Emmy Central: Afterward, It Was All About the Parties

Sep 27, 2004 • Post A Comment

Emmy Awards

Governors Ball

Presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

Location: Shrine Auditorium Expo Hall, Los Angeles

Type: After-party

Stars who attended: Chris Rock, Larry David, Billy Crystal, Tyne Daly, James Belushi, Jon Stewart, Chris Noth, Helen Mirren, Martin Sheen, Jeffrey Tambor, Carson Kressley, Matthew Fox and many more

Executives/industry types who attended: HBO’s Chris Albrecht, Sony’s Sir Howard Stringer, Yair Landau and Steve Mosko, Viacom’s Leslie Moonves, E!’s Ted Harbert, NBC’s Kevin Reilly, “Sex and the City’s” Darren Star, The WB’s Garth Ancier and David Janollari, Fox’s Gail Berman, Imagine’s Ron Howard and Brian Grazer and “Ray” director Taylor Hackford

Ambience: The whimsical, romantic theme was “The Imagery of Television,” with a 1960s retro look. Four 35-foot-tall structures were erected around the huge room, with a massive circular truss and sconces; 72 plasma screens that showed original and historical footage and clips and scenes from the just-concluded award show. Some tables had pale-green silk chair covers, napkins and tablecloths. Floral displays around the room and on the tables were in high-tech green containers that caught the light, giving the illusion of floating flowers

Food: Heirloom tomato tartar with Dungeness crabmeat salad, steak au poivre with rock shrimp mashed potatoes, corn and spinach flan with brandy tarragon sauce. For dessert, created just for this event, television de chocolat milk chocolate mousse with cremeux passion, croquant feuilletine and passion fruit juice. Served with chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and champagne

Entertainment: The Wayne Bergeron Orchestra featuring Mark Copeland and Cassie Miller; and The Combolux Latin Band

The buzz: There was a general feeling that the Emmys show was a better, faster-paced show than last year, and host Garry Shandling helped make it more fun. Everybody loved the bit with the “real” man and woman brought in to present the award for best reality-competition program. Most could have lived without the bit involving Mr. Shandling, Ray Romano and Chris Rock in the men’s room

Fun factor: It was both fun and unusual to see movie stars and Broadway stars mixing with TV stars. The most requested drink at the bar was the Time Code Cocktail (a blue concoction of Vox Raspberry Vodka, lemonade and cranberry juice). Every place setting included a silver box of chocolates and a picture frame engraved with “Emmys 2004.”

-Alex Ben Block

Showtime party

Hosted by Matt Blank and Bob Greenblatt

Location: Morton’s Restaurant on Melrose in West Hollywood

Type: Viewing party and after-party

Stars who attended: Emmy nominees James Brolin (with wife Barbra Streisand), Glenn Close and William H. Macy, Tyne Daly, Kirstie Alley (the star of “Fat Actress” premiering later this year on Showtime), Patrick Stewart, Benito Martinez of FX’s “The Shield,” Matthew Fox of ABC’s “Lost,” Hank Azaria (who has a new show, “!Huff,” premiering on Showtime in November), Jon Cryer and stand-up comedian Andre Kelly (who will star with Kathy Griffin in a reality series on Showtime in February)

Executives/industry types who attended: Mr. Blank, Mr. Greenblatt and Richard Licata, corporate communications chief for Showtime, and Dave Collins, executive producer of “Stealing Sinatra,” for which Mr. Macy was nominated

Ambience: The Showtime logo was carved into the ivy on the back wall with a spotlight on the S-H-O part. There were flat-screen TVs outside and a huge projection TV set up inside for partygoers to watch the Emmys. Dress was a mix of formal and semi-formal.

Food: Hors d’oeuvres including quesadillas, crab cakes, chicken skewers, sashimi and vegetable spring rolls. The main course was offered buffet-style and featured serving salad, steak and salmon.

