Behind the Scenes at the 67th Emmy Awards

Another year, another Emmys! Once again I was backstage for TV Guide Magazine covering the 67th annual event; here are a few of my most recent Emmy pieces:

Emmys Producer on His Tracy Morgan Surprise, HBO's Dominance, Spoilers and Why The Ratings Were Down

Emmy Ushers in a New Age with Game of Thrones, Veep Series Wins

Mad Men's Jon Hamm on Finally Winning the Emmy, and Letting Go of Don Draper

Andy Samberg Is Ready to Host the Primetime Emmys

And some pics from Emmy weekend 2015 (mostly from the press room backstage):


Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Jeffrey Tambor (Amazon's "Transparent")


Outstanding Sketch Variety Series winner Amy Schumer (Comedy Central's "Inside Amy Schumer")


Outstanding Actress in a Drama Viola Davis (ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder")



Outstanding Actor in a Drama Jon Hamm (AMC's "Mad Men")


The return of Tracy Morgan, who presented the final award


Outstanding Actress in a Comedy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus (HBO's "Veep") with Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy winner Allison Janney (CBS' "Mom")


Outstanding Talk/Variety series "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central)


Fierce rivals "Entertainment Tonight," "Access Hollywood" and "Extra" sit side-by-side in winner's row

The "Veep" table at HBO's Emmys afterparty


Jakob Dylan performs at Showtime's Saturday night party

PRIMETIME EMMYS 2014: The View from Backstage

OK, so it wasn't the most exciting Emmy Awards telecast ever. "Breaking Bad" and "Modern Family" duplicated last year's drama and comedy wins. Most of the other winners were also repeat winners. But Seth Meyers' monologue was solid, Billy Crystal's tribute to Robin Williams touching, and Billy Eichner a highlight. I talked to "Late Night with Seth Meyers" executive producer Mike Shoemaker, who also produced this year's Emmycast, to get some backstory on the show -- read all about it here.

And some snapshots from backstage, where I once again watched the show from the Emmy press room:


Emmy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus tells the crowd how she and Bryan Cranston came up with a bit for this year's telecast.


"The Colbert Report" wins for outstanding variety series again. Next year, Stephen's new show could be competing against his old one.


Louis C.K. tells us how he got to meet and later become friends with the late Robin Williams (who appeared in an episode of "Louie").


Jessica Lange, a winner for "American Horror Story: Coven."


Emmy winner Sarah Silverman tells the press she's not stoned. And that she's enjoying her work on "Masters of Sex," helped by the fact that she's "f--ing the star" (Michael Sheen).


A year after not getting a nomination, Juliana Margulies wins the Outstanding drama actress Emmy.


Noah Hawley, Warren Littlefield and the rest of the "Fargo" producers celebrate their Outstanding Miniseries win.


Rivals "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood" sit right next to each other in the entertainment TV magazine row backstage.


"Jimmy Kimmel Live's" Guillermo could be seen walking around the press room all night.


Outside the L.A. Live area, bicyclists who made the trek to the Emmys gather.


One more shot of the bikes.
"Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet participates in an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video on the street behind the Nokia. First, the setup.


Then, the ice water pour!


And finally, the chilly aftermath.

Conan Comes to Los Angeles: Kareem, a Mayor V Joke and Another California Driver License

Conan O'Brien cut back on the Los Angeles references in Wednesday night's "Tonight Show," which also didn't include a pre-taped piece. Perhaps that's because unlike the first two editions of "Tonight" with O'Brien, this one included two guests and a musical act, instead of just one guest.

As seen above, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came out after O'Brien noted that a pair of doors located under the audience reminded him of a sports arena. Kareem didn't really say anything, but he was obviously sporting a Lakers jersey on the eve of the NBA Finals Game 1.

Also, notice that takes someone like Abdul-Jabbar to actually make the 6-foot-4 Conan look normal-sized. Pity the poor "Tonight Show" staffer who they brought out to stand next to the two -- that guy's probably normal height, but next to Kareem and Conan, he looked like a shrimp.

O'Brien included a few L.A. references in his monologue; he noted, for example, Los Angeles' original name -- El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula. Added Conan: "Good thing they changed it before Arnold Schwarzenegger moved here."

In his monologue, Conan also mentioned Antonio Villaraigosa's new relationship with KTLA reporter Lu Parker, pointing out that it's Mayor V's second pairing in a row with a TV reporter. "Apparently the reporters in L.A. really mean it when they say they're the team from Action 7." (OK, they can't all be gems.)



Later, guest Julia Louis-Dreyfus picked up on Tuesday's Conan riff on his new California driver's license. O'Brien told the crowd he was asked to try again when his first license photo came out bad; Louis-Dreyfus said she encountered the same thing, and shared her own California license (above). Of course, I'm not sure I buy that this is her actual license photo, given how glammed up it is... but who knows? (UPDATE: As someone noted in the comments, the dates are all screwy on this license. I think we're pretty safe to confirm that this is bogus.)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Unidentified Reporter

Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, star of the Warner Bros. Television series 'The New Adventures of the Old Christine' and a member of the Screen Actors Guild is interviewed by a reporter (R) at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, November 5, 2007 as she joins members of the Writers Guild America who are on strike against Hollywood film and television producers. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)

Sorry about the beard. I trimmed it this morning. (See the Reuters post here.)

Scenes from the Strike Front

Jay Leno and striking scribe at NBC


Jay Leno visits NBC, bearing Krispy Kremes this morning


Leno meets the cameras at NBC's Bob Hope Drive. Leno said it was too soon to tell what will happen with “The Tonight Show” – dark for the time being – if a strike drags on. “We’ll take it one day at a time,” he said.


Julia Louis-Dreyfus lends her support at Warner Bros. “My husband is a member of the WGA and I’m a member of SAG, so I’m here in solidarity,” she said.


Toddler gets into the act at NBC


Picketers, carrying a mix of old and new WGA On Stike signs, at Warner Bros.


Strikers stock up on snacks and water at Warner Bros.


Big crowd at Disney, where "Lost" exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were among the writers marching outside.

For more details, check out Variety's strike blog here, and full coverage here.

Also, check me out talking about the strike tonight on ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson."