You wouldn’t normally expect the crew from Jersey Shore to hit up the Emmys, but that’s what happened last night.

The Jersey crew were part of a fake news story hosted by Anderson Cooper. MTV reports he introduced the segment, a spotlight on “prominent TV executive” Donatella Alberghetti Mangiana D’Borgia (Jane Lynch), as if it were a part of his show “Anderson Cooper 360,” and we learned the real story about how “Jersey Shore” came to be.

“Thanks to me, now 50 percent of all television is set in Jersey,” Lynch as D’Borgia said, complete with a thick Jersey accent, with Cooper adding in voice-over that D’Borgia is responsible for 114 different shows, one of them being “Jersey Shore,” for which she plucked “eight at-risk youths from obscurity and made them stars.”

“I was already a DJ when I met her,” Pauly said. “At NPR.”

“I found Vinny living in a walk-in freezer in a pizzeria,” D’Borgia revealed.

“Now we get paid to drink!” Vinny chimed in with a smile.

“Before I met Donatella, I was just Nicole, a Harvard undergrad,” Snooki revealed. “And now, I’m Snooki.”

“She’s threatened to kill us numerous times,” Mike “The Situation” added over shots of Lynch’s character threatening the castmembers with violence.

“She’s like a mother to me,” Pauly said. “Because she killed my mother.”

The segment ended with footage of the crew play-fighting and D’Borgia expressing her undying love for her moneymakers.

“Why do I do what I do?” Lynch as D’Borgia said to camera. “Because watching these kids is like Cirque Du Soleil. Freakin’ beautiful, just like Jersey.”

Cooper finished off the piece with a stoic sign-off, calling D’Borgia and the “Jersey Shore” kiddos a “sobering look at the future of television.”

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George Clooney was honored last night with the 4th Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. He was given this prestigious award due to his charitable work with raising awareness and funds for natural disasters and other events of human hardship.

“It’s important to remember how much good can get done, because we live in such strange times where bad behavior sucks up all the attention and press. And the people who really need the spotlight — the Haitians, the Sudanese, people in the Gulf Coast, Pakistan — they can’t get any,” Clooney said.

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Full Winners List:

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series – Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series – Toni Collette (United States Of Tara)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series – Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Mini-Series Or A Movie – Brendan Gleeson (Into The Storm)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Mini-Series Or A Movie – Jessica Lange (Grey Gardens)

Outstanding Comedy Series – 30 Rock

Outstanding Drama Series – Mad Men

Outstanding Made For Television Movie – Grey Gardens

Outstanding Miniseries – Little Dorrit

Outstanding Reality – Competition Program – The Amazing Race

Outstanding Variety, Music, Or Comedy Series – The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series – Michael Emereson (Lost)

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series – Cherry Jones (24)

Outstanding Writing In A Drama Series – Kater Gordon & Matthew Weiner (Mad Men)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series – Glenn Close (Damages)

Outstanding Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie – Ken Howard (Grey Gardens)

Outstanding Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie – Shohreh Aghdashloo (House Of Saddam)

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series – Jon Cryer (Two And A Half Men)

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series – Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies)

Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series – Jeff Blitz (The Office)

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series – Rod Holcomb (ER)

Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music, Or Comedy Series – Bruce Gowers (American Idol: Show 833)

Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie, Or Dramatic Special – Dearbhla Walsh (Little Dorrit)

Host, Reality or Reality-Competition Program – Jeff Probst (Survivor)

Original Music and Lyrics – “81st Annual Academy Awards: Song Title: Hugh Jackman Opening Number”

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Josh Groban is set to sing “a story, about a man named Brady” at the upcoming Emmy Awards.

The Grammy-winning singer will take on a medley of famous TV theme songs, including those from “The Brady Bunch,” “Friends” and “The Simpsons,” at the Sept. 21 ceremony.

Altogether, the four-minute-plus medley will include more than two dozen songs. The show’s executive producer, Ken Ehrlich, says the entire song list will be kept under wraps until the actual performance.

“This has the potential to be a fun, great moment. It’s full of nostalgia and nice surprises,” Groban, 27, told USA Today.

Fittingly, the pop-classical singer first gained mainstream attention on a TV show, as a guest star on “Ally McBeal” in 2001.

The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards will air live from Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

As previously reported, the five nominees in the new category of outstanding reality-shot host — Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Jeff Probst, Howie Mandel and Ryan Seacrest — will share hosting duties.

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This year’s Emmy Awards will take five — five famous faces to serve as masters of ceremonies, that is.

