AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill8:57 p.m.: "Please welcome the cast of The Sopranos," the Fox flack announces, only to quickly correct herself. "Sorry, the producers of The Sopranos."
8:58 p.m.: Do we have a Sopranos boycott here? A protest, perhaps, because the acclaimed mob series only converted three of its 15 Emmy nominations into wins? Nope. For one thing, the show was named Outstanding Drama Series. For another thing, Sopranos stars Michael Imperioli, Aida Turturro and more are milling about as series creator David Chase and producers take the press-conference stage.
8:59 p.m.: Well, maybe James Gandolfini and Edie Falco are staging protests, because they're nowhere to be seen.
9 p.m.: Chase cuts to the chase when a reporter refers to the dearly departed Sopranos as being a seminal show. "I don't think we've had that much of an impact," he says by way of a shrug.
9:02 p.m.: Leave it to Paulie Walnuts. Actor Tony Sirico isn't shy about joining the producers onstage. And he's not shy about expressing himself on the Gandolfini Emmy defeat. "I think it was a shame...He should've won tonight," Sirico declares. "I speak for Jimmy when I say he can handle it."
9:03 p.m.: The producers depart, and the cast, still minus Gandolfini and Falco, take the stage.
9:08 p.m.: Actors whose characters were killed off on the seminal show—sorry, the nonseminal show—are asked to raise their hands. I count five, which seems low. Maybe some of the other stiffs are already hitting the post-Emmy parties.
10:01 p.m.: It's late. The pressroom's long since emptied of Emmy winners. The leftover organically grown and locally produced food is, if the press release is correct, on its way to a rescue mission.
10:02 p.m.: I wonder if I'm starting to look green.
—Filed by Joal Ryan