But, as it turned out, he was an incredibly classy and gracious presenter, wishing his show the best as it prepares to unveil its newest season (and its first without him).

Have a look at this speech, below:

“Fox did kill my NewsCorp hacking joke. Which sucks bc I think it would have made them look better. A little,” tweeted Baldwin this evening, before announcing that he was done with the bit. According to Entertainment Weekly, Fox claims the joke wasn’t cut by News Corp, but simply considered “in poor taste”:

On Thursday, Baldwin had tweeted “I did a short Emmy pretape a few days ago. Now they tell me NewsCorp may cut the funniest line.”

Apparently, Fox was uncomfortable including a joke that Baldwin made that had to do with Murdoch and the much-publicized phone-hacking scandal, and they had it cut from Baldwin’s script. When EW talked to Fox, the network was very clear that the decision to cut the joke was made at the Fox level — not by anyone at News Corp. Fox also claims that the reason the joke was cut was not because of Murdoch’s name, but because it was in poor taste to make light of the serious allegations surrounding the phone-hacking scandal.

Everyone’s favorite Hollywood liberal activist who also loves banks seems not to be buying that story, however, as his Twitter feed has been in overdrive for the past hour or so, culminating by telling his followers he wasn’t the first or last to go to the “media woodshed,” and taking and even tougher stance against News Corporation:

Tangled up in this rage were also some derisive comments about Citizens United.

While Fox seems to have released their definitive statement on the matter, Baldwin’s tweets will likely not be the last word on this, as Baldwin himself and his show, 30 Rock, is up for a few Emmys, and the most critical piece of this drama puzzle– the content of said “joke in poor taste”– is as of yet undisclosed.

I’ve been to the Emmys before, as you know, and I’ve gone and partaken before, just as a visitor. I’ve lost a lot. As you know. It’s a house full of losers. Just a House ‘O Losers. But we take it well.

Now, I know you’ve all had extensive experience with failure, but have you ever wondered what it must be like to be seated beside a losing nominee at an awards show? Talk about awkward. Arnett recalls a time when his wife lost, and he’d pointed at her saying, “Look at this loser.” (Fallon, cracking up at his desk, confirmed the story.)

He also tells a story involving Emmy night, a game of poker, and a wayward bicyclist. It’s all good stuff, and it serves to demonstrate an important lesson: Winning is great, sure, but having a caustic, sarcastic winning attitude is so much more important. *Twinkle.*

Take a look at the clip for yourself, from NBC:

He brought his guitar through the audience to introduce each mass category (drama, comedy, reality, etc.), but he also whipped through three costume changes for a farewell song to departing dramas – where he portrayed, among others, Elton John.

“Goodbye, 24,” started Fallon as Elton John, in an updated version to “Candle In The Wind.” Sample line: “I would like to thank you for all the torturin’, for Jack and Chloe and CTU, and the first Black president.”

Then Fallon changed into a Boyz II Men look for a Law & Order-related “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye” (complete with pouring one out for the loss) and followed that up with a Green Day inspired tribute to Lost. “The island it was mythical, but in the end they died, I didn’t understand it but I tried,” sang Billy Joe.

We’ll let these two tweets from TV critics sum up Fallon’s, and NBC’s, performance so far. Tim Cuprisin of OnMilwaukee.com: “Yeah, I’d say that, at least so far, Jimmy Fallon’s the biggest Emmy winner of the night.” Rick Porter of Zap2It.com: “This is *very* strange. The Emmys are both an entertaining show and awarding a lot of deserving people. You all are seeing this too, right?”

Here’s the full song:

—–
» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

But it wasn’t just the host and the high schoolers – Fallon’s opening included a bevy of TV stars…and Kate Gosselin.

Tina Fey was recruited to join the glee club, then Jon Hamm (after he was pulled away from Betty White). Gosselin tried to lend her dancing talents but was passed over. Also involved were Hurley from Lost (Jorge Garcia), Joel McHale and more. Fallon got changed, with the help of Tim Gunn of Project Runway, and it was time to perform.

After the pre-taped opening was over the whole cast came out to sing some Bruce Springsteen live. Even Kate Gosselin. Also – Randy Jackson? One notable absence – Neil Patrick Harris.

Twitter reaction was almost universally positive. Check out the opening:

—–
» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

Halderman, you will recall, saw his plot to blackmail Letterman with evidence of him having affairs with members of his staff dramatically foiled when Letterman himself went public with the legal case against Halderman and admitted the affairs were real. Halderman later pled guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail.

Besides blackmailing David Letterman, Halderman is also known for his role as producer for the story “American Girl, Italian Nightmare,” about the murder trial of Amanda Knox for  CBS’ “48 Hours Mystery.” The story has been nominated for an Emmy in the category Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine. Congratulations! It’s probably the best thing that has happened to Halderman since he began his jail term.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has also released the full list of nominees for news and documentary Emmys, which you can view here. Some notes: PBS had the most with 37, CBS was #2 with 31 and Keith Olbermann received one for his tribute to his mother.

