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

MIKE ON KCRW: Talking UTA/CAA, Trevor Noah, Mad Men and More

On this Monday's edition of The Business, Kim Masters and I bantered about several topics including:

- News that South African comedian Trevor Noah would be the new host of The Daily Show following Jon Stewart's departure was at first greeted with enthusiasm and excitement. Then, just as quickly, the backlash came. Should some racist, sexist and unfunny tweets from years ago keep Noah from taking over as host? For now, Comedy Central is standing by their man.


- A group of agents from CAA suddenly defect and move to UTA, taking some big name comedy clients like Chris Pratt and Will Ferrell with them. These types of moves are rare in the industry and will likely be the start of a protracted legal battle.


- More details emerge in the partnership between the Huayi brothers and STX studios. Their focus is going to me on making mid-range budget movies, an area that's been overshadowed as studios focus more on super-hero blockbusters.

Listen by clicking below:





On last Thursday's Hollywood Breakdown, Kim Masters and I talked all about UTA's raid of CAA:

The Hollywood talent agency known as the "Death Star" suffered an unwelcome surprise this week when a handful of CAA's most powerful agents jumped ship and landed at rival agency UTA. Ten agents have left, and there may be more to come. Included in the move are agents Jason Heyman and Martin Lesak, who ran CAA's comedy division, and take with them clients like Will Ferrell, Chris Pratt, Melissa McCarthy and Ed Helms. Insiders speculate that the move came down to money and agents hoping they could get more of it, along with additional opportunities at UTA. Major agent moves like this are rare within the industry and could be the onset of a protracted legal battle. 

Listen below:




On Monday's Press Play with Madeleine Brand, Indiewire's Liz Shannon Miller and I discussed:

Mad Men isn’t the only show grabbing viewers' attention. AMC’s Better Call Saul, a spin-off of Breaking Bad, is wrapping up its first season tonight. Also, a lesser-known show called Outlander, which is based on a series of novels set in 18th century Scotland, begins a new season on Starz. We discuss those and the much talked about revival of Twin Peaks, which may now be heading to the valley of the damned.

Listen below:

L.A. CAMEO: Here's Where "Mad Men" Shot Those Burger Chef Scenes

My pal Pat over at Eating LA asked me the other day where "Mad Men" shot Sunday's Burger Chef scenes -- including the moment where Don, Peggy and Pete dig into some greasy burgers. I checked with the "Mad Men" folks, and they could only tell me that it was shot at an empty restaurant in Rialto, Calif.

A quick bit of Google searches later, I finally found Roadside Peak's 2005 mention of Rialto's Jim's Burgers. A bit more Googling, and I got the address and then a Google Images snapshot from 2012 (above).



Yep, this is it, spruced up quite nice. Here's the cool part: This actually once was a Burger Chef location. Just about as authentic as you can get! Here's an illustration of what the Burger Chef restaurants once looked like:



The former Jim's Burgers location can be found at 765 East Foothill Boulevard -- that's Route 66, adding even more classic flair -- in Rialto. (Here's the Yelp entry.) It looks a lot nicer now than this photo of the interior uploaded in 2011. Hell, someone ought to take advantage of the newly restored joint and actually revive Burger Chef there!



Franklin Avenue was last in Rialto to visit the famed Wigwam Motel (the one with the teepee hotel rooms) on Route 66, for Chris Nichols' birthday. Read all about it here. Also, check out more of our "Mad Men" location scouting here.

And now, a montage of classic Burger Chef spots. Maybe Peggy and Don came up with a few of these?



Photo credits: Justina Mintz/AMC

L.A Cameo: Here's Where "Mad Men" Went In Episode 2

Not a lot of location shooting on this week's episode of Mad Men, "A Day's Work." But in one early scene, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) meets with Dave Wooster (David James Elliott) at a restaurant/bar -- and in real life, it was easy to tell where the scene was actually shot: Downtown's P.E. Cole's, one of the oldest still-operating restaurants (along with rival Philippe the Original) in town.



Mad Men loves Cole's. Here's a 2010 post I did on Cole's and other L.A. eateries that have appeared on the show.

OK, now, I have to admit, I couldn't place the diner where Don and Sally eat and have their big father/daughter breakthrough:



I know I'm going to kick myself when one of you tells me. So do share!

