Forward

A tie at the Emmys!

The on-stage proposal was by far the best part of Monday's Emmy Awards. If you missed it, Chloe Melas has you covered. As for the rest of the evening...

>> HBO and Netflix TIED for the first time...

>> Amazon's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" dominated the comedy categories...

>> "Last Week Tonight" won for a third straight year...

>> My wife Jamie, who's asleep, will be happy to read this: Matthew Rhys of "The Americans" won best lead actor in a drama...

>> There were some pointed comments about Hollywood's #MeToo problems...

>> Here is Lisa Respers France's full story about the night...

>> And here's Brian Lowry's analysis...

"Game of Thrones" wins best drama

Want to understand the state of the TV biz in 2018? Look no further than this: HBO won 17 statues at the Creative Arts ceremony a week ago, while Netflix won 16. And on Monday night the two outlets remained neck and neck all night long. Netflix picked up 7 more statues while HBO gained 6, resulting in a tie, with 23 wins each.

The context: HBO has been #1 at the Emmys for the past 16 years, winning more awards than any other network, so now there's an asterisk next to its 17-year record streak...

Plepler's reaction

"There's an extraordinary amount of great work being done across the industry," HBO CEO Richard Plepler told me by phone just now. "We're especially proud of our winners, but a tip of the hat to the team at Amazon for 'Mrs. Maisel,' a tip of the hat to FX for their great work with 'The Americans,' a tip of the hat to Netflix for all their great work." Plepler said he is proud that HBO is "leading the way..."

Quick occasional reminder that HBO and CNN are both owned by WarnerMedia... If I were in L.A. tonight, I'd try to hit both HBO and Netflix's celebrations, but alas I'm in NYC... 🎉

>> Two big wins for HBO's "Barry:" Henry Winkler and Bill Hader both won acting awards...

>> Claire Foy won the lead actress prize for Netflix's "The Crown..."

>> Here's the scoreboard just for Monday's show: Netflix 7, HBO 6, FX 5, Amazon 5...

>> Rich Greenfield tweeted: "Maybe #emmys should air on HBO, FX, Netflix or Amazon vs broadcast TV..."

What was missing

"There was plenty of talk about diversity in Hollywood on Monday night," but the talk "did not translate into wins for performers of color," Lisa Respers France and Sandra Gonzalez write...

Red carpet statements

-- Some stars on the red carpet wore Times Up buttons that said "I Believe Christine Blasey Ford" and "I Still Believe Anita Hill..."

-- Jenifer Lewis wore Nike "to applaud them for supporting Colin Kaepernick and his protest against racial injustice and police brutality..."

-- Rachel Brosnahan made this remark while accepting her award: "Vote. Show up. And bring a friend to the polls..."

-- Colin Jost poked fun at POTUS: "The Obamas now even have their own production deal at Netflix. And my dream is that the only thing they produce is their own version of 'The Apprentice.' And it gets way higher ratings."

About the opening #...

The broadcast began with an acknowledgement of the reckoning that's still just starting to take hold. Jost's co-host Michael Che's first crack was about sex crimes: "It is an honor to be here sharing this night with the many, many talented and creative people in Hollywood who haven't been caught yet." Here's my full story...

Lowry's take on the telecast

Brian Lowry emails: There was simply way too much "SNL," past and present, in the Lorne Michaels-produced telecast. And while some of it worked, certain bits fell woefully flat -- none worse than the Maya Rudolph-Fred Armisen bits, which felt like a bad sketch from "SNL's" last 15 minutes...

Standing ovation for Betty White

Chloe Melas emails: Betty White proved once again she's a national treasure. The actress, 96, was honored for her more than 80 years in TV. Read on...

And about that proposal...

More from Chloe Melas: And the Emmy for best moment of the night goes to ... director Glenn Weiss! He took the stage to accept the Emmy Award for his work calling the shots at The Academy Awards and used the moment to propose to his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen.

"Jan, you are the sunshine in my life," he said. "And mom was right, don't ever let go of your sunshine. You wonder why I don't like to call you my girlfriend? Because I want to call you my wife." The crowd erupted into cheers and Svendsen looked stunned. She made her way on to the stage, where Weiss got on one knee and gave her his mother's ring. The best was Leslie Jones' reaction -- check it all out here...

EXCLUSIVE

Julie Chen leaving "The Talk"

Julie Chen is stepping down from "The Talk" on CBS, one week after her husband Les Moonves left the company. She will address the decision through a videotaped message to viewers on Tuesday's episode, I'm told.

"She has decided that her main focus needs to be clearing her husband's name from accusations made 25-30 years ago and tending to her son," a source close to Chen said.

To be clear, some of the accusations are from less than 25 years ago. But Chen's absolute support for Moonves is noteworthy.

