Oct. 7 Emmys Too Big for One City

By Stephen M. Silverman

Monday October 01, 2001 08:19 AM EDT

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Yahoo Buzz
• E-mail

In a back-to-the-future sort of move, the Emmys are reverting to the way awards shows used to be broadcast in the early days of TV, by going bi-coastal, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced. Rather than emanate from one auditorium in Hollywood on Oct. 7 (actually, L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium), the primetime TV awards show will also take place in NBC's Studio 6A, where "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" is taped, said Emmy executive producer Don Mischer. The accommodation is for nominees who wish to avoid traveling to California for the ceremony. "We're doing it this year in light of the terrible events" of Sept. 11, said incoming TV academy chairman Bryce Zabel. "We're reaching out to our friends in New York to give them as much comfort and security as possible." Added Mischer: "We think it's the right thing to do. Linking New York and Los Angeles is very appropriate given what we've been going through in the last few weeks." In the early 1950s, the Oscars routinely held two simultaneous ceremonies, both telecast to TV audiences (though the technology was far more cumbersome back then than it is today, which caused awkward time lapses on the then-grainy black-and-white screens). Back then, there was a bit of snob appeal to sitting out the show in New York, though that sort of East Coast vs. West way of thinking has evaporated in view of the united front put forth in the country since Sept. 11.