Entertainment: Art Deco band

The buzz: Despite HBO’s “Angels in America” and “The Sopranos” sweeping many awards, the people at Showtime were very happy about their Emmy nominations and were already looking to the future and upcoming shows. Bob Greenblatt said he was pleased with the Emmy nominations for Showtime this year and said that despite HBO’s success with original programming, Showtime would continue to do its own thing. “I don’t worry about HBO. They put a lot of money behind their shows,” he said about the pressure to compete with HBO in original programming. “We are going to continue to be choosy and selective about what we put on the air.” Mr. Macy was nominated for best supporting actor in a miniseries or movie for his role in “Stealing Sinatra,” but he lost to Jeffrey Wright from the Emmy sweeper in the long-form category, “Angels in America.” During the viewing portion of the party, before the category was announced, Dave Collins, who executive produced “Stealing Sinatra,” commented about going up against such strong competition from HBO. He praised Mr. Macy for his “phenomenal” acting ability as well as his friendly, down-to-earth off-screen persona, but said, “We don’t stand a chance. It’s fun now to anticipate a win, but I don’t think it will happen.”

Fun factor: The party was very crowded and very loud for a long time, always signs of a successful gathering.

-Juliana Shallcross

Fox party

Location: Spago in Beverly Hills

Type: After-party

Stars who attended: Sharon Stone, James Spader, William Shatner, Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Bateman, Jessica Walter, Aisha Tyler, Portia de Rossi, Francesca Gregorini, Cloris Leachman, Nicole Richie

Executives/industry types who attended: Hosts 20th Century Fox Television Presidents Dana Walden and Gary Newman; Fox Broadcasting Entertainment President Gail Berman; Fox 21 President Jane Leisner; Imagine’s Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, David Nevins and Katie O’Connell; 20th Century Fox TV’s Patrick Moran, Quan Phung and Lisa Katz; Wonderland Sound & Vision President Peter Johnson, Fox network’s Samie Kim, Susan Levinson and Jonathan Wax; DreamWorks Television’s Justin Falvey; and UTA’s Matt Rice

Food: Plenty of Wolfgang Puck signatures, including mini-hamburgers, mushroom risotto in mini-coffee cups, Chinese chicken salad in takeout containers, beef satay and a full sushi bar

Entertainment: DJ A.M. was spinning a fair share of ’80s remix, including music by Prince and Hall & Oates.

The buzz: A happy mood with wins for “Arrested Development” and 20th Century Fox TV’s “The Practice” star James Spader. The patio broke into cheers with the replay of the best comedy win. William Shatner was holding court at a table toward the back of the restaurant, near the reserved booths for top network and studio execs. “I bet him $10 he was going to win” Mr. Shatner said of Mr. Spader. “He thought [`The Sopranos’ star James] Gandolfini would win. Not only did my friend and fellow actor on `Boston Legal’ win, but I made $10.” A “stunned” Mr. Spader said he was glad he didn’t owe Mr. Shatner more than $10. “If Bill hadn’t set the price, I would have bet a lot more on James Gandolfini,” he said.

Fun factor: Most unexpectedly celebratory of the Emmy parties, owing to the wins of “Arrested Development” and Mr. Spader

-Christopher Lisotta

`Et’/People party

Location: Mondrian Hotel on the Sunset Strip

Type: After-party

Stars who attended: Simon Cowell, Fran Drescher, Kelsey Grammer, Tom Green, Allison Janney, Anthony LaPaglia, George Lopez, David Hyde Pierce, Patricia Richardson, Jason Ritter, Diana Ross, Ryan Seacrest and four of the “Queer Eye” Fab Five: Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia and Carson Kressley

Executives/industry types who attended: “Entertainment Tonight’s” Linda Bell Blue, People magazine Managing Editor Martha Nelson, Viacom’s Leslie Moonves with “The Early Show’s” Julie Chen, “The O.C.’s” Josh Schwartz and many others

