It is Emmy night, my friends, and I've just returned from the Nokia Theater courtyard where I baked in the sun for approximately four hours, just hoping to score some one-on-one time with a few of our TV favorites before the show began. I mean, yes, the red carpet madness was fun, but you have to understand that everyone was melting whilst waving to the cameras and conducting interviews. The Office's Oscar Nunez felt my pain: "It's just amazing that every time we do this, it's like the hottest day of the year. And I always make the mistake of wearing thermal underwear. Why?! Why?!"

Since Oscar was more interested in the Nokia's air conditioning than in answering my questions about The Office, I turned to the always lovely Kate Flannery, who agreed to spoil me just slightly: "The first episode, which premieres this Thursday, is called "Weight Loss" and we all had to step on the scale when we filmed it. Everyone could see your weight on a giant monitor, it was like, omigod! I have not eaten since, which is actually why I was able to get into this dress. But yes, there's some interesting Meredith stuff coming up. In this first episode, she has a little bit of a natural disaster. The second episode, called "Business Ethics," is really about Meredith's ethical misconduct... so, yeah, oops."

As for Meredith's coworker, the calm, cool -- some may say mentally slow -- Kevin, his portrayer Brian Baumgartner told me there will be some stirring developments in the Kevin-Holly storyline this week. Will Dunder-Mifflin's new HR lady read Kev's file and realize that his brain actually functions at the same mental level as Michael Scott's? Maybe. But Brian said that no matter what happens, Kevin's hopes of banging her will never die. Perhaps he'll serenade Holly. Word is Kev's band Scrantonicity will soon make an encore appearance on the show.

I spotted Gene Stupnitsky, an Emmy-nominated writer for The Office, at the side of girlfriend Amanda Walsh -- who you may recognize from guest spots on Smallville, Veronica Mars and October Road -- and thought I might've hit the spoiler jack pot, but he was media shy and declined to do any interviews. Still, he stopped and spoke with me while Amanda did the press rounds. He told me that at 31, he's clearly getting old, because his biggest concerns before going to last night's Entertainment Weekly pre-Emmy party were how difficult it would be to park and access the bathroom. Stupnitsky -- who's been hired to pen the next Ghostbusters movie with writing partner Lee Eisenberg -- is an Emmy pro, having been through the experience three times. He said if the show wins, he'd get a little bit excited, but if the show loses, he'd be really upset and just pissed that he didn't stay home to watch The Bears game instead...

And on that note, let's talk 30 Rock! The man, the myth, Mr. Toofer (aka Keith Powell) came in from New York for the weekend to do the whole Emmy thing and told me he's totally into Zap2it, saying he pops by to check the ratings on our site regularly. Still riding high from yesterday's 30 Rock bash hosted by Vanity Fair and Perry Ellis, Powell was pumped about the free alcohol and fun excuse to party with his coworkers in L.A. He used the opportunity to ask his boss, the freakin amazing Tina Fey, about her upcoming scenes with the one-and-only Ms. Oprah Winfrey: "I was just talking with Tina last night and she was telling me how she shot with [Oprah] last Saturday and literally went straight from shooting with Oprah to doing [her] Sarah Palin [impression] on Saturday Night Live! What an insane day. This woman is super woman. I have a big crush on Tina Fey. I'm not going to ruin any surprises for her Oprah episode, but let me tell ya, it is crazy. There is some great stuff that happens that I think people are going to be talking about for awhile."

However, Powell's costar Judah Friedlander will not be one of those people. "Oprah who?," he had the audacity of uttering. "I'm not familiar with this Oprah," Maulik Pancholy, aka Jonathan, Jack Donaghy's crack assistant, echoed. Turns out there's some bad blood between the boys and the Big O. "Security was very tight [during the filming of Oprah's scenes]," Judah admitted. "She has a restraining order against me, so I wasn't allowed to go on set."

Speaking of tight sets on lock down -- like that transition? -- Jorge Garcia broke the radio silence and gave me some Lost scoop: "I've read up to script four at this point. But script one blew my mind. It's really, really crazy. It starts right where we left off. Hurley is right where Sayid picked him up in the mental institution. We see what happens to the island in that first episode and it's pretty insane. I was just like, wait a minute, what was that again? I'm still just trying to wrap my head around it." Jorge said getting the Oceanic 6 back to the island is a major theme this year, but he's more curious about how the whole power struggle between Widmore and Ben Linus is going to pan out: "There was some really cool stuff that came out in this last episode [four]. Actually, there's a great reveal in the third one too. Two was pretty fun, but there's something in the fourth that's really cool. Also, I get to wear something in episode four that I'm very excited about."