Two sources told me Chen made up her mind about leaving the talk show after spending time with her family late last week. But she will continue to host the CBS reality show "Big Brother." A CBS spokesperson has not responded to a request for comment... Here's my full story...

New memo from Ianniello

In his second week on the job, CBS acting CEO Joe Ianniello sent out a memo pledging improvements to the corporate culture and committing "new resources," including "reimagined training techniques and new mechanisms for reporting workplace issues, without any fear of retribution." When the ongoing investigation by two outside law firms is complete, "we are going to act on its findings and recommendations," he wrote, but "there is no reason to wait on reassessing our culture..."

FIRST LOOK

Wired's 25th anniversary issue!

WIRED is rolling out this cover on Tuesday... It's a work of art, designed by the magazine's founding designers, John Plunkett and Barbara Kuhr, with a retro look that harkens back to the spines of the mag.

Wired editor Nick Thompson will be on "CBS This Morning" in the A.M., talking about the special issue...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Ben Shapiro is getting a Sunday night show on Fox News for the next four weeks. "The Ben Shapiro Election Special" will air Sundays at 8 p.m. starting this weekend. A smart way to try him out... (Variety)

-- "In a competitive situation, Warner Bros. TV has acquired the rights to Amy Chozick's bestselling memoir Chasing Hillary" to develop as a TV series... (Deadline)

-- The "SNL" season premiere on 9/29 will be hosted by Adam Driver... The musical guest is Kanye West...

Anderson takes on misinfo about his hurricane coverage

For several days now, trolls up to and including Donald Trump, Jr. have been gleefully sharing an outdated photograph of Anderson Cooper standing in floodwaters to somehow claim that you can't believe what you hear from the news media.

It's outrageous for so many reasons, and on Monday night Cooper called it out in exquisite fashion. His segment lasted nine minutes, and it was worth every minute, because these sorts of viral smears can't just be ignored. They have to be confronted.

So I hope you'll watch the segment -- complete with Cooper challenging "Donny Junior" for "tweeting lies," and going back to the videotape to prove it...

Kavanaugh vote postponed

Thursday's committee vote is off. Instead, both Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford will testify in public next Monday.

Rebecca Traister tweeted: "27 years later, almost to the week, there will be another hearing into alleged sexual abuses of a SCOTUS nominee. Also almost a year to the week of the Weinstein story, two years to the week of Access Hollywood tape. 229 years since women's riot kicked off French Revolution."

CNN's DC team has details about the "White House's battle plan" to defend Kavanaugh, which may include "an event later this week -- possibly a news conference -- with a group of women who know and support Kavanaugh."

The Post's scoop

If you're not caught up on the timeline, here's my story about Ford's back-and-forth with the WashPost. She contacted the paper in early July and told her story to reporter Emma Brown. "But she was terrified about going public," Brown said. "She didn't want to speak on the record." More here...

>> More than 34 hours later, Brown's interview with Ford remains the most-read article on The Post web site...

Trump's joint presser on Tuesday

Per the W.H. schedule, President Trump will host "a joint press conference with the President of the Republic of Poland" at 2:10pm...

Smearing the wrong Christine Ford

Oliver Darcy emails: Right-wing media outlets on Monday used incorrect information to smear Professor Christine Ford. The Drudge Report, Gateway Pundit, radio host Mark Levin, and others weaponized reviews from RateMyProfessor to question Ford's character. These outlets/people pointed to reviews that said, among other things, Ford has "something wrong with her." Only problem? It turned out these right-wing outlets and personalities were using reviews from the wrong Christine Ford. Of course, by time the error had come to light, the story had already gone viral in the right-wing media universe. NBC's Ben Collins has details in his story here...

>> Of note: The misidentification of individuals is one of the biggest reoccurring themes in far-right media. In efforts to discredit/attack political opponents, these outlets have many times published information that ends up being about the wrong person.

>> Alex Koppelman adds via Twitter: "Turns out when you make a movement and a business out of being deliberately ignorant about everything the press does to get stories right, you end up being wrong a lot..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

By An Phung:

-- Ken Doctor looks at what a McClatchy-Tronc combo could do for digital news. Here's a hint: Patrick Soon-Shiong will be a major player... (NiemanLab)

-- Bryan Goldberg opened up to Ben Mullin about his plans for Gawker, which he snatched up for $1.5M this summer in a bankruptcy auction sale... (WSJ)

-- Paige Williams profiled Sarah Huckabee Sanders for The New Yorker, even though Sanders "avoids participating in profiles about her, because, she says, she doesn't want to 'become the story.'" Well, now there is a 9,000 word profile on Sanders, thanks to Williams' thorough reporting... (The New Yorker)

Benioff speaks

Remember the rumors that David Pecker wanted to take over Time? Staffers are Time do. Instead, Marc Benioff is the buyer. And staffers are relieved.

