I think somebody doesn’t want the Emmys to happen this year!
Seriously, if I were in a position to do so, I’d give serious thought to calling them off. The business of show, whether you like it or not, is a strong branch of American economy. And nothing makes a better target than actors, producers, directors and so on all gathered together. The fact that the ceremony is split between NY and LA is some comfort, but not all.
If it makes you feel any better, not all of the stars are planning on attanding. Something I saw the other day says they have no idea who is showing up. Usually they have seats marked a week or two in advance but three days ago they hadn’t done it because attendance was so up in the air.
Also, security is very, very tight and few of the stars are doing the Red Carpet entrance and alot of them are bringing their own security.
I just posted about this in CS…
Peter Jennings just said they have been cancelled.
Cancelled? Damn.
CNN says postponed, with details to come.
Okay, what’s the deal? They’ve been advertising them all day, and they were just suddenly cancelled? Was there a threat made? What’s the story?
according to mr jennings they were cancelled due to there being more important things to be doing now. watching him it seems that they are not thinking reschedule.
Could it be they were cancelled because a freaking WAR just started and nobody gives a rat’s patootie about Hollywood patting itself on the back under the circumstances?
Or am I totally off-base?
On a more practical note, maybe they didn’t want somebody to be able to take out all those celebrities at once. I think that’d make some people madder than the WTC did.
Here’s the cite:
Concerning my last post, I am in a rather bad mood. Please take my cynicism with a grain of salt.
I understand, whiterabbit, but we really need something else to take our minds off of the bad stuff right now.
I imagine that they are just being realistic. Coverage will most likely be preempted by any news of the strike.
I won’t call you cynical or off base, whiterabbit, for thinking just what I was thinking when I posted this.
Also, carl, you’re right. I’d be surprised if anything’s on this evening.
It seems fairly clear from the linked article that the Television Academy was prepared to go on with the ceremony, but that CBS was not prepared to air it given the other more important things they have to air tonight.
I wasn’t even sure if I was going to watch the ceremony, but I find this terribly sad. Just one more small way in which terrorism has disrupted American life.
Normally I wouldn’t care about the Emmys at all. I still don’t, really, but I agree that it would be nice to have stuff go on. I guess the paranoia was just too much. And can you imagine the number of news breaks they’d have? It may be just as well.
The official stance from the producers is that “No one felt it was appropriate to go on with it tonight.”
Officially, it is postponed, but they haven’t set another date yet.
Look, I do live television ALL THE TIME. There are quite a few good reasons why the Producers pulled the plug at this late date. I list these in order of least important first, ok?
They risk an attack, or sabotage during the live event. It’s a big magnet for publicity. Tight security or not, there are lots of icons and famous types under ONE roof at the SAME time. Bad idea. ( This is in NO way meant as a slam against the LAPD, or other groups at work to insure the security of that event ).
The telecast could be sabotaged electronically. This would further cause upset, and wreck the show. ( Again, this is in order from LEAST important up…). The uplink truck could be damaged, a power situation could occur, etc. It’s likely ( although I don’t know this as fact, it is usually the case ) that the Production’s trucks run off of ShowPower generators, or similar devices so they could indeed function if the venue lost power. Still, a dicey move.
Everyone will be watching CNN anyway. Yes, I would like some distractions too. I’ve got friends who worked on some of these shows, and I did a remote for one that is nominated.( Or, so I was told- a “Nightline” episode). It’d be nice to find out it won. But in the big picture? Please… I don’t care. I’d rather see what is happening to my world.
If something major happens during the live telecast, the Producers would be bound to switch to N.Y. for the updates. This would delay the telecast which, aside from some pre-packaged segments, goes up live. If they chose NOT to switch to Dan Rather in the hot seat in NYC, they’d be pilloried. In truth however, they would have no choice since in fact, the show is sent by encoded satellite from the venue, up to the bird, down to the downlink in NYC, and fed out from Master Control at CBS. The network could simply pre-emt it anyway. As SpoilerVirgin points out in his/her post here, it was the network’s call, not the Television Academy’s call.
( Most important, IMHO ). This is a feel-good night for the industry. I think it would have been in incredibly poor taste to go on with it, no matter HOW many pre-packaged tributes to the rescue people in Washington and NYC they ran as a part of the show. This isn’t Broadway, the show DOESN’T go on. It’s a time of deep national upset and introspection and I have to respect the Producer’s decision, and personally feel it was the only moral one.
You wanna have canteens with celebrities hanging out on aircraft carriers with the fighting men and women, and show that on the evening news? Right on. But tonight- TONIGHT- is not the right night.
This is a very self-congratulatory industry here. We all love our " attaboy"'s. Myself included of course 
In the ultimate ironic twist you watch- CBS will garner an Emmy for Best Special News Broadcast for tonight’s coverage of the War in the middle east…at NEXT year’s Emmy Awards. Of course, I’m not working that show, so it hardly matters… :rolleyes:
Cartooniverse
From AP at 4:50 p.m. Central time:
Jim Chabin, president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which presents the awards: “We thought, we can’t go on. We thought this is not the time to have a celebration, as much as we wanted to do it.”
…There were no Emmy security concerns…(Chabin said.)