Neil Patrick Harris Talks Emmy Awards, Life And 'Magic' To NY Magazine

Neil Patrick Harris will host the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards on CBS on September 20th. He will also serve as a producer for the night. The talented actor is featured in the current issue of New York Magazine. 

In the excerpt below he discusses his upcoming Emmy hosting stint and the realities of the ratings system in relation to current budgetary concerns:

"This may very well be the last year they're on a network show," he says of the Emmys on CBS, which he was invited to join after he got credit for the highest Tony ratings in years. "This wheel contract they have, where each year a different network gets the show, as the ratings decline it becomes less of a good thing to ‘get it.' It's a very expensive show. Which means they have to get more ad revenue. Ads are less expensive, because ratings are down. So you have to do more ads, which makes the show smaller-and inevitably, when it goes to ABC, the same thing will happen, and finally someone will do it on cable, where there won't be any commercials. Which will be a wonderful show. Our three-hour show is only two hours and five minutes long, due to economics."

To read the entire feature, click here.

In addition to his acclaimed hosting of the Tonys, Harris has done awards show triple duty so far this year as host of the TV Land Awards and the nontelevised Writers Guild Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Neil Patrick Harris will be a guest judge on Fox's AMERICAN IDOL this season. The "How I Met Your Mother" star joined the judges table for the Dallas auditions. The ninth season of AMERICAN IDOL will premiere on Fox in January 2010.

Harris will also be appearing in two upcoming films; "Beastly" and "The Best and the Brightest" according to the Hollywood Reporter. The two pictures will film this summer During the summer hiatus from his CBS comedy, "How I Met Your Mother".

Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actor, Neil Patrick Harris can currently be seen as Barney Stinson in the hit CBS comedy series, "How I Met Your Mother," a role which recently garnered him a 2009 Golden Globe nomination and two consecutive Emmy Award nominations. From his film debut opposite Whoopi Goldberg in Clara's Heart and his seminal role as the beloved titular character in "Doogie Howser, M.D.," to his recent turn in Joss Whedon's online sensation, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Harris has enjoyed a successful career spanning more than twenty years in the industry. Among his many theatrical credits include the dual role of The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald in the Tony Award-winning production of Assassins, as well as acclaimed performances in the Broadway productions of Cabaret and Proof.The Emmy® Awards recognize excellence within various areas of television and emerging media. The Emmy® Awards are administered by three sister organizations who focus on various sectors of television and broadband programming:

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (primetime)

National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
(daytime, sports, news and documentary)

International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (international)

The awards are a symbol of peer recognition from over 15,000 Academy members.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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