As for changes to the show in season five, Jorge said it's tricky to categorize the episodes as 'anybody centric': "It's not as clear cut as it's been in the past. We don't have the moments where someone stares off into space and then we cut to something that happened in their previous life. They've gone in a slightly different direction as far as how they're telling the story and they're definitely trying to show what's going on with more people in every given episode."

Evangeline Lilly, who was running around the carpet looking for her girlfriends, Elizabeth Mitchell and Yunjin Kim, agreed: "It's a whole new format. And all the original characters are revolutionized, so what you're used to watching in Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, and even Sun who's been steady since season one, is [out the window]. We're all brand new people. It's very exciting to sort of act a new character and not the same thing over and over again."

Unfortunately for Michael Emerson -- who walked the carpet with wife Carrie Preston, whom you may recognize from True Blood -- he hasn't been doing much acting at all as of late: "I honestly haven't worked that much so far [in the first four episodes]. You won't see a lot of me early on [in the season]. I think they're saving up something terrible for me to do here pretty soon." On the subject of what we can expect, Michael said that while getting back to the island seems to be one of the plot lines, they're still not sure why they have to do that. But they are determined nonetheless. He also said he is surprised by the amazing amount of mobility in season five: "We're all over the place. It's a real ride now. You know, every season, Lost ramps it up a notch, they always add some new device, some new convention. And I think, as time goes by, the show gets a little more fragmented, a little more of a puzzle." Oh, perfect...

The Mad Men posse was in full effect. Actors Aaron Staton, Rich Sommer, Michael Gladis and Bryan Batt worked the carpet as a group and were totally geeked to be there, remarking on how cool it is to see the show getting such a warm reception... though the Emmy photogs were not all that enthusiastic. "You'd be surprised," Batt laughed. "We stood there in front of them while they were like, um, who are you?  Oh, wait, there's Chaka Khan, can you move?" As for Mad Men spoilers, the guys kept mum, but did tell me that the finale may be commercial free! Also, we should expect the unexpected, there will be big surprises.

Will the surprises involve Betty Draper? I'd put money on it. I got a second alone with January Jones who said Betty's growing up a little bit as all this stuff happens to her: "She's getting a little darker and I love it."

And what about our girl, Joan, who was gypped out of a job in last week's episode? "People are really responding to that," Christina Hendricks told me. "It was really upsetting to people, which I think is good. That sort of behavior should be upsetting to people. But yeah, I think Joan was probably surprised by how much she enjoyed sort of diving into the men's world a little bit. I think she is good at everything she tries, so it will be interesting to see what happens."

From one spoilerphobic show to another, I got some time with Grey's Anatomy's Chandra Wilson who said we're going to see Dr. Bailey really rise up as a fantastic surgeon, because of all the amazing medical cases this season: "Her confidence is there. And, you know, she's working on her relationship, she'll get around to it, but it's really about proving herself in the hospital and cementing herself as a force there." As for Cress Williams' recent casting as a regular on Prison Break, Chandra laughed, "I know!" So, have we seen the last of Bailey's husband? You know, folks work out what they work out for Grey's Anatomy," she winked. So I guess that means he'll be back. 

Of course, Lindsay Lohan will be back on Ugly Betty this season, but Ashley Jensen said she never had the chance to meet her: "They keep me tucked away in that closet over there." Well, not totally. Ashley said the first scene of this third season consists of Christina -- who is still pregnant and flaunting a four month baby bump -- walking the streets of New York with Betty: "Filming it was like, oooh, it's like being in Sex and The City! And we've got Pat Field doing the costumes for us, which is very exciting." So, the move to New York seems to be going okay for the cast, though there are a few issues: "It's amazing, I think everyone's excited to be there, except we're having to deal with things like weather -- the rain -- and tour buses -- people screaming, we love you Ugly Betty! -- in the middle of takes. So things are taking a little bit longer."

Speaking of long, this blog post is starting to bore you, isn't it? Let's just cut to the fast takes. What else did I witness?...

- Lauren Conrad talking to a Canadian television station about her love for Hills After Show hosts, Dan and Jessi -- they are pretty dope -- and gushing over her opportunity to design an Emmy dress for one of tonight's trophy girls. She said she also designed the gown she was sporting.

