Linda Haugsted

Live From The Emmys (Part 2)
September 16, 2007

6:50 p.m. -- One reporter is interested in the spiritual health of each of the winners, repeatedly asking winners where they find their inner strength.

“Fiber? A healthy colon?” responded Thomas Haden Church, winner of an Emmy for AMC’s Broken Trail.

Moving on to a more serious response, he said maintaining a home in Texas keeps him grounded. He said he’s ready to go home soon, back to mucking stables at his ranch. But first he has to finish a film he's working on at Paramount Studios. His plans for his Emmy: he might hide it in his tool shed.

7 p.m. -- Dick Askin, president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, was asked whether he thought there would be a strike by the television actors. The executive said networks are preparing, stocking up on episodes in anticipation of a possible work stoppage. But a strike would be bad for the industry and bad for the viewers, he said.

There are a lot of smart people on both sides, he said, but “there have not been a lot of cogent discussions yet.”

Askin also conceded that Ryan Seacrest was not the first choice to host the Emmys, “maybe in the top three” choices, adding he thought the multi-tasker (E! pre-show, Emmy host) was doing a great job.

7:15 p.m. -- Everyone wanted to know what winning The Sopranos director Alan Taylor said in German after winning his award. The phrase translates as “Never have I loved a girl the way I love you.” It’s the first phrase he learned in German and it’s used to practice the correct language sounds, he said.

Taylor said his win was his first Emmy experience of any kind. Asked to explain the popularity and quality of The Sopranos, Taylor offered his opinion. It was a perfect storm: the combination of creator David Chase’s desire to write a deeply personal series, plus great casting and “everyone doing their best work.”

“It comes down to one guy, David Chase. We were all working to keep up,’ he said modestly.

As for the controversial ending episode (which he did not direct), it was like real life, he said. Things happen, and then life is over and it’s too late to talk about it, he said.

7:27 p.m. -- Robert Duvall divulged that he sold a long-term series to AMC, home of his Emmy-winning Broken Trail. The series is based on the Pony Express, he said.

7:36 p.m. -- O.K., they’ve lost us. One of the producers of Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee participates in a Q&A with a reporter, in French.

7:38 p.m. -- Former Vice President Al Gore is conversant in a lot of weighty topics, none of which was the topic of the first question from the press pool. One reporter noted the pol is a veteran of many a media firestorm. Given his experience, he was asked what advice he’d give to ... Britney Spears.

“I figured the first question would be about Brittany,” he said wryly.

And no, he's not planning on running for president, he said.

7:45 p.m.-- AMC was not the planned destination for the project which became Broken Trail, producers said. The project was sold to CBS, then “unsold” by CBS. AMC then stepped forward with “a better deal and more creative control,” the execs said.

“Thank God there are places like AMC,” they said, praising cable for embracing westerns.

8 p.m. -- Of all the people to come to the winner’s podium on the telecast, it was Sally Field who got bleeped? The end of her acceptance speech got cut: she was making a point about mothers who wait at home for their children to come home from danger, to come home from the war.

“I am proud to be one of those women -- and let’s face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no Goddamn wars in the first place ....”

Asked about her political comments backstage, Field said she just wanted to make a point about mothers. Asked if she cared she might be one of the lead items in Emmy coverage, for being censored, she just said, “Oh, well!”

8:20 p.m. -- A reporter asks Jon Stewart what he would ask if he were to get the first interview with O.J. Simpson in jail (Simpson was arrested Sunday in Las Vegas as police investigated accusations that the former football player was involved in the attempted theft of sports memorabilia).

Stewart said he’d say, “This is it, Capone? After everything, they get you for kicking in a door?”

8:55 p.m. -- There was an irony to The Sopranos winning best drama series on a telecast on Fox. The mob drama was initially supposed to be a Fox series. Creator David Chase said in the version pitched to Fox, nobody got killed. THAT was a mistake,” he said ruefully.

Though some critics have labeled the show one of the best television drama series ever, Chase said, “I don’t think we’ve had that much impact.” The show just had a unique voice, he said simply.

Posted by Linda Haugsted on September 16, 2007 | Comments (1)