Appropriately enough, the enlisted hosts are the nominees in the new category of best reality show host: Heidi Klum (“Project Runway”), Tom Bergeron (“Dancing with the Stars”), Ryan Seacrest (“American Idol’), Howie Mandel (“Deal or No Deal”) and Jeff Probst (“Survivor”).

This is Seacrest’s second time being tapped to host the Emmys, though he handled emceeing duties solo last year.

Details are still being worked out, but organizers say they hope to have all five hosts together on stage at some point, as well as present them in smaller sets and individually.

While five hosts may seem like a high number, it falls short of the 11 comedians — including Ellen DeGeneres, Conan O’Brien, George Lopez and Wanda Sykes — who shared hosting duties at the 55th Emmys Awards in 2003.

The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will take place Sept. 21 at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre and air live on ABC.

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Ellen DeGeneres took home the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host at the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, reports E! News.

This is the fourth consecutive win for DeGeneres who beat out both Barbara Walters & Co. and Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa.

“I never take this for granted…Every single year, I know people joke about it…It’s not what we do it for but it feels so good,” DeGeneres said as she accepted her award. “We all know this has been a crazy year. On my show, we’ve done a lot of crying and a lot of laughing, and I’ve cried all by myself and people laugh, and then I cry some more.”

Although “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” has also previously won Outstanding Talk Show, this year the show lost to the “Rachael Ray” show.

“It’s a huge honor just to be in the room,” said Ray.
Regis Philbin was also a big winner. The legendary talk-show and game-show host was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his prolific career in broadcasting.

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‘The Sopranos’ went out with a bang at the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy awards on Sunday, taking the prize for best drama.

The mob saga, which had a total of 15 nominations for its last season, also won for best directing and best writing.

Meanwhile, newcomer ’30 Rock’ won for best comedy, beating out ‘Entourage,’ ‘Ugly Betty,’ ‘Two and a Half Men’ and last year’s winner ‘The Office.’

James Spader edged Sopranos lead James Gandolfini for best actor in a drama, winning for his role in ‘Boston Legal.’

“I feel like I just stole a pile of money from the mob,” Spader joked as he accepted his award.

Best actress in a drama went to Sally Field for her work in ‘Brothers and Sisters,’ while best actress in a comedy was picked up by America Ferrara for ‘Ugly Betty.’

“It is truly an amazing and wonderful thing when your dreams come true,” Ferrara said in her acceptance speech.

Britons were also big winners at the awards show. An absent Ricky Gervais won for best actor in a comedy, while British detective series ‘Prime Suspect: The Final Act’ won three awards, including best actress in a miniseries for Helen Mirren.

Tony Bennet, who performed a duet with Christina Aguilera as part of the ceremony, won for best individual performance in a variety or musical program for ‘Tony Bennett: An American Classic.’ The variety show also won a best direction award for Rob Marshall.

“It started out as a gift to you for your 80th birthday,” Marshall said to Bennett as he accepted the award. “But I think it ended up a gift to me.”

On a Canadian note, the Alberta-shot ‘Broken Trial’ garnered a best lead actor in a miniseries or movie award for Robert Duvall, while ‘Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee’ ‘ also shot in Alberta ‘ won for best made-for-TV movie.

This year’s Emmys featured a tribute by Queen Latifah to the groundbreaking TV series ‘Roots,’ followed by an appearance on stage by the cast.

Other highlights of the show, which was hosted by Ryan Seacrest, included a musical number by Brian and Stewie of ‘Family Guy,’ Rainn Wilson (‘The Office’) throwing down against Kanye West in a rap-off and the Jersey Boys performing a tribute to ‘The Sopranos.’

Here is a selected list of winners at the 2007 Emmy Awards:
Best drama – ‘The Sopranos’
Best comedy – ’30 Rock’
Lead actor in a drama – James Spader, ‘Boston Legal’
Lead actress in drama – Sally Field, ‘Brothers & Sisters’
Lead actor in a comedy – Ricky Gervais, ‘Extras’
Lead actress in comedy – America Ferrara, ‘Ugly Betty’
Supporting actor, drama – Terry O’Quinn, ‘Lost’
Supporting actress, drama – Katherine Heigl, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Supporting actor, comedy – Jeremy Piven, ‘Entourage’
Supporting actress, comedy – Jaime Pressly, ‘My Name is Earl’
Lead actor, miniseries or movie – Robert Duvall, ‘Broken Trail’
Lead actress, miniseries or movie – Helen Mirren, ‘Prime Suspect’
Best miniseries ‘ ‘Broken Trail’
Best variety, music or comedy series ‘ ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’
Best reality program ‘ ‘The Amazing Race’
Best made-for-TV movie ‘ ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’
Individual performance in variety or music program – Tony Bennett

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It wouldn’t be a televised awards broadcast without a little controversy.