[h/t TV Newser]

The program itself did not get the nomination, according to O’Reilly’s report, but, rather, the song that plays at the beginning of the episode, which has lyrics about Down Syndrome. After playing a refresher clip of the Family Guy episode for those who had forgotten, O’Reilly asks Hoover and Carlson: “Are the Emmys making a political statement of support for Family Guy‘s alleged attack on Palin by nominating the soundtrack to that particular episode for an award?”

Hoover sees a serious problem with the message it sends about special needs people in American society, and called it “rewarding people who are making special needs children the brunt of our jokes.” Even if the episode itself wasn’t nominated for content, the lyrical content of the theme song was enough to be seen as an endorsement of this type of humor.

Unlike her colleague, Carlson didn’t analyze the potential general messages the Emmy organization was sending out. She took the political route, and in no unambiguous terms called the move “a total attack on Sarah Palin, end of story,” by the academy that hands out nominations. She said that the reason Family Guy did not get what she would deem to be an appropriate reprimand, why they chose to air the story, and, later, why the powers-that-be who give Emmy nominees handed one to Family Guy was because Sarah Palin had a child with special needs and “Hollywood hates Sarah Palin.”

Video below:

NBC entered The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – which got zero nominations. This could get awkward when the Emmys air August 29 on, um, NBC.

The four nominations for Conan and crew included the two big ones, Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Series. The same five programs were nominated in each category – joining Conan’s Tonight Show are The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live and Real Time with Bill Maher. The writing nomination is for Conan’s final show (SNL‘s is for Betty White‘s turn as host.)

Then there were two more categories. The Tonight Show got an Outstanding Art Direction For Variety, Music Or Nonfiction Programming for the premiere, and fittingly, an Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Series nod for the final Tonight Show with O’Brien as host. Those two awards will be determined before the live broadcast on August 29.

Speaking of that live broadcast, just to make things even more awkward (and amazing), it isn’t just airing on NBC. It is hosted by Jimmy Fallon – the show that followed by Conan and Leno’s version of The Tonight Show.

We’ll have more in the coming weeks (just wait for Conan’s reaction tweet). For now, here’s all the nominees (a lot of Glee, a lot of The Pacific).

> Update: And here’s Conan’s tweet: “Congrats to my staff on 4 Emmy nominations. This bodes well for the future of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.”

—–
» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

Variety usually takes “for your consideration” advertising of this kind from networks trying to push their own shows, though having one network promote another is, to say the least, a bit strange– of course, not quite as strange as the situation that brought O’Brien to TBS in the first place. TBS is paying for two ads to run– neither referring to the fact that the Emmy would technically go to an NBC show. From the New York Times:

In a series of ads that will begin to appear in Tuesday’s editions of the Hollywood trade paper Variety — the traditional spot where paid “for your consideration” notices are placed — TBS is asking Emmy nominators to remember Mr. O’Brien.

One ad includes a large photo of Mr. O’Brien, reminiscent of one of the now-familiar “Team Coco” posters, and the message: “Give this man one more thing to Tweet about.” (Mr. O’Brien has built a legion of followers on Twitter with daily comic messages.) Another ad takes off on the comedian’s famous paleness by urging a vote for Mr. O’Brien for “Outstanding Achievement in the use of SPF 50.”

Besides being a nice housewarming gift, especially since one of the biggest concerns from the Late-Night wars seemed to be whether O’Brien was receiving enough support from his network, it’s a pretty smart promotional move. Should Conan win the Emmy, it would boost his stature in the TV world just as much as TBS’, and now NBC would not solely have forced the departure of a performer with a massive youth following, but of someone who won them an Emmy the year he found himself needing to depart. If he doesn’t win but gets nominated, possibly running against The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, his entry into the competition will dominate the news cycle. And in the worst-case scenario that the campaign amounts to nothing, they will have bridged at least part of the summer gap while keeping O’Brien in everyone’s minds until they can properly begin advertising his new fall show.

Well, duh.  Dr. Horrible’s eponymous NPH is hosting the show.  Plus, his singing was pretty much the most bearable part of this year’s Tony Awards (which he also hosted). But wait, there’s more! The internet sensation won a Creative Arts Emmy in the Outstanding Special Class – Short-Form Live-Action Entertainment Programs category (a category that seems purpose built for its winner).  And NPH’s internet alter ego has been tweeting threats and promises (“I’ve got it! I’ll use my interceptorizor to highjack the Emmy broadcast!”) about tonight’s performance for the last 24 hours.

So the Doctor Horrible number tonight promises to be big.  But what is probably bigger is what this foreshadows.  During a TV broadcast the primary purpose of which is to laud and promote other TV broadcasts, a huge TV audience (a large portion of which is likely to be wondering what Doogie Howser is doing on stage) is going to meet the good (ok, bad, but I’m rooting for him) Doctor for the first time.

But here’s the thing: Dr. Horrible is all about the death of TV as a medium.  An indie labor-of-love created as a side project during the writer’s strike, launched on the web, it became an immediate critical and financial success — entirely outside the traditional network distribution model.

