the kicker

Nobody Puts Press In The Parking Lot

The “press tent was a lonely place to be” at last night’s 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, reports Variety, due “the distance between the [Nokia] theater and...
September 22, 2008

The “press tent was a lonely place to be” at last night’s 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, reports Variety, due “the distance between the [Nokia] theater and the press tent, which was perched on the roof of a parking garage some distance behind theater” such that “more than two hours into the show, only a half-dozen winners had come back stage” to talk to reporters.

More:

[T]he fact that it took an elevator ride to get to the press area had reporters delivering a harsh critique of the press digs for the Nokia’s first outing as Emmycast venue.

By contrast, at the Emmys’ longtime home at the Shrine Auditorium, the press tent was only steps away from the backstage area, and winners often came back stage with a little sweat still on their brow or flush in their cheeks.

And the reviews of the show (its suddenly unfortunate-seeming 60th anniversary theme: diamonds) are in!

“Cable dramas dominate what seemed like the worst award-show ever,” Dallas Morning News

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“Emmy show a big snoozer,” (San Jose) Mercury News

“If they ever give an award for the telecast of 2008 that was the most flat, boring and strangely off-kilter, we may have a winner…” San Francisco Chronicle

“Show that celebrates TV is itself a crashing bore,” MSNBC

“Lamest Emmys Ever?” Salon

(I know, I know. Probably many of the above reviewers were nowhere near that press tent. Probably the show really was uniquely bad…)

Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.