- Damages' Anastasia Griffith (crazy Katie Connor) -- who is British, by the way -- and Noah Bean (he played Ellen's ill-fated fiance David) walking the carpet together. "I am back for season two," Anastasia said. "But sadly my brother is not." "I didn't make it out of the bath tub," Bean lamented.

- Sandra Oh laughing with her mom, dad and sisters who tag-teamed a few interviews with the Grey's star. Asked about her new love interest, played by Kevin McKidd, Sandra's face lit up when I mentioned his name. "Oh, I'm so excited!," she said. "He's a fantastic actor and I adore him."

- Former 90210 star Kathleen Robertson saying that she hasn't seen the new spin off and she will not appear on it. P.S., our sweet and saucy little Clare Arnold just had a baby eight weeks ago and looks amazing.

- Not so dearly departed Dexter actors Erik King (Doakes) and Jaime Murray (Lila) doing the interview rounds with Lauren Velez (Laguerta). "I was half expecting people to throw things at me!," Murray laughed about her hated character. Velez let a spoiler slip: "Jimmy Smits' character is [Laguerta's] ex-boyfriend, there's some pretty juicy stuff that's going to come out."

- Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer talking about how much she loves FOX's Bones and how she would be on the look out for David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel.

- Ricky Gervais' writing partner and frequent co-star Stephen Merchant talking about the film he just wrote with Gervais: "Hopefully someone will give us money to make it." Will the two star in it? "Ricky may cameo, but no, we are currently looking to cast it. We do consider ourselves star makers..."

- Pushing Daisies nominee Lee Pace, who insisted he had no chance of winning, fighting nerves and saying he doesn't know anyone there. Whaa? What about your costar and fellow nominee Kristin Chenoweth? Oh yeah, her... Could her character Olive have a chance to get into Ned's pants this season? Pace smiled and said, "Yes, the door is open on that." By the way, Chuck's moving out in PD's season premiere.

- Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay dodging questions about how close Olivia and Elliot will get this season. What she did say: "Things are heating up. We find ourselves in some precarious situations. I'm getting excited about it."

- Entourage producer -- and major movie star -- Mark Wahlberg making his carpet appearance at the side of Hollywood super agent Ari Emmanuel, his rep and the real life inspiration for Ari Gold.

- House's Olivia Wilde promising a lot of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll for 13 this year. More personal life? "Oh yeah!," she said emphatically. "More than she'd ever be comfortable with." Will we soon meet a 13 love interest? Indeed.

And that's my carpet report. I'm off to watch the show, which I really wish was being hosted by a proper comedian, not some reality TV hosts, sigh...

Comments

Hope you've had a chance to cool off and relax after getting us all of that hot scoop Korbi! Thanks for all of your hard work...though meeting the men of Mad Men was probably not all that hard to suffer through I imagine!

I didn't realize that Ashley Jensen was on Ugly Betty (now there's a good reason to actually watch that show!) and thank you for the beautiful pic of her.

And honestly, I just squealed out loud when I read the shout-out (shout-outs really...yours and LC's!) to Jessi & Dan! Another reason to love you Korbi!!

Now have a nice cool drink and relax!!

Kath | Sep 22, 2008 8:38:43 AM | #

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The Emmy was sensational and I do question to highlight the beauty, class, the class of Mariska Hargitay. She reigned as a goddess on the red carpet. This goes simply impeccable, from head to toe in her yellow dress that only highlighted its golden skin. Thanks Mariska.

Carlos | Sep 22, 2008 10:47:29 AM | #

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Korbi, what did you wear?

K | Sep 22, 2008 12:31:00 PM | #

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The bridesmaid dress from my brother's wedding last year. What?! It's Vera Wang...

korbi_ghosh | Sep 22, 2008 1:49:47 PM | #

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omg, those reality hosts were horrible!!!

mjs | Sep 22, 2008 4:09:37 PM | #

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Christina Hendricks was the best dressed hands down! I thought that Joan was padded a bit, but she is all real gorgeous woman! Girlfriend looked like a Greek goddess! January Jones looked like she forgot her dress and went out in her slip! Ooops!

kellek | Sep 22, 2008 9:02:34 PM | #

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HELLO????????????????????????
WHERE THE FRACK WAS HUGH LAURIE AND WHY DIDN"T HE WIN?

Grace | Sep 23, 2008 3:48:22 AM | #

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Well said kellek!

Kath | Sep 23, 2008 6:34:12 AM | #

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