59th Primetime Emmy Awards

Infobox Emmy Awards
name = 59th
type = Primetime


imagesize =
caption =
date = September 16, 2007
site = Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
creative_arts = September 9, 2007
host = Ryan Seacrest
network = FOX
producer = Ken Ehrlich
last = 58th Primetime
next = 60th Primetime

The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on FOX and CTV at 8:00 p.m. EDT (00:00 UTC) for the first time in high definition (on tape delay three hours later on the West Coast of the United States at 8:00 p.m. PDT/3:00 UTC). It was also broadcast live to Australia on the Bio. channel. The ceremonies were hosted by Ryan Seacrest. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070820/ap_en_tv/tv_emmys_seacrest]

The ceremonies were supposed to be produced by Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick, executive producers of "American Idol", but because of their heavy work load with "Idol", Ken Ehrlich, last year's producer, resumed the producer's role for the fourth time. [cite web | title=American Idol's Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick Named Executive Producers For 59th Primetime Emmy Awards | url=http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-idolproducersexitemmys,0,4765044.story?coll=zap-tv-headlines] Ratings plunged further down to a near an all-time low as an estimate 12.87 million, 19% lower than the past year, [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1627690620070917] ] making it the second smallest television audience in Emmy history, behind the 1990 telecast.

Nominations [http://www.emmys.org/awards/2007pt/59thnominations.php Retrieved 2007-09-16] were announced Thursday, July 19 at 5:40 a.m. PDT (12:40 UTC) by nominees Jon Cryer and Kyra Sedgwick.

Meanwhile, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, hosted by comedian-actor Carlos Mencia, were presented eight days earlier on September 9.cite web | url=http://www.emmys.org/awards/2007pt/crtvarts_wrap.php | title=HBO Tops 59th Creative Arts Emmys, NBC Leads Nets | accessdate=2007-09-15]

Nominations and winners

Interactive TV

Al Gore's Current TV was presented with the Interactive TV Emmy by Masi Oka of "Heroes" with the help of MySpace's president Tom Anderson. This was the first year the Emmy was presented during the Primetime awards ceremony. [http://www.variety.com/VR1117971953.html Al Gore joins Emmy parade] , Variety.com, Sep. 13, 2007, 4:56pm PT]

Memorable Moments

For the first time in the ceremony's history, the stage design for the ceremony was created with seating surrounding platform creating a theater in the round with a "catwalk" style walkway for winners and presenters to exit the stage to. A trap door was placed in the center of the main stage. Some TV critics viewed this as FOX's show placement for "American Idol". [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/arts/television/17emmy.html Primetime Emmy Awards - TV - New York Times ] ]

Opening Number

As part of the opening number of the ceremony, Stewie and Brian Griffin, two characters of the FOX animated series "Family Guy" sang a song: recapping memorable moments of the past television season while noting the variety of programming that will come to the future in the song "You Can Find It On TV" a non-FCC version of the song " [http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/The_Freakin%27_FCC The Freakin' FCC] " from the show's Emmy-nominated episode "PTV". Here are the complete lyrics to the song as well as notes commenting about the lyrics.

The "Don't Forget the Lyrics" mock-contest

Another memorable segment occurred during the presentation of the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program award. There was a competition between singer Kanye West (who attended the ceremony in retaliation for his loss at MTV's Video Music Awards earlier that month) and "The Office" actor Rainn Wilson similar to "Don't Forget the Lyrics" (which, like the 2007 Emmys, airs on FOX) with host Wayne Brady presiding. West sang the last line of the chorus in the song "Stronger" as "That how long I've been on you" which was supposed to be "That how long I've been on ya", losing to Wilson. West jokingly retorted "I never win", poking fun at his losses at award ceremonies and presented the award alongside Wilson. [ [http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/celebrities/hollywood/kanye-west-and-rainn-wilsons-emmy-rap-201927/ Kanye West and Rainn Wilson performed the song Stronger at the 2007 Emmy Awards ] ]

teppin' Out With My Baby

Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera sang "Steppin' Out With My Baby" from Bennett's award-winning special

Censorship controversy

?". On FOX, all that was heard was "for one, from what I hear, Frasier is-" before FOX cut the audio and replaced the feed with pre-recorded material from before the show of an LCD display ball (which lit up and had words scrolling around it during portions of the ceremony), which, when seen through a high enough camera angle, covered the entire stage. This lasted approximately 10 seconds before FOX returned to Romano. The reason for the censorship of this comment has been debated between vulgar language or revealing an important plotline to the show.

When Katherine Heigl accepted her award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, she mouthed a swear word, causing FOX to cut the audio and once again replaced its feed with the pre-recorded shot of the display ball, only to return a moment later.

Though the biggest censorship controversy came when actress Sally Field accepted her Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. After giving an acceptance speech which included anti-war statements, partially as a tribute to her "Brothers & Sisters" character Nora Walker, the audience applauded before she was finished and Field, finding herself lost for words, couldn't remember what she was going to say; when she finally regained her words, she concluded her speech with "If mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamn wars in the first place." FOX had cut to the display ball as she began to say "goddamn". This remark, and FOX's censorship of the remark, caused controversy in the days following the ceremony, leading critics to wonder if FOX had censored "Goddamn" or "Goddamn wars".

Field's remarks caused FOX to implement a four-second delay for the remainder of the telecast. All of these comments were left uncensored on CTV in Canada, and other international simulacasts.

Also, at the Creative Arts Awards ceremony eight days earlier, Kathy Griffin, who won for "" caused controversy in her acceptance speech after she denounced Jesus. She later concluded her speech with an off-color joke that included "Suck it, Jesus! This award is my God now!" The Catholic League condemned her comments and successfully convinced E! to censor her speech during the telecast the following Saturday. [http://www.kansascity.com/255/story/286375.html]

References

External links

* [http://www.emmys.org Primetime Emmy Awards]
* [http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php emmys.org — Advanced Primetime Awards Search]
* [http://www.digitalhit.com/emmy/ Emmy Awards coverage] on DigitalHit.com
* [http://www.emmys.tv/downloads/2007/CTA59themmywinners.pdf]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pux4ARuIoe4 Ray Romano's comments (Censored)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PPR5V2bNzo Ray Romano's comments (Uncensored)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RyXwnNRsv8 Katherine Heigl's acceptance speech (Censored)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl2kAMeoA2c Katherine Heigl's acceptance speech (Uncensored)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVIU6_uwkbo Sally Field's acceptance speech (Censored)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImoMGyJjWIk Sally Field's acceptance speech (Uncensored)]
* [http://www.emigrestudio.com/836/family-guy-opening-at-2007-emmys/ "You Can Find It on TV" opening number with partial lyrics]
* [http://www.emmys.tv/media/releases/2007/rel_pte07-engr.php]
* [http://www.theacorn.com/news/2007/0920/community/005.html]