atkinreport.com

Jimmy Fallon’s parents won’t be coming to the Emmys to see him host the 62nd edition of the awards show on August 29. They want to come, but he doesn’t want them there. Why? Because he might sweat too much.

The affable host of “Late Night” has seen his perspiration level drop in the 18 months since he took over the program and interviewed his first guest, the notoriously incommunicative and sweat-inducing Robert De Niro.

But Fallon wouldn’t have had it any other way. As he told reporters at the fall press tour, there was nothing to do but jump in, feet-to-the-fire style.

It’s the same thing with the Emmys, airing on his home network of NBC. Although it’s been awhile, he’s not a novice at emceeing an awards show—he co-hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 2001 with Kirsten Dunst and then solo in 2005, and hosted the 2002 VMAs.

The Emmys have a long history of turning to late-night personalities to front the ceremony. Johnny Carson did the honors many times, including a string of shows in the early 70s. Conan O’Brien took the reins in 2002 and 2006. David Letterman, Jon Stewart and Jay Leno have all co-hosted with other television personalities.

The stock of Emmy hosts has been on the way up since the debacle of 2008, when a group of reality hosts including Heidi Klum, Ryan Seacrest and Howie Mandel bumbled their way through the telecast, embarrassing the Television Academy and bringing down the level of the proceedings of what is the industry’s most prestigious awards ceremony. The fallout was and is so negative that this year, the reality hosting category for which many of them are nominated won’t even be televised.

Last year, Neil Patrick Harris made hay of many of those bad memories with his song and dance routines and what turned out to be an overall star turn as Emmy host.

Fallon’s support system includes a man who knows his way around awards shows better than almost anyone, executive producer Don Mischer—and the comfort of bringing over six of his writers from “Late Night.”

Mischer, a decorated veteran of producing Oscars, Tonys, Super Bowl half-time shows and Olympics opening ceremonies (whose name got continually botched at TCA as Mischner) took the stage with Fallon and Academy head honcho John Shaffner and handled reporter questions about the telecast. They included two separate inquiries about whether working with ATAS is like dealing with the Politburo. Um, let’s see. The answer to that was a resounding “no” from Mischer and Fallon, as Shaffner joked about being Brezhnev.

They spent time explaining how presenting the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to George Clooney relegates some of the other categories like the reality hosts to non-broadcast status at the creative arts ceremony a week before the Emmys—and how guild regulations require that other categories be among the 27 awards televised in the three-hour show.

Fallon was tight-lipped about whether music will play a role in his Emmy hosting gig, saying he wanted to surprise the audience, but you can surely bet he’ll be picking up an acoustic guitar and crooning some bits that’ll bring belly laughs.

Meanwhile, the former SNL star is still giddy about his day job, thrilled to see people in the 30 Rock studio audience wearing “Late Night” T-shirts and warming to recurring skits like “Thank You Notes” and “Slow Jamming the News” with his fabulous house band, the Roots.

Fallon’s also proud of the catchy protest song he wrote and performed about the BP oil spill, (tar) “Balls in Your Mouth,” with him on guitar and the Roots doing backup vocals. He’s also still amazed that he got Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones on the show. And in a side conversation, he promised me he’ll be doing “Barry Gibb” again.

But when it comes to the late night wars, Fallon is like a warm and fuzzy Switzerland. He’s friendly with both Conan and Jay, keeping his nose to the grindstone and just doing his job as mortar shells blew up around him in the drawn-out controversy over “The Tonight Show.”

Instead of competition like the nearly two decade “battle” between Leno and Letterman, Fallon feels only kinship with time slot buddy Craig Ferguson, trading on-air waves with the Scotsman on CBS.

And should Conan take home an Emmy for his short-lived “Tonight Show” gig, there won’t be any awkward moments with Fallon—on stage or off.

Some fresh, new blood has been injected into the races for this year’s Emmy awards and some interesting additions and omissions make this one of the most interesting seasons in years.  And, it will be a short one with the televised ceremonies set for August 29.

The Emmys are known for anointing some of the same people for years on end.  Tony Shalhoub is a perfect example.  Although his show, “Monk,” has ended its first run, Shalhoub was nominated for a staggering eighth time as best actor in a comedy series.  He’s taken home the trophy on three of those outings.

