Conan O'Brien Claims To Be Pleased With Pirates Programming

When the nominations for this year's Emmys were announced many considered the absence of nods for the top two ABC series, Desperate Housewives and Lost, to be rather conspicuous. Myself, I sighed a breath of relief. If ever two shows were overhyped it would be these two.

Traditionally, the various US networks make room for the Emmys by screening only repeats in the same time slot - the ceremony is providing a lot of hype for their shows, of course - but this year, ABC have decided to fight back against the apparent snub.

Their big counterstrike is to schedule Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (that's the first one, of course) up against the gong show.

ABC's show Grey's Anatomy is up for all manner of Emmy awards and I can only imagine that the show's cast and crew are feeling a little bit rejected. Bizarre that a show as straight-down-the-middle as this one has somehow become the black sheep of the ABC family.

As for Conan O'Brien, host of the Emmy ceremony, he has a lot to say on the matter in a podcast for The LA Times and, true to form, I found it all pretty funny.

"Traditionally, the Emmy host huddles with his writers backstage during commercial break," he said, "I'm going to be back there with a wide screen TV and some kettle corn watching Pirates of the Caribbean. In fact, we may delay portions of the show so I won't miss my favorite parts."