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While being a "perfect storm" of a television executive certainly sounds glamorous, the demands placed on an individual possessed of a heretofore unseen combination of populist taste, dealmaking experience, and the ability to look at a hit foreign series and say, "Yeah, that would probably work in America. Buy ten episodes!" can sometimes slow a party-train to a crawl. Consider the plight of NBC's Ben Silverman, who on Saturday night had a difficult decision to make about his Emmys seating arrangement, a choice that carried significant political ramifications. Reports TV Week's blog:

There was some discussion last night at the NBC Universal party at Spago about Co-Chair Ben Silverman's enviable array of Emmy seating choices. Silverman could (and some say should) sit with the rest of his NBC executive brethren. Or he could sit with the camera-ready nominees for "The Office" or "Ugly Betty" (both of which he executive produces and are nominated for outstanding comedy series).

The verdict was a compromise: Silverman sits with the nominees, but in the NBC "Office" camp.

Should "Betty" win, there's the tricky etiquette question of whether the NBC executive should join the flock of "Betty" producers accepting an award for an ABC show. The consensus: Yes. Definitely. In fact, given recent jousting in the press, some at NBC relish the prospect of their programming leader taking the stage to represent their competitor's hit.

Before you dismiss Silverman's dilemma as trivial, realize that a failure to be decisive in such matters can make a conflicted executive look like a schmooze-happy, opportunistic seat-hopper. Then again, with virtually no one watching the program and the industry-etiquette stakes already lowered by the fact that this was a television event, it's possible that no one would have noticed or cared if Silverman took a place behind proud ABC president Steven McPherson at the ceremony and mouthed "I gave him Ugly Betty! I OWN this guy!" during America Ferrera's victory speech.