Benioff told the NYT's David Streitfeld that he's always loved the magazine. Benioff all but confirmed that he also eyed Fortune, but concluded that "Time is the best fit for us." He said "I'm not going to get involved operationally," but "I feel our values are aligned. Trust is my highest value and it is Time's as well..."

>> MUST READ: The WSJ's Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg has the balance sheet: "Time generated revenue of $173 million in 2017, and operating profit of $33 million, according to the people, who reviewed an offering document used in the transaction process. Revenue is expected to decline nearly 9% to $158 million in 2018, while operating income will be about the same. The Benioffs are paying around 5.76 times operating profit for Time..."

Inside the newsroom...

TIME staffers cheered EIC Edward Felsenthal at a 10 a.m. all-hands meeting. Felsenthal told them this was "the best outcome we could have hoped for," per a reporter who was in the room. The reporter said that "even the staffers who are skeptical about everything seem very optimistic about this."

According to Felsenthal, Benioff was particularly impressed with Time's covers this year...

"We're ready to get out of here"

Tom Kludt emails: As Time employees prepare for life under their new owners, those at the remaining Meredith titles still on the block -- Fortune, Money and Sports Illustrated -- are wondering where they'll wind up. And when they'll find out. While there was some disappointment that Benioff will only be acquiring Time -- and not Fortune -- employees told me that the $190 million deal was reason for optimism. "It's an outcome that any of the titles would want," one Fortune employee told me. "Who doesn't want a billionaire to waltz in and really take stewardship of the brand?"

The employee said staffers were encouraged by the price that Meredith was able to fetch for Time, and that the sale provided some "relief that there's been some movement."

"We're ready to get out of here," the employee said... Read more...

"A Trump effect at journalism schools?"

"The Trump era, overflowing with news, and the emergence of new ways to tell stories appear to be giving a jolt to journalism schools that in recent years struggled to cope with industry contractions," Nick Anderson reports for WaPo.

He says that "at some prominent schools, there's evidence of growing demand for journalism degrees as applications and enrollment rebound and investigative reporting classes fill up..."

An assault or a publicity stunt?

That's what Lisa Respers France is asking:

Tom Arnold has filed a police report against producer Mark Burnett for an alleged battery. The two men had an altercation at a pre-Emmys party on Sunday. Arnold has been calling out Burnett and demanding to see "Apprentice" tapes for a very long time. And this altercation came just 48 hours before Arnold's new show, "The Hunt for the Trump Tapes," premieres on Vice. So let's maintain our skepticism. Here's Lisa's full story...

Remember MoviePass?

Jill Disis emails: Helios and Matheson, the parent company of the movie subscription service, wants to prop up its stock price yet again. This time, it's going to ask shareholders to vote on a measure that could increase the price by as much as 500-fold. The change is largely cosmetic for shareholders, whose stakes would be valued the same as before. But it could help potentially keep the company from being delisted from the Nasdaq.

If this sounds familiar, that's because MoviePass already tried a similar plan in July. The stock price jumped from 8 cents to $21 before falling back down to below $1 within days. Right now, the company's stock is trading at about 1.5 cents per share. Read more...

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Asia Argento is demanding that Rose McGowan retract statements she made about Argento and the young actor who has accused her of sexual assault...

-- Richard Gere is an expectant dad again, at age 69...

-- Surprise! Eliza Dushku is married...

In case you missed Sunday's "Reliable Sources..."

Here are the highlights!

Watch the video clips via CNN.com... Listen to the podcast via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or TuneIn... Or watch the full program via CNNgo or VOD... 👍

Trump is the conspiracy theorist in chief

From his doubts about the death toll after Hurricane Maria, to his claims of a "witch hunt," President Trump has become the "conspiracy theorist in chief," Brendan Nyhan told me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." Watch here...

Trump's trick: He keeps repeating false info

"It's pretty astonishing," WaPo fact-checker columnist Glenn Kessler said, now that Trump has uttered 5,000 false or misleading statements since inauguration day. I featured Kessler's work on Sunday's show. The rate of falsehoods is rapidly getting worse. So is the repetition. "Even after it's been repeatedly fact checked as false, he continues to say these things," Kessler said. This sure sounds like a propaganda technique. Kessler and I discussed that... Here's the video...

Notes and quotes

-- This was Michael Avenatti's first TV interview since his bonkers appearance on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." He called it a "clown show," but defended his decision to appear on Fox. Here's Jackie Wattles' recap of the interview...

-- I also challenged Avenatti about his "Trumpian tactics," like that time he threatened The Daily Caller...

-- I spoke with Oliver Darcy and Amanda Carpenter about the NYT's highly misleading story re: Nikki Haley and curtains. Here's the segment...

Thanks for reading! Email me your feedback. See you tomorrow...