Nominees and presenters. Winners and losers. The stars and soon-to-be known all came out to the Sunset Strip’s chic Mondrian hotel for the Entertainment Tonight Emmy Party sponsored by People magazine.
The awards show was still rolling, but that didn’t keep the early arrivals away from the press line. Admittedly, the early birds didn’t catch the show. They were too busy primping for the party. Though they all vowed to tune into their TIVO at the end of the evening.
Jane Seymour was one of the early arrivals. She curtly told me, “I’m hoping to bump into some friends and celebrate the excellence in television,” before darting toward the party. Following her lead, a number of television alums posed for the paparazzi. Patricia Richardson (Strong Medicine, Home Improvement) showed off her twin son and daughter, gloating: “They look so beautiful.” Wonder Years star Danica McKellar plugged her upcoming made-for-television movie with Everwood‘s Chris Pratt, in which she “gets to save the world.”
Things got interesting when Kathy Griffin told a fashion magazine, “You always pick on me.” But not this evening! She was all “dolled up” in a purple dress and high heels, though she admitted she’s normally “more of a sweatpants kind of gal.” Never short on an opinion, a few highlights from the Kathy chat included:
On red carpets: “It’s a pageant. It’s silly. It’s a slightly classier Miss America. Half of these bitches will walk in in a swimsuit if you paid them.” On the party scene: “These parties are my dream come true for material. It’s a lot of celebrities feeling very self important and worrying too much about their outfit. I’m hoping somebody gets hammered and somebody pukes. Somebody falls down. Somebody has sex in the bathroom. That’s where I come in.” On her most memorable moment: “I flipped off [entertainment executive] Jeff Zucker. That was fun. I was like, ‘Jeff.’ I yelled for him and he turned around. I flipped him the bird.”
At least Griffin speaks her mind, unlike most cookie cutter conversations with the press. She later joined her E! pre-show co-host Carson Kressly (of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) on the carpet after he threatened, “Get over here before I mess up you hair.” She obliged.
The American Idol crew was also on hand. When asked about the Emmy’s Idol tribute, Randy Jackson admitted, “I did not love it. I love that they did it. It was good for us, but god. I would’ve been better singing it.” Paula Abdul‘s disagreed with her co-judge. She thought, “It was done in great humor and great taste. It was a lot of fun.”
Clay Aiken wasn’t part of the tribute, but he had his own taste of the Emmys on the show’s carpet. He confessed, “I stepped on Eva Longoria‘s dress and that was the closest I’ll probably ever get to her again. That was pretty exciting.” Did the Desperate housewife pull a diva act? No way! “She was very nice. She didn’t care. She wiped the dirt off and gave me a hug and it was great.”
Longoria shared an equally sweet moment at the ET/People party. Though she didn’t stop to chat with all press, she took a moment to pose with two female fans who’d snuck into the press line for their own little photo op. Little did they realize, she’d be happy to pose with them. Longoria grabbed their personal camera, handed it to a paparazzi member, and asked, “You look professional. Could you take a picture for us?”
The other housewives didn’t seem to be in sight; though present in spirit. Winner Felicity Huffman was all anyone could talk about for the later part of the evening. That is, until Patricia Arquette arrived with her statue in hand. She humbly divulged, “I thought [winning] was a real long shot so I never got attached to the idea of it happening. When I got on stage, I thought, ‘I thought they said my name. Maybe they said someone else’s name. They’re all looking at me because they’re embarrassed that I created this spectacle.'” When pressed for fashion details, Arquette claimed, “I went begging for a borrowed dress from someone. We were going to design a dress. We couldn’t get it together in time. And my son said it’d be embarrassing to use his old drawings.”
Arquette wasn’t short on celebrity support. No stranger to the Emmys, her show Medium‘s executive producer Kelsey Grammer decided last minute to join the party: “We were just sitting there watching [the Emmys] on TV in my kitchen and Patricia won so we said, ‘All right. Let’s go throw some clothes on.'”
Stockard Channing‘s new TV co-star, Christopher Gorham of Out of Practice, also attended last minute to show his support: “I’ve got to find Stockard Channing. She didn’t win tonight so I need to give her a hug. She’s amazing. She certainly doesn’t need it. People will enjoy seeing her do comedy again. Enough of the West Wing with the drama and tears. It’s time for some laughs.” Smiling, he slipped into the party.
With an Earth, Wind, and Fire performance under way inside, it was time check out the party internally. And with that, I joined the nominees and presenters. Winners and losers. The stars and soon-to-be known.
