I can picture it now… a few months ago a summer intern working with Emmy show producers comes into work following an evening taking in Shakespeare’s Othello at a knock-off Globe Theatre in Burbank. He walks into a morning meeting where his bosses are kicking around ways to infuse “new life” into the 50-year plus telecast.
“I have it,” the intern exclaims. “Build a theater-in-the-round stage in the Shrine Auditorium where ensemble casts are forced to sit together rather than scattered about.”
“Hmmm…” the producers ponder before coming to the conclusion: “It’s so crazy it might just work.”
Yeah, well, it didn’t.
I have to say I found the entire round stage concept completely distracting. For a while I thought I was the only one who felt this way, but once the winners started complaining about the seating arrangements I knew it was a general consensus. One TV critic panned: “It looked like they were getting ready to do Emmys on Ice.” And was it Jon Stewart who said: “I’ve been to a ton of concerts and this is the worst seat I’ve ever had.”
How could a set designer, TV producer, network executive, or anyone for that matter, think that a circular stage would work for an awards show? Unless you rotated the stage every hour (which was entirely possible given the length of the show) an large portion of the audience is going to be left staring at the backsides of winners. Which they did… and ironically, the night’s big winners–cast members, writers, and producers from ABC’s “Ugly Betty” and HBO’s “The Sopranos”—-weren’t even able to look into the eyes of their fellow co-workers when they picked up their Emmys. Nothing like having to turn your back to the camera each time you wanted to thank a co-star.
Also, the idea of having winners upstaged by faces serving as a backdrop was simply ridiculous. (And don’t even get me started on that sparkly chandelier/mysterious disco ball thing that the director kept cutting to during the telecast.) So was I surprised this morning when I discovered that last night’s Emmys didn’t do well in the ratings? Not at all. In fact, while others are blaming Ryan Seacrest for the award show’s dismal numbers (according to preliminary reports, the show drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the second worst in history) I say look at what he was standing on—that’s where blame should be firmly placed.
Moreover, I have a feeling there’s one less intern working in Hollywood today.
What did you think about the round stage?
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