Sunday’s Emmys: A Subdued Red Carpet

Returning to normality, at least as it relates to Sunday’s Emmy Awards, apparently means returning to a utopian version of celebrity as crafted by CBS, which is broadcasting the show; Don Mischer, the telecast’s producer; and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the organization that presents the ceremony.

Typically used as a promotional vehicle for the fall television season--and for the cult of celebrity in general--the Emmys, airing three weeks later than they ordinarily do, will instead display the humility Hollywood is feeling in a time of national crisis.

This being Hollywood, humility is something that begins as a feeling but then gets molded into a strategy after weeks of conference calls and pressure from industry leaders to tone down the show. It’s tasteful business attire for all. Ellen DeGeneres is still the host, but no one expects her to be too funny.

Proper behavior is being considered on many levels, from arrivals to acceptance speeches to wardrobe. Joan Rivers, who usually does her red carpet interviews for cable’s E! Entertainment Television, said her outfit kept changing: A red Vera Wang gown (before Sept. 11), a black Vera Wang gown (after Sept. 11) and then, when business attire was specified, a black Vera Wang pantsuit.

Finally, Rivers, who co-hosts her celebrity-appraising pre-show with daughter Melissa, decided to forgo the Emmys completely.

“I lost two friends and Melissa lost people,” Rivers said from New York. “This whole city is in a state of malaise. If you’re not here, you don’t understand. To put on the bangles and the beads, it’s a little early.”

The altered approach is meant to ensure that the Emmys come off as appropriate at a time when that word has different meanings to different people. But this in itself is a declaration of how vital a role the event plays in the public’s lives and how seriously the industry takes itself.

Appearing on ABC’s “Politically Incorrect” last week, actor Eric McCormack, Emmy-nominated for his role on the NBC sitcom “Will & Grace,” likened the approach to Major League Baseball’s telling its players, “You know, you can play the game, but nobody’s allowed to steal home because that might upset somebody.

“If you can’t do the Emmys and make them silly and fun and goofy, let’s do it in January,” McCormack added.

And then there’s the sentiment, shared by some in Hollywood, that the Emmys shouldn’t be held at all.

“We’ve already canceled the Latin Grammys; how much can we give?” joked satirist Harry Shearer, suggesting a slippery slope of awards ceremony cancellations.

On Tuesday, in a conference call with reporters, Mischer and Bryce Zabel, the academy’s chairman-elect, acknowledged the myriad opinions in Hollywood about how to handle the show.

“Our community has really agonized over this,” said Mischer, the respected television producer on the frontlines of the telecast.

Last week, addressing concerns of those in New York, the Emmys announced a simulcast from a studio at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, giving the casts of shows such as HBO’s “The Sopranos,” which is nominated for 22 awards, a chance to attend.

Mischer estimated that nearly all the talent initially scheduled to attend the show in Los Angeles have reconfirmed. He also said the cast of “The Sopranos,” including series creator David Chase, would attend in New York.

David Miner, a talent manager who represents writers and performers on such shows as “Saturday Night Live” and “The Late Show With David Letterman,” said several of his clients would not attend the ceremony in New York. In an e-mail, Miner conceded that a no-show might appear to be a form of protest, but he insisted that there were other factors.

“The city is still in mourning, and while [the simulcast] eliminates the conflict of not being away from friends, family and this healing city, it still leaves us uneasy with ‘celebrating television’ when we should be honoring our lost neighbors and heroes.”

Mischer and Zabel empathize, but they also have a show to do.

On other issues, such as acceptance speeches, Mischer said: “We are not going out and telling nominees what to say or encouraging them to say certain things. It’s the one thing about shows of this type that you cannot produce.”

“An Emmy telecast, or any awards show, derives its genuineness out of the people who attend it,” Zabel said, adding that producers strived to find comfortable roles for nominees and presenters.

“We think, in retrospect, that we have all made the right decision about the date and going forward.”

Speaking to the financial implications of canceling the show, Zabel said that would have represented a “devastating loss for the academy.” The academy’s annual report shows the 2000 Emmys generated $8.8 million in revenue, more than two thirds of the organization’s operating budget.

Similarly, for CBS, canceling the Emmys would have meant missing out on a big ratings night (an average of about 22 million viewers tuned to the Emmys last year, when it aired on ABC) and a chance to promote its fall lineup.

And yet, an atmosphere of apology lingers over the event. That would seem to run counter to the urging from President Bush that the nation’s industries try to resume normal operations as a means of staving off a major recession. This includes the network television business, which was already affected by a downturn in the advertising market when it made significant financial concessions to provide viewers with commercial-free news coverage in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Leslie Moonves, CBS Television president and CEO, was unavailable for comment. Jack Sussman, network senior vice president for specials, says this year’s Emmys show is about the public “seeing the stars they want to see in a context that’s respectful.”

“I don’t think we’re apologizing for anything,” Sussman said of CBS. “Life changed on Sept. 11.” But, he added, the network was heeding the call from the mayor of New York City and the president of the United States: Get back to work. “But you have to do it in a proper tone that respects what happened,” Sussman said.

And what’s the proper tone for the stars themselves and the media pack that thrives economically on celebrity sound bites?

There will be a red carpet, complete with the celebrity media that play sideline sycophants, but in a concession to the times, there will be no screaming fans, and stars will be given the option of entering the Shrine Auditorium publicly, passing by the press gantlet, or privately. A media contingent that normally numbers 300 has been trimmed by more than 100, eliminating many of the paparazzi, says an academy spokesperson.

As of midweek, opinions differed on whether the stars had an obligation to walk the red carpet, on which such outlets as “Entertainment Tonight” and E! rely for extended coverage.

“As you approach the date, everyone will realize their responsibility

E!’s Rivers, though, wasn’t as sure.

“Everyone’s very frightened of gathering at this point,” she noted. Rivers said the nattering questions won’t be as frivolous as “how does it feel to be nominated.”

“How many times can you be interviewed about ‘how do you feel?’ and ‘who did you lose?”’ Rivers asked. “I wouldn’t stop, but it’s an industry, and by not doing it, you’re hurting the industry.”