The Emmycast will be staged in the round for the first time ever, with cast members from shows like "Grey's Anatomy" seated on the stage. (The "Grey's" kids will be seated to the bottom left in this pic below.) That's host Ryan Seacrest rehearsing while, behind him, the seats are temporarily filled with huge white cardboard squares with the names (and sometimes photos) of future occupants.

The Emmycast will open with the "Family Guy" dog and devious infant singing "You Can Find It on TV," a brand new tune about the preposterous fare on the tube, complete with wisecracks about Isaiah Washington and "Kid Nation."

There have been widespread reports that Ryan will sing, but that's not quite true. While making his welcome remarks, he'll threaten to launch into a rendition of "There's No Business Like Show Business," but will only get as far as the first word, then cut himself off.

First award to be bestowed of the 29 this evening: best supporting comedy actor. In rehearsal, they pretended that Rainn Wilson ("The Office") triumphed. Then comes supporting drama actor. Michael Emerson ("Lost") "won" during today's run-through. That's not a foreshadowing of what will really happen. To map out timing, they have to act out somebody winning.