But make a couple false moves, or even just one, and see your Emmy reign ended–even if it has absolutely nothing to do with your on-screen character.  Former Emmy darling Charlie Sheen—a four-year in a row contender–didn’t make the cut this year as best comedy actor, as he waits to resolve his domestic violence case.  Jeremy Piven’s mercury poisoning incident had repercussions far beyond the Broadway stage he departed. He’s apparently dragged his entourage down along with him. Recently a repeat contender for best comedy series, it received just one major nomination this time. Ouch.

Kicking “Entourage” and “Two and a Half Men” to the comedy curb made room for two new entrants that are sure to have a long Emmy run, “Glee” and “Modern Family.” Both had large numbers of nominations showered upon them. “Nurse Jackie,” not exactly considered a comedy in most viewing households, is a surprise entrant in the category, which has long been dominated by “30 Rock.” But don’t count out the Rock just yet. It scored 15 nominations, including those in every acting category except supporting actor.

Long-time laffers “The Office” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” are also vying for the trophy.

But it was the late-night comedy terrain that had the most drama. Clearly a message from the voters–and the huge surprise to everyone else–Conan O’Brien racked up four nominations for his abbreviated seven-month run as host of “The Tonight Show.” Leno: 0.

Bad-boy behavior at the office may have contributed to the abrupt end of David Letterman’s 26-year long streak of garnering Emmy nominations. As Jay said, maybe they’ll both be watching the telecast from Oprah’s house.

Thirty-five years after it premiered, “Saturday Night Live,” shows no signs of waning, ending its season on a high note with the Betty White Mother’s Day episode. That show alone garnered seven nods, including—hooray!– one for Ms. White. In fact, SNL has quietly become the most nominated show in Emmy history, with its 12 new nominations this time around bringing its lifetime total to 126, surpassing 124 for “ER” and 117 for “Cheers.” As the years go on, Lorne and crew will obviously widen the gap.

Speaking of raw numbers, HBO is again in triple digit territory, with 24 of its 101 nominations coming for “The Pacific.” No drama in the miniseries category, a business in serious decline on television. The only competition for the 10-part Spielberg-Hanks produced World War II saga is “Return to Cranford,” which aired on PBS.

Riding the current trend of the popularity of all things vampire, the pay cabler’s “True Blood” finally broke through to Emmy voters, as did the overlooked “Friday Night Lights.”

“The Good Wife” as a best drama nominee and industry favorite Julianna Margulies as best actress vaulted to the top of their class in their freshman year with nine nominations, boding well for a fertile period of popularity with Emmy voters.

“The Good Wife” joins “True Blood,” the just-departed “Lost,” “Breaking Bad” and “Dexter” in squaring off against recent perennial trophy-getter “Mad Men,” whose nattily-attired leads, Jon Hamm and January Jones, are naturally up for the gold.

It’s going to take a lot to dislodge the folks at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce from their preeminent Emmy position, but “Wife” could be the one to knock them off their pedestal.

Still pondering the surprising news that the Emmys could be in for some competition—and after the initial knee-jerk reaction of “Oh, great, another awards show,” coming around to the notion that it’s probably a good idea. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is one of the few award-granting entities that have an open field with no other awards competition anywhere near its time slot. The show has been airing in recent years anywhere from late August to late September, making it the first major kudo-fest of the season—by a long shot—and the only one to occur in summer.  It’s invariably 90+ degrees at Emmy time, and the red carpet is full of cocktail-length dresses—and sweat stains.   But the hottest accessory is taking home a golden statuette, and without a doubt, the Emmys are definitely the king of the castle in TV-land.  There can be no other true contender, just as Oscar has no peer, only prestigious friends like the various guilds and critics’ circles awards—and its rowdy cousin, the Golden Globes, with its mix of television and film prizes, part of what makes it so much fun. Word is the Paley Center, formerly the Museum of Television and Radio, is thinking about handing out its own awards in what a spokesperson said would be a more fun environment, like the Globes, which has been known for some boozy unscripted moments that have gone down in television lore.   Sony Pictures Television president Steve Mosko, who formerly ran the ATAS Foundation, is leading the charge. “We’re in very exploratory stages of setting up awards for excellence on TV, called The Paley Awards,” a Paley Center spokeswoman told The New York Post. “We’re not envisioning it as competition for any other existing awards. That’s not part of our agenda.”  Notwithstanding the prestige level of the Paley Center, which puts on various television festivals and events featuring top shows and broadcast and cable movers and shakers at locations in New York and Los Angeles, there’s an indication that there would be a bit of a People’s Choice element to the awards show, along with an industry insider component. Any one of a number of hosting candidates—Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Steven Colbert and gulp, David Letterman, could be a fit. And if Ricky Gervais knocks it out of the park when he hosts the upcoming Globes, he could soon have another gig lined up.
 

