Family feud, Spelling style

If it’s a late summer’s night nightmare, it must be Emmy time.

As if cursed, the Emmys in recent years have been plagued by inconvenient truths, large and small. Last year’s ceremony was held in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In 2001, there were the Sept. 11 attacks, which resulted in two cancellations.

Then there were those close encounters of the celebrity kind. John Ritter’s death in 2003 cast a pall over the planned comic-hosted ceremony. And last year, a tribute to the late Johnny Carson was tainted by the exclusion of his “Tonight Show” successor, Jay Leno. The salute was given by Leno’s rival, David Letterman, while Leno sat quietly in the audience.

This year’s awkward Emmy moment is a family affair -- specifically, the family of TV mogul Aaron Spelling, who died in June. Some of the proceedings have the elements of ... well, an Aaron Spelling production.

One of Sunday’s scheduled Emmy highlights is a tribute to Spelling, one of the most prolific and successful producers in TV history, who was behind “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Love Boat,” “Fantasy Island,” “The Mod Squad” and “Starsky and Hutch,” among many others. He will be memorialized by stars from several of his most popular series, including Joan Collins (“Dynasty”), Stephen Collins (“7th Heaven”) and Heather Locklear (“Melrose Place”).

But the eulogizing segment is taking place in the midst of a reported family feud between Spelling’s widow, Candy, and their actress-daughter Tori. Tabloids and fan magazines have been salivating during the last few weeks over whether Candy has cut Tori out of Aaron’s will; a US Weekly photograph of Tori and her husband in front of a pawnshop, coupled with the fact that Tori has been auctioning old clothes on EBay, served as further evidence. (Tori Spelling declined to comment for this story.)

Initial reports had indicated that the mother-daughter rift was throwing a wrench into the Emmy tribute plans, speculation that has been denied by Kevin Sasaki, a spokesman for Candy Spelling. “Everyone is giving Candy Spelling too much credit,” he said. “She’s been accused of running the network, producing the Emmys and deciding who can and can’t come.”

This latest hiccup in Emmy production lore hasn’t thrown its two seasoned executive producers, Ken Ehrlich and Jeff Ross.

“We find that this show is often a microcosm of the world,” Ehrlich said. “But we are always able to handle it. We have just learned to deal with things as they come up.”

As it stands now, the family will not be involved in the segment creatively and will not appear on stage, the producers said.

Tori, her brother Randy and Candy Spelling are all expected to attend the ceremony, although in separate limos (Candy Spelling will be escorted by her son Randy).

And it’s up in the air whether the tribute will include clips of Tori costarring in “Beverly Hills, 90210,” one of Aaron Spelling’s signature series.

Ehrlich and Ross denied that there had been any problems from the Spelling family in putting together a salute.

“All we did was invite them all to come,” Ehrlich said.