Looking Backward To Tonight's Emmys

Are you looking forward to watching the Emmy Awards tonight?

I'm actually looking "backward" to it.

Backwards, to when I still worked in the television industry, and had the wonderful good fortune to be on the 'inside" of this incredible event.

Tonight's awards show is making me feel a bit melancholy…

…because I'll be watching from my living room, instead of actually being there, like I have been in the past.

I didn't even plan to write a post about this, but it kind of just happened this morning, when I saw an article in the paper today about tonight's telecast. 

So it may not be the best-written post I've done…and the picture quality is pretty terrible, so you'll have to forgive me for that, but I have to get this out before the stars start walking down the red carpet! 

Yes, one of the highlights of my career was attending the Emmy awards, and the "After Parties", on several occasions.  

I did not attend last September, even though I was invited. 

I had already decided that it was time to leave my job, but hadn't yet given notice. It just didn't seem right for me to have the company spend all that money for me to attend, when I knew I'd be leaving shortly after that. 

When I officially resigned, my assistant admitted that she knew something was up when I rsvp'd "no" to the Emmys. 

I mean, really, who in their right mind would give up the chance to be flown first class to LA, stay in a fancy hotel, get all decked out, be picked up in a limo, walk the red carpet, and hob-nob with the stars at the party afterwards?

So, today, on the the day of the 65th Annual Emmy Awards…I'm taking a trip down memory lane (or the red carpet, more appropriately) to when I had the good fortune to
actually attend the event.

One year when I went, I was invited to the Nominees party two nights before the awards show.  

It was a pretty small gathering, and quite exciting to be so close to so many famous people.

But that was nothing compared to the BIG EVENT!

The day of the Emmy awards, I started getting ready at 9am. I had a hair stylist and make-up artist come to my hotel. It felt so decadent! 

A limousine picked us up at the hotel. I couldn't believe the line of limousines enroute to the Nokia theater. It stretched for miles. 

When we finally got close, a security guard approached the car:

"Are you nominees or presenters?"

It was tempting to say yes, but we were just honored to be asked!

And then, there we were, on the red carpet! 

But here's the thing…there is a rope down the center of the red carpet that divides the common folk from the real celebrities. No matter! It was incredible just being there.

We were being hurried along by the ushers, who wanted us to keep moving, but hey, there was no way we weren't stopping to ogle at the stars, or take each other's pictures on the red carpet. 

Every picture of me on the red carpet came out like crap. So no, I won't share. 

Finally, we were inside the theater. Our seats were WAY back.  Trust me, these photos are zoomed!

It was pretty exciting, but, honestly? A little boring. Even though I worked in TV, I didn't watch a lot of the other networks' shows, so I needed the TV captions to tell me who was on stage!

One year, I attended the Governor's ball after the awards. The decor was drop-dead stunning (that's my silver purse on the table).

However, I much preferred attending my company's "After-Emmy" party. Stars from every network always ended up at our party, because it had the reputation of being the best one. They all wanted to be "seen" at our event. 

I'm not an extremely outgoing person, but somehow, I found it kind of easy to approach some of the celebrities from our shows, and say, 

"Hi, I schedule your show. Can I get a picture with you?" 

Most of them were extremely gracious and said yes. 

If ever there was a Cinderella moment, it was when, at the end of the ball, I went back to the hotel…

…took off my glass slippers (oy, my feet were killing me!), changed out of my dress, and took off my makeup. 

It's nice to live the life of the rich and famous for a day…sigh. 


So tonight, as I watch this year's Emmy awards…

     I'll feel a little wistful, because I'm not there…

     I'll cheer for my former network as they win their awards…

     I'll scan the audience to catch a glimpse of the executives from my company…

     I'll still feel proud, when the winners thank the people I used to share a conference    table with...

     I'll feel just a tinge of envy reading all of the status updates on Facebook from my friends and former co-workers, who are posting photos of themselves with celebrities...

     And then, I'll click off the TV and head up to bed…while my friends will be just heading to the after-party...

But I'll remind myself to be grateful to have had the good fortune to have been Cinderella on more than one occasion…

...and to be immensely proud of the career I once had.

Ms. Toody