NBC is apologizing after it was flooded with complaints regarding Conan O’Brien’s opening montage, E! Online reports.

Viewers, especially those in Kentucky, felt that seeing a plane crash that O’Brien was on, hit a little close to home after a plane actually did crash in Kentucky earlier that day.

The NBC affiliate in Kentucky – WLEX – said it had no time to react, or to censor, the comic’s spoof.

NBC brass said the skit was meant to spoof “Lost,” and not to make light of a tragic real life situation.

“The timing was unfortunate, and we regret any unintentional pain it may have caused,” the network said in a statement.

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The new rules for the Emmy Awards changed things up a bit in the nominations, but not too much.

The real shocker was that “Lost” received no major nominations, even though it was last year’s winner for best drama. Last year’s winner for best comedy, “Desperate Housewives” was also shut out of the major categories, Reuters reports.

The new rules were meant to give smaller programs a chance, but instead it seems to have given more veteran series a chance.

Fox’s “24″ led the way with 12 nominations, “Grey’s Anatomy” has 11 and “Will & Grace” had 10 nominations. Cancelled show “Arrested Development” is up for best comedy, while Gina Davis is up for best actress for a drama for the now defunct “Commander in Chief.”

Besides “Arrested Development,” the other four nominated comedies for outstanding comedy series are “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Office,” “Scrubs” and “Two and a Half Men.”

Nominations for best drama include “The Sopranos,” “24,” “The West Wing,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “House.”

Despite hopes that new rules will help, “Gilmour Girls” was against shut out of the nominations.

The awards will be presented Aug. 27 on NBC.

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It may have taken a couple of years, but the Emmy Awards and Conan O’Brien are finally going on their second date together.

The Academy Of Television Sciences announced on Friday that O’Brien will be this year’s host for the annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air on Aug. 27 on NBC, eOnline reports.

“Conan did a tremendous job when he hosted the Emmys back in 2002, and we are thrilled that he’s returning,” says Dick Astin, chairman of the Television Academy.

The ceremony, which is usually held in September, is being held earlier this year because of NBC acquiring Sunday football in the fall.

O’Brien first hosted the ceremony in 2002, and also helped to host the ceremony in 2003, when the Academy tried to have a group of comedians share hosting duties.

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Everybody loves Raymond, and everybody enjoys getting Lost too.

Reuters reports a handful of surprise wins – and lots of laurels for ABC – at the 57th Primetime Emmy Awards. The new castaway series Lost was named best drama, and nine-year-old sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond won for best comedy.

The much-loved Raymond winning out over the soapy shoo-in Desperate Housewives was one of the upsets of the night. Everybody Loves Raymond, considered one of television’s last true sitcoms, was one of only a few TV series in the past 30 years to win an award after going off the air.

“All year long they’ve been asking us, do you think now that your show is going, that this means the end of the sitcom, and I want to say yes,” said Raymond co-creator and producer Phil Rosenthal. “Beyond that, it’s the end of laughing, and soon the end of smiling. But we want to thank all of you for nine wonderful years.”

Although the ladies of Wisteria Lane lost to Raymond, housewife Felicity Huffman earned a best actress award. Patricia Arquette is another surprise winner in the best dramatic actress category for her role as a psychic in Medium.

ABC enjoyed one of its best Emmy nights in years, winning six major awards overall. James Spader won another Emmy for best actor in the drama Boston Legal, and the supporting actor award went to William Shatner.

Tony Shalhoub won his second Emmy for best actor in a comedy for his role as the obsessive-compulsive detective Monk. Everybody Loves Raymond supporting actors Brad Garrett and Doris Roberts picked up their third and fourth Emmys, respectively.

Meanwhile, HBO’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers added three Emmys, including an award for Geoffrey Rush’s titular role, to the six it earned at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards last week. Veterans Paul Newman and Jane Alexander, won supporting actor and actress awards for miniseries and TV movies for their respective work in Empire Falls and Warm Springs.

CBS’ The Amazing Race won its third consecutive Emmy for reality series (for your “Who Cares?” File).

This year’s awards were hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, who paid tribute to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in her opening monologue. “I’m really, really honoured because it’s times like these that we really need to laugh,” she said, following with a quip: “And look for me next month when I host the North Korean People’s Choice Awards.”

The evening’s funniest moment appeared to be when the star of HBO’s Lackawanna Blues, S. Epatha Merkerson, lost her thank-you notes down her dress.

“I wrote something, and I put it in my thing (bra) and it went down and I can’t get it,” the actress said when accepting her award for best lead actress in a TV movie. “It’s probably stuck to me.”

USA Today has a complete list of winners.

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