When I was working the TCA beat on the west coast last month, I had a bit of cognitive dissonance when NBC aired the Golden Globes live at 5 PM. I watched it with a bunch of critics in a conference room we reserved for the purpose, then watched the rest in my room. After Ricky Gervais bid everyone goodnight, I started stretching and thinking it was time for bed, like I do at the end of every grueling award-show watching experience I ever had.

Then I turned and saw the clock: It was 8 PM. I could have gone for dinner and come back and still had time to work before calling it a night. It was disconcerting and refreshing all at once.

NBC is hoping people have that same experience with the Emmys on August 29, as they're toying with the idea of dumping the west coast tape delay and broadcasting the ceremony live across the country, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

NBC cites the immediacy of Twitter and blogs sending the news, observations, and results out in real time as a reason why they're thinking of doing away with the tape delay. It's not a far-fetched notion; we're likely going to live-blog the event like we did last year, and we will be one out of hundreds of TV sites to do that. Combine that with Twitter, and there's no reason why the west coast needs to be left out just because the sun is still shining.

The Peacock thinks this year's increase in Globes ratings was due to it being live across the country, but the B&C article points out that the Grammys did very well last week, even though it was tape delayed to the Mountain and Pacific time zones. And, this isn't a new concept, as the Oscars have been live across the country for many years.

West coast TV fans are likely to applaud the move; who wouldn't? You get to see the show and then go to In-N-Out afterward. It's a win-win for everyone.