New blood is always a good thing, and the marquee Emmy category for best actor in a comedy series is comprised of 33% of it.

But those fresh faces are up against four major comedy heavyweights, including last year’s winner, Alec Baldwin.

 And the other nominees are:
Steve Carell, The Office
Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

As the reigning king of Emmy comedy, most pundits and odds makers agree that Baldwin will keep the throne for his role as network television executive Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock.” He also won the Golden Globe earlier this year for the role.

As The New York Times’ Brian Stelter noted, “The plotline with his romance in the middle of season gave him some great opportunities that he didn’t have in the last season.”

More than that, many Emmy voters don’t necessarily identify with the character, but resonate to their familiarity with real-life versions of Donaghy, the pompous, self-centered boss everyone loves to hate.

Mickey Richardson, CEO of Bookmaker.com, gives Baldwin a 61% chance of adding an Emmy to his trophy case.

But Baldwin has other Emmy royalty to contend with—like Shalhoub, as the brilliant but annoyingly neurotic San Francisco detective Adrian Monk, who carted home the statuette for his role on “Monk” in 2003, 2005 and 2006, and has been nominated every year since 2003.

And then there’s the drolly funny Steve Carell, who’s logged a nod in each of the last four years for the clueless, idiosyncratic boss he plays on “The Office.” He won a Globe for the role of Michael Scott in 2006, but so far, no golden Emmy true love.

It’s the same exact scorecard for Charlie Sheen, recognized four years running now for his turn as the womanizing Malibu beach house bachelor Charlie Harper on “Two and a Half Men.” Sheen can certainly nail the ladies, but maybe not the trophy.

Jim Parsons of “The Big Bang Theory” is getting some strong Emmy buzz for his performance as Sheldon Cooper, a geeky physicist who is both oblivious and imperious to everyday life and human relationships. “Sheldon is right up there. It’s a classic comedy performance that keeps getting funnier,” says TV Guide’s Matt Roush.

The other first-timer, Jemaine Clement, not only co-stars in HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords” but composes music, writes and produces the cult hit show. He’s one of New Zealand’s biggest stars, but as part of a “digi-bongo a cappella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo” gigging around New York City, he plays a barely coping loser doomed to musical obscurity. He’ll enter a whole new dimension if, as a long-shot, he gets the last laugh on Sunday.

———–The Funniest Women on Television——————–

They may know she was “F-ing Matt Damon,” but Emmy voters may not know that much else about the surprise entrant into the exclusive club of the funniest women on television. Yet Sarah Silverman nabbed one of the six coveted slots in the lead actress in a comedy series race.

Silverman’s brand of edgy comedy, bringing her sexuality and Jewishness to the fore in a way many people find offensive—and others find uproariously funny—is shaking up the contest. The other spots are all occupied by acclaimed actresses in more traditional shows who are veterans of the awards show circuit, proud owners of multiple trophies.
These are the other leading ladies in contention:
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Julia Louis Dreyfus, Mary Louise Parker and Tina Fey have all been here before (and I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing all of them, as well as their fellow nominee Christina Applegate), and they all deserve to be this time as well, joined by Toni Collette, whose star turn as a mom with multiple personalities in Showtime’s “The United States of Tara” obviously turned Emmy voters’ heads.

Fey will be riding the tidal wave not only of “30 Rock’s” record-breaking 22 nominations, but of her win last year in this category. Not only did her character Liz Lemon get a new love interest this year (fellow nominee Jon Hamm), but Emmy voters are clearly still madly in love with her.

And of course, her buzz from this season was intensified by her deft, iconic portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live” last fall, which drew critical raves and huge numbers of viewers—and just won her a Creative Arts Emmy last weekend.

Was it all part of a master plan by Fey, who as well as taking home the statuette last year as the lead actress in a comedy series also grabbed Emmys as a producer and writer of “30 Rock?”

Tina Fey is ruling the world right now, and we’re just living in it.

Bookmaker.com gives Fey a 67% chance of adding to her collection of Emmys. But the competition is stiff, stiff, stiff. The Emmys love JLD and MLP, and Ms. Applegate may draw a large sympathy vote, both for “Samantha Who?” being shown the door and for her high-profile battle with breast cancer.

Even Silverman might have trouble coming up with some jokes about that.