Ambience: Indoor/outdoor fanny-bumper packed with so many twenty- and thirty-something operators that admissions were slowed to a trickle for a time. Gorgeous setting with a fabulous vista of Los Angeles, plenty of bars and mountains of food. Most popular spot: The Revlon Beauty Bar, where all sorts of free makeup was dispensed. Most unusual spot: The candy station, w
hich offered towers of M&Ms in exotic colors, including violet, turquoise and gray. Most claustrophobic spot: jammed-to-the-rafters Skybar, which had been especially redesigned for the occasion as part of a “Designers’ Challenge” episode scheduled to air on HGTV in November. Big downer: Forty-minute wait for cars at the end of the evening. Mitigating factor: Deluxe zippered leather goodie bags in red, tan, brown or black crammed with 30 pounds of grooming supplies, candy, tea, CDs, DVDs, gift certificates and more.

Food: Specially designed menu by on-premises Asia de Cuba’s executive chef included five-spiced New York strip steak, yucca-crusted miso-glazed grilled chicken and panko-crusted shiitake mushroom sandwiches, sweet-soy-lacquered BBQ salmon, citrus salad and chocolate-covered strawberries

Entertainment: Goo Goo Dolls in the outdoor living room, plus celebrity karaoke inside at Asia de Cuba benefiting Rock the Vote. Highlights: The “Queer Eye” guys and Pat O’Brien singing “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” and Tom Green warbling Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby.”

The buzz: “Just exactly who is Elaine Stritch again?”; “Can you believe they didn’t start the orchestra during Pacino’s speech?”; “I’m amazed John Ritter didn’t get it.”

Fun factor: Hands down the hippest location of all the Emmy parties. A human chain formed to provide a barricade against the crowd for the Goo Goo Dolls’ entrance added suspense and drama to the evening.

-Tom Gilbert

HBO party

Location: Pacific Design Center courtyard in West Hollywood

Type: After-party

Stars who attended: Pretty much every actor from every 2004 HBO series, movie or special was in attendance. Unlike last year, when many of HBO’s illuminati made obligatory appearances, a spectacular winning year kept many performers planted in the network’s tent after picking up their trophies. Sarah Jessica Parker, James Gandolfini, Drea de Matteo, Chris Rock, Al Pacino, Sharon Stone, Larry David, Ellen DeGeneres, Matthew Broderick and many more were on hand.

Executives/industry types who attended: HBO Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht, HBO Films President Colin Callender and Executive VP of Original Programming Carolyn Strauss; “The Sopranos” partner Brad Grey; and “Deadwood” creator David Milch

Ambience: Appropriately, everything was coming up roses. HBO erected a large tent and scattered tables and couches were enclosed by myriad open bars and buffet stations. Roses were projected onto the tent ceiling and rose pedals were scattered on the tables. Everything else was rose-red-including the sofas, pillows, table clothes, candles, champagne flutes and more. Party designer Billy Butchkavitz said the red theme was inspired by the Pacific Design Center itself. Architect Cesar Pelli originally designed the center to include a green, a blue and a red building. With only the blue and green currently built, Mr. Butchkavitz temporarily erected a red edifice to complete the effect.

Food: Tasty, if theme-free, mascarpone lasagne, halibut, roasted potatoes, heirloom tomato and hearts of romaine salads

Entertainment: In a room stuffed with stars, any distracting entertainer would have been quickly hushed. That said, the outdoor section of the party included a dance floor and tunes spun by Qool DJ Marv, who was flown in from New York for the occasion. Only a few souls were brave enough to take to the dance floor, but those who did often carried the rather neat hand-held glow balls that were readily available on nearby tables.

The buzz: Victory. While monitors played clips of HBO talent accepting their trophies, attendees savored the moments. Some noted, however, that with the epic sweep of nominations for “Angels in America” and the absence of “Sex and the City” and “Sopranos” next year, those moments are going to be tough to replicate.

Fun factor: The undisputed champion of 2004 post-Emmy parties, the experience was entirely dependent upon one’s attitude toward celebrities. With more than 2,000 in attendance, being in the jam-packed main tent was to feel like a pinball bounced between Al Swearengen, Samantha Jones and Paulie Walnuts.

-James Hibberd

TV Guide Emmy party