In its initial limited run online, Dr. Horrible was steamed over 2 million times in just five days (and that number would be higher had demand not crashed the servers); today, its Amazon sales rank is #66 for Bestsellers, Movies & TV; with top ten rankings across all its sub-categories.   And a sequel (maybe even a feature?) is in the works.

But as huge as Dr. Horrible is (at least in certain circles), the real story here is that it has reached the critical mass that has made it the likely centerpiece of tonight’s Primetime Emmys perfomance without ever before being televised in any way.

Said Joss Whedon in his Emmy acceptance speech: “This is our small proof not only that things can be done differently in this business, but that the greatest expression of rebellion is joy.”

Makes you wonder how hard the audience of TV execs, stars, producers, writers and the like will really be clapping.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog:

Joss Whedon Emmy Acceptance Speech for Dr. Horrible:


Ash Kalb is the general counsel of a New York-based telecommunications and technology company and an instrument-rated pilot. He writes about geeky things for Mediaite.

1. How do you get your first news of the day?

Every morning our condo crier gallops up to the lobby, rings his handbell, shouts “Oyez!,” and declaims the headlines.

2. What’s the biggest story the media has missed this year? (Or last week)?

If the media hadn’t been so busy serving its own base commercial self-interest, it might have spent more time promoting my new book What to Expect When You’re Expected: A Fetus’s Guide to the First Three Trimesters, available October 13.

3. “Either, Or” Question: (you gotta pick one!):

Leno or CSI?

As a comedy writer, when I come home after a long day, the last thing I want to see is more comedy. So Leno.

Glenn Beck or Beatles Rock Band?

Glenn Beck, but only from his innocent pre-Maharishi days.

“I AM GOING TO SHOVE THIS FUCKING BALL DOWN YOUR FUCKING THROAT!” or “YOU LIE!”?

As a pre-coital remark, both seem equally mood-killing.

Emmys or Oscars?

Nobels. Don’t pigeonhole me, Sklar.

Stewart or Colbert?

Ah, trying to play “Gotcha!”, are we? Well, I won’t fall for it. Both men are talentless frauds.

4. Are you on Twitter? Describe yourself in 140 characters or less:

I am a comedy writer with a decidedly antidisestablishmentarian bent, free of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, who… dammit!

5. Our usual question here is, “Are you nervous or excited about the future of Journalism?” You may, if you choose, elect “Are you nervous or excited about the future of Musical Theater?”

Excited. I believe that with regards to musical theater, somethin’s comin’; and, by all accounts, that somethin’ is good.

Learn more about Javerbaum and his book here, and if you didn’t get that last line, educate yourself here. Oh, and follow him on Twitter as an unborn fetus here.

But Harris’ career has also been magical. In the past five years, Harris has both come out publicly and played a rough-around-the-edges lech on CBS’ How I Met Your Mother. And during his transformation from Doogie Howser to gay grown-up, Harris has magically remained somebody that straight men kind identify with and women can fall for.

That’s the angle of Emily Nussbaum’s cover story in this week’s New York magazine which catches up with Harris in the middle of his prepwork as a producer and host of this Sunday’s Emmy Awards.

Still, he’s trying to insert his taste into the proceedings. He’d love this year’s installment to be the “Classy Emmys,” he says, with self-mocking air quotes. Superb dancing. Uncheesy musical guests. He originally wanted the Muppets for the opening number—Statler and Waldorf up in the balcony!—but that plan proved too difficult to stage.

When she’s not discussing Harris’ maturation as an actor or involvement in Emmys, Nussbaum picks the brain of Harris, the cute child star who grappled with his sexuality for years before eventually coming out to his fans in People magazine in 2006. Since speaking out about his private life, Harris has maintained a five-year relationship that he doesn’t try to hide and somehow maintained his golden boy persona and protected, nay expanded, his professional possibilities.

The idea all along has been to acknowledge the fact of his sexuality, then change the subject to his talent. Still, there was a kind of alchemy involved. Maybe it was Harris’s easy style of masculinity, at once unthreatening and seductive. Maybe the timing was right, coming after he’d proved he was more than a Trivial Pursuit punch line. Or maybe he’d learned, from his own extended personal coming-out process, how to handle the expectations of a wider audience …

“One wants to be sexy to everyone.” It’s one advantage of coming out, [Harris] tells me: “As Barney, I get to make out with all sorts of girls. And I’m allowed to say that women are sexy and not have them say, ‘That’s not true!’ But I’m now in a really fun position, where I can tell a guy that he’s sexy, and most”—he raises an eyebrow—“aren’t put off by that.”

Harris went on the Late Show earlier this month, and Letterman was noticeably rattled by how sharp his guest was — even grumbling that Harris was doing his own segues. But we’ll have to wait until this weekend to see if Harris can maintain the hype, maintain his confidence, keep the magic alive. After all, the Emmys are no Tony Awards — and definitely no World Magic Awards.

Neil Patrick Harris’s recent Letterman appearance(September 4, 2009):

NPH on doing magic tricks (and wearing a sweater vest) on Ellen: