The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and Governors Kate Linder and David Michaels along with the Daytime Programming Peer Group Executive Committee hosted a cocktail reception honoring the nominees for the 36th Daytime Emmy Awards and the nominees for Outstanding Animation for the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.

The event took place at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre, which had been transformed into a comfortable indoor/outdoor summer-themed lounge area. Traditionally, the Daytime celebration and Primetime Animation party are separate, but I loved that they combined the event.  It was great to see familiar faces and friends who are still working in Daytime on both “Days of Our Lives” and “The Young and The Restless“, not to mention all the wonderful cast and crew members from “Robot Chicken” and other friends in the Animation peer group that attended.  Congratulations and good luck to David Millbern, it’s his first nomination as one of the producers on  “The Ribbon of Hope Celebration“, which was nominated in the Outstanding Special Class Special category.

The Daytime Emmy Awards will air on the CW network on August 30^th.  The Primetime Emmy Awards will air on Sunday, September 20^th, on CBS.

Tags: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, ATAS / TV Academy Events

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences hosted the 4th All-Academy Mixer, celebrating the Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Downtown Los Angeles.

Costume design from: “Castle“, “Coco Chanel“, “Dancing with the Stars“, “Ghost Whisperer“, “Grey Gardens“, “John Adams“, “The L Word“, “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency“, “Project Runway“, “Sense & Sensibility“, “The Tudors“, “United States of Tara” and “Without a Trace“.

Costume design is one of the main visual components that can make a big impact on the overall essence of the characters being depicted in any production. By adding colors and textures to the wardrobe elements, costume designers can make choices that set the tone to establish both a timeline and emotional tone of any scene, enabling the audience to be captivated by engaging characters in suspended reality when watching television, movies and even stage performances.

Of the costumes on display, some were from the collections of the nominees for this year’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Costume Design.  Jo Katsaras and Zureta Schulz, were featured for their work on “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency”, as well as Joan Bergin and Susan O’Connor Cave, for their work on “The Tudors” since they are all nominees for Outstanding Costumes for a Series.  Nominated for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, Catherine Marie Thomas and Mickey Carleton had work on display from HBO’s “Grey Gardens”.   Donna Zakowska and Amy Andrew Harrell, Emmy winners for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special from 2008, had costumes from HBO’s “John Adams” still on display.

I’m a detail-oriented person, so I loved being able to see the incredible handwork on some of the costumes, many of which had embellishments like beading or special notions and trim.  It was also really interesting to read about how each designer approached the theme of the show that they worked on and incorporated those ideas into their designs, which was noted on some of the displays.  For example, the designers from “Gossip Girl” had the opportunity to create designs for an episode that had a fashion show scripted, in which they featured their own originals.  And the highlight for me was being able to attend this event with my favorite young, up and coming designer, Alexandra Yeaggy.

The 2009 Creative Arts Emmy Awards will take place on Saturday, September 12^th at the NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE, Los Angeles.  The show will be broadcast on E! Networks on Friday, September 18, at 1:00 pm, so tune in to see this year’s winners.  Highlights of the costumes from the 14 different shows can be seen in the online gallery.

Tags: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Alex Yeaggy, Fashion

The cast of the Emmy-nominated “Family Guy” performed a live table read of their controversial episode, titled “Partial Terms of Endearment”, for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences members at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.

Getting a glimpse into the creative process by actually seeing these talented actors perform directly from their scripts in front of a live audience was a real treat.  During the act breaks, Seth McFarlane, along with other cast members, entertained us with different songs that they performed in character, accompanied by a full orchestra. After the table read, there was a panel discussion where the actors and creative team answered questions from the audience.

“Family Guy” is nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award as Outstanding Comedy Series, which makes it the first animated show in the Comedy Series category since “The Flintstones” back in 1961.  If you’re a fan of the show, James Hibberd’s The Live Feed website has posted a video clip from the table read, but be forewarned that the video clip does contain adult language and content.  Apparently, the table read will be available on the DVD when the current season is released.

Tags: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Family Guy

Congratulations to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who has recently been nominated again for an Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for portraying “Christine Campbell” in “The New Adventures of Old Christine“.

This SAG Foundation Event screened two episodes of the show - “Rage Against The Christine” and “Everybody Loves Christine, Except Richie” and was followed by an interview with Julia by event moderator / writer Jenelle Riley.   After the episodes were screened, Julia Louis-Dreyfus talked about the progression of her career from her start at Northwestern University, which led her to booking a contract role on “Saturday Night Live“.

Later, when Julia talked about creating the character of “Elaine” on “Seinfeld“, her advice to actors about the creation process was to “look for business between the lines”, she said.  She also described comedic timing as being similar to the rhythm that one might hear in music, to help explain how it can feel organic for some actors to relate to those types of characters when they read material in a script.  What I enjoy the most about Julia’s acting work is her knack for physical comedy, coupled with the ability to retain the likeability of the slightly flawed characters she often portrays.

Tags: Acting, SAG Foundation Events