A NATION TURNS TO ELLEN AS EMMY HOST, DEGENERES WORRIES ABOUT JOKES IN WAKE OF NEW TRAGEDY.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

`How come this keeps happening to me?''

Ellen DeGeneres says that was her gut reaction when it struck her that she would once again be hosting the Primetime Emmy Awards following a deadly national crisis.

In 2001, she'd signed up for what should have been a routine annual tribute to the best of television with all its glitz and laughs. Two postponements later, it was an unusually solemn occasion, acknowledging the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the Armed Forces who had gone into Afghanistan in response. DeGeneres, known for a kinder, gentler brand of humor than many stand-up comics, was widely praised for striking the right balance between poignancy and punch lines.

Four years later, on Aug. 29, about two weeks after she accepted producer Ken Erlich's request to host the 57th annual Primetime Emmys, Hurricane Katrina and the buckled levees of Lake Pontchartrain brought the Gulf Coast, especially her hometown of New Orleans, to its knees.

``I thought I would never agree to do another awards show again, because somehow it's not really good for anybody,'' she said.

DeGeneres can make light of suggesting a cause-and-effect connection between her agreeing to host a show and a major disaster that follows, but she has been pained personally by the deaths of possibly thousands and the plight of thousands more left homeless by the storm and flooding. On her talk show (4 p.m. weekdays, KNBC Channel 4), which started its third season Sept. 6, she has welcomed longtime friends and relatives from the storm-ravaged areas, including her elderly Aunt Helen, and given them a place to tell harrowing stories.

Her ``Ellen DeGeneres Show Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund'' has raised more than $5 million and will continue to grow with online auctions of such rare prizes as a Jeff Gordon NASCAR jumpsuit and last season's ``Ellen'' set chairs.

``I was feeling so much pressure and stress from the Emmys, and all of a sudden that took a big back seat.''

DeGeneres, who two years ago was one of several comedians sharing hosting honors, said she hesitated to take on the solo assignment once more.

``And then I just thought, why not? I love television. I have a lot to say about it,'' said the winner of two 2005 Daytime Emmys. ``And I feel like it's a challenge for me, and it's a little different than doing my show every day. It's higher stakes, and I like scary things, so I thought I'd host and have fun.''

The potential for fun, of course, has been tempered.

``This is very bittersweet. I say bittersweet because I'm honored that I have that position of being able to walk that line. It's a tough one. It's tough hosting, period, much less walking that line of making people feel good and, at the same time, not being disrespectful to all these lives that have been changed or lost.''

DeGeneres said the Emmys show will devote a segment to Katrina, but the sobering topic will not permeate the entire evening as Sept. 11 did. She said that while terrorism sparked fear across the nation as we braced for another possible attack, Katrina's major impact has been more localized.

``For me, it's huge, because every day I'm on the phone talking to someone trying to figure something out. But for most people, it really is kind of a removed sadness, you know? So I don't think it's going to affect the Emmys as much as the 9/11 situation.''

The 2001 show was a gut-wrenching experience for all involved, producer Don Mischer recalled, as DeGeneres and the other writers labored to come up with a script that suited the difficult times.

``Through this whole process she never got disillusioned,'' Mischer said. ``She was always focusing on what her attitude should be, what her mood should be, how she could be respectful. ... She put a lot of effort into it.

``I think she's a wonderful host,'' he added. ``She's got a naturalness about her, she can roll with the punches, she can improvise on the spot.''

Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television, noted that the Emmys telecast this year is airing in a far more normal TV climate than the 2001 show did. Aside from a few news specials and fundraising telethons, networks have maintained their routine programming even in the most difficult days of Katrina's aftermath.

``When Ellen came back with the Emmys (in November 2001), she was coming back to a culture that had been put on total and complete hold,'' Thompson said, referring to the widespread news coverage and cancellation of commercials. He called her choice to host the awards after Katrina ``a felicitous coincidence.''

``This is one of Ellen DeGeneres' specialties. When you do an Emmy awards after a crisis like this, you need to fulfill the purpose of the awards show and yet not seem too self-important. She seems to be very good at it.''

DeGeneres' Emmys preparations and the now-routine writing and taping of her talk show are a piece of cake compared with another challenge she has taken on: delivering her talk show live to the East Coast at 7 a.m. Los Angeles time on Monday, with exclusive footage shot backstage at Sunday night's Emmys. She usually spends about five hours preparing for a show and tapes a day before it airs. This may call for an all-nighter.

``I'm going to be tired,'' she said. ``I'm tired now, and we haven't even gotten to the Emmys yet - much less working from 9 a.m. until probably 10 o'clock that night on the Emmys. And I'll just want to fall down. And I'm going to have to go in at 3 in the morning and start getting ready for a show. I say it, and everybody thinks it's a joke: I'm advertising it by saying it's live, not good.

``I'm serious. I'm not promising anything. Keep your expectations really low.''

Valerie Kuklenski, [phone]

valerie.kuklenski(at)dailynews.com

Shatner, Trump, Mullally among Emmy warblers

Borrowing a programming note from its competitor at Fox, Sunday's 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards on CBS will stage an ``Idol'' contest with TV stars singing their favorite songs from classic TV series in hopes of boosting ratings during the awards broadcast. Like the successful ``American Idol'' reality show, viewers will be able to cast votes to select a winner.

It's a good thing there's nothing more than egos at stake in the ``Emmy Idol'' contest, because it will be up to the tastemakers of the Eastern and Central time zones to decide who's the winner.

Only the viewers of the live telecast will be able to judge the performances by Kristen Bell of ``Veronica Mars'' singing ``Fame,'' ``Will & Grace's'' Megan Mullally and ``The Apprentice'' honcho Donald Trump in the title duet from the 1960s farce ``Green Acres,'' CSI co-star Gary Dourdan and Macy Gray rendering ``Movin' on Up'' from ``The Jeffersons,'' and William (Captain Kirk) Shatner of ``Boston Legal'' and opera star Frederica von Stade bravely going into the high notes of the ``Star Trek'' theme.

The competitive performances will follow an opening number, Earth, Wind & Fire uniting with the Black Eyed Peas on the first group's ``September.''

West Coast viewers without satellite capabilities, who will see the show on tape delay, are welcome to vote on www.cbs.com before viewing the performances, CBS says.

THE 57TH ANNUAL PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS

What: Comedian and talk-show fave Ellen DeGeneres is again the go-to host of an Emmys following a national crisis. In addition to the doling out of statuettes, the show will include a tribute to network news anchors and a star-studded ``Emmys Idol'' sing-off of TV theme songs.

Where: CBS (Channel 2).

When: 8 p.m. Sunday, tape-delayed on the West Coast.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) ELLEN = Emmys

DeGeneres returns to set the tone for Sunday's ceremony

Peter Kramer/Getty Images

(2) no caption (Ellen DeGeneres)

(3) MULLALLY

(4) SHATNER

Photos by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Box:

Shatner, Trump, Mullally among Emmy warblers (see text)