of Endearment,” the abortion-themed episode that Fox has refused to air.

In introducing the episode, MacFarlane noted, “It’s not as bad as you think."

The episode featured Lois agreeing to carry her infertile friend's child and Peter doing everything he can to stop her, including purchasing a miscarriage kit. However, when the baby's mother and father die in a car crash, Lois starts to seriously consider abortion. By this point, Peter has become antiabortion after he is told the procedure has killed some of the would-have-been greats, such as the fourth Stooge, the guy who would have killed Hitler and Osama bin Laden's America-loving older brother. While nothing in the episode seemed to scream offensive -- well, in relation to the rest of "Family Guy" -- Lois' final decision to have an abortion is probably what pushed the network against the episode.

Between acts, the cast performed “The FCC Song,” Stewie’s infamous cover of “Rocket Man” and the Emmy-nominated “My Drunken Irish Dad” with the “Family Guy” band on hand. After a few beers, MacFarlane and Smith performed an Irish jig through the song, and at one point Smith turned into a human fountain spraying Coors Light onto the side of the stage.

After the table read, the cast was joined by co-executive producers Steve Callaghan, David Goodman and Mark Henteman to spill on everything from upcoming plot twists and guest stars to Stewie’s long-questioned sexual orientation. “We haven’t decided on Stewie’s orientation,” MacFarlane confessed. “We think Stewie hasn’t figured it out yet.”

Presentation of eight Emmy awards to be prerecorded

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has agreed to prerecord the presentation of eight of the 28 honors traditionally handed out at the prime-time Emmy Awards in an effort to create a tighter and more viewer-friendly program.

CBS, which will broadcast this year’s show on Sept. 20, and producer Don Mischer proposed the change Wednesday night to the academy’s board, which overwhelmingly approved the move.

As a result, eight of the categories will be presented before the show. The acceptance speeches will be taped and aired during the program. The change was first reported by Variety.

The move comes after last year’s widely panned show drew one of the award program’s smallest audiences in two decades. Just 12.3 million viewers tuned in for the three-hour production on ABC, which was co-hosted by a bevy of reality show hosts. A record low number of 18-to-49-year-olds watched the program.

Producers are hoping for a reversal this year by shortening the amount of time in the broadcast focused on many of the awards for movies and miniseries. Those long-form categories are dominated by cable networks, particularly HBO, which has 18 nominations for productions such as “Grey Gardens,” “Into the Storm” and “Generation Kill” in the categories that will be pretaped. 

The change also affects the AMC show “Mad Men,” last year’s Emmy darling, which has four of the five nominations for best writing for a drama series, one of the awards that will be handed out ahead of the show.

The other seven categories being time-shifted are best miniseries; best made-for-television movie; best writing for a miniseries, movie or dramatic special; best directing for a variety, music or comedy series; best directing for a miniseries, movie or dramatic special; best supporting actor for a miniseries or movie and best supporting actress for a miniseries or movie.

-- Matea Gold

Complete 2009 Emmy nominations coverage: '30 Rock,' 'Grey Gardens,' 'Family Guy' and all the other news, views and photos

'Family Guy': Breaking Emmys' funny bone barrier. It's the first animated show to be nominated in the oustanding comedy series category since "The Flinstones."

'30 Rock' gets record 22 Emmy nominations. HBO's original movie "Grey Gardens" grabs 17 nods, and Seth MacFarlane's animated "Family Guy" gets its first-ever comedy series nom.

Mary McNamara: Seven Emmy nods a good fit. Ties in outstanding comedy and drama series make for interesting choices, something the acting categories could really benefit from. Alas, Denis Leary and the 'Big Love' cast. (Now with video!)

HBO makes a comeback. HBO tops Emmy nominations with "Big Love," movies and miniseries.

AMC's heady times. For the second year in a row, AMC made television history, earning more Emmy nominations Thursday than any other basic cable network. 

Emmy barely commends series at their ends. In their final bows, "ER," "The Shield" and "Battlestar Galactica" did not receive a fond farewell from Emmy voters.

'Fringe' and 'Mentalist' snag viewers not voters. And 'True Blood' is nowhere to be found.

Farrah Fawcett friend: It 'would have meant so much.'  Fawcett did not live to see the nomination that one of her closest friends said would have made her the most proud.

PHOTOS: Emmy nominees react. Christina Applegate's "bittersweet" nomination, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' fake eyelash spree

PHOTOS: Nominated actors, shows and movies.

Complete list of nominations.

Tom O'Neil: Complete Emmy coverage on Gold Derby. The good, the bad and the ugly. What were the jaw-dropping snubs? And where's Piven?

Photo: Fox

 

 

 

Emmys: A show without a host?

The 60th annual Emmy Awards show could go on without a host this year, executive producer Ken Ehrlich said this morning after the nominations were announced.

Ehrlich said the decision had not been made but it was possible because "we do shows without hosts all the time. At this point, we're still looking into it."

-- Maria Elena Fernandez