UPDATE: Michael Pop ‏sent me a Tweet to let me know that the diner was Colonial Kitchen in San Marino! And so it is:

L.A. Cameo: Here Are the Actual Sites From "Mad Men's" Season 7 Premiere

On AMC's "Mad Men," not only does Los Angeles play New York, but it sometimes gets to play itself too. We've chronicled quite a few "Mad Men" shooting locations over the years, including the Victorian home in last season's finale that doubled for Don Draper's childhood whorehouse. Now "Mad Men" is back for its seventh and final season, and it looks like the show will rely even more on Los Angeles locales (now that some of the show's characters actually reside in the 1969 version of our city). Above, you can see Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in front of one of the 1960s-era tile mosaics found at LAX. Here are more sites from episode 1:



(Sorry for the bad coloring here... for some reason I had a difficult time taking screen shots last night.) Above and below, Megan Draper (Jessica Pare) picks up her hubby Don at the Trans World Airlines terminal at LAX.

Here's a pull back shot of LAX from the episode. BUT wait a sec... that's not LAX at all! It's actually the old terminal at Ontario International Airport. Yep, although the shot of Don on the people mover was indeed filmed at LAX, the outdoor scene between Megan and Don was filmed many miles away in Ontario.



Above and below, here's Terminal One now, which is used for offices and storage.



Film shoots at the Ontario airport are also a regular sight -- "Argo" filmed its airport scenes here.



Above and below, Don and Megan meet Megan's new Los Angeles agent at a fancy restaurant. It's never revealed where they're supposed to be. Maybe Scandia? Chasen's?



In real life, the scene was shot at the infamous Dresden Room on Los Feliz, made famous by "Swingers" and still the home of Marty and Elayne!



The Dresden has been around since 1954, so maybe that indeed is where Megan and Don were dining.



Above and below, Joan (Christina Hendricks) meets Wayne Barnes (Dan Byrd) for drinks at a New York restaurant.



Of course, most Angelenos could spot that it actually was the Biltmore Hotel's Gallery Bar (below).



"Few bars in Los Angeles enjoy the fame of the Biltmore's Gallery Bar," the hotel proudly states.



California Pete hits the famous Canter's on Fairfax.



Not much needed to be changed on this Canter's shoot; as seen below, the restaurant still looks like it's from a bygone era.



I'm bummed a young Rodney Bingenheimer didn't walk by. But other than that, a stellar week one for L.A. cameos in "Mad Men."

The Night I Stared Down Jon Hamm

I stared down Jon Hamm.

It's one of those kinda weird career highlights, I suppose. On Friday night, while moderating the PaleyFest's "Mad Men" panel, an audience member asked the cast about the show's use of silence as a dramatic tool. I turned to Hamm, who decided to take the question literally and jokingly sit there -- staring back at me, in silence. I stared back. He stayed quiet. It quickly turned into a staring contest. "Oh, we're doing this!" I exclaimed.

A little bit of backstory: I never lose staring contests. For some reason, I don't blink. People tease me for my TV appearances, in which I never seem to blink. It's kind of weird. But handy when you're suddenly locked in a staring contest with Jon Hamm (who, I learned later, is also a bit of a master of the game). Seconds tick away. The audience starts to laugh, then cheer, as they realize that we're both in it to win it.

Finally, I ask the crowd, "Should we stop?" About a minute had passed, and they agreed the game was up. Still, I wasn't ready. But Hamm blinked -- and I moved on. Now, Jon Hamm being a superstar and me being a nobody, many of the write-ups about the panel declared him the winner. But I know the truth.

Of course, I should say it was more like a draw. Hamm knew it was time to move on. Later, "Mad Men" creator Matt Weiner told me that Hamm is the most competitive person he knows, and that he would have "punched you in the stomach to win." Who would have really won? I guess that will remain unanswered.

Still, it was quite a highlight among all of the panels I've done over the years. Everyone on stage was great, by the way: Elisabeth Moss is warm, funny and truly nice; Christina Hendricks was great; Vincent Kartheiser stole the show several times; so did veteran Robert Morse; Kiernan Shirpka, who grew up on "Mad Men," is wise beyond her years; and Jessica Pare is a pro.

Here are more pics (courtesy the Paley Center) from my evening with MAD MEN:



















A few recaps of the night:

Zap2It

Hitfix

Yahoo TV

Rotten Tomatoes

TV.com

Variety

Next up, I'm moderating "Community" at the PaleyFest this Wednesday.