Award Central News

Dozens of reporters at the Nokia Theater on Sunday had plenty of down time between winners coming back to gush about their victory.

There were a lot of guesses from reporters, who had plenty of time on their hands for cranky speculation, that a big part of the problem had to be the distance between the theater and the press tent, which was perched on the roof of a parking garage some distance behind the theater.

More than two hours into the show, only a half-dozen winners had come back stage.

Emmy organizers blamed the delays on the unusually high number of winners who had to be reseated in the auditorium because they were up for additional awards, such as Tina Fey.

"We're working very diligently to bring the winners back," said Lauren Kelcher, a rep with Emmy praisery the Lippin Group.

Still, the fact that it took an elevator ride to get to the press area had reporters delivering a harsh critique of the press digs for the Nokia's first outing as Emmycast venue.

By contrast, at the Emmys longtime home at the Shrine Auditorium, the press tent was only steps away from the backstage area, and winners often came back stage with a little sweat still on their brow or flush in their cheeks.

The reviews weren't entirely bad for the Nokia press tent, however. There's no question that the buffet laid out for the hungry scribes was far better than any Emmy nosh in years.

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