Larry Mendte's legal situation has reached the top echelons of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

NATAS is expected to give its 19 chapters the authority to disqualify someone from local Emmy consideration over his or her conduct - even if the conduct had nothing to do with the Emmy entry. The rule is inspired by the morals clauses in most TV newsies' contracts.

It won't affect this year's local Emmys, nominations for which will be announced Wednesday. (The date was changed last week to avoid conflicting with Tuesday's memorial service for NBC10's Edie Huggins.) Awards will be announced Sept. 13.

Susan Buehler, president of NATAS' Mid-Atlantic chapter, says the goal is to "protect and preserve the integrity of the Emmy Awards." The federal case against Mendte, a former CBS3 anchor charged with hijacking onetime colleague Alycia Lane's e-mail, inspired a debate among the 22 local board members and four officers. The board decided to follow the national rules.

Mendte, an inveterate Emmy enterer (and winner), with more than 70 statuettes weighing down his mantel, had until April 19 to submit entries this year.

Judging began in May, at least two weeks before the FBI investigation came to light. Mendte is due in court Aug. 22, and he is expected to plead guilty.

Speaking of Mendte - and many at Wednesday's Best of Philly party sponsored by Philadelphia Magazine at the Kimmel Center were speaking of him - his name has entered the lexicon as a verb.

A local TV personality who asked for anonymity said a friend had told her that someone mendted her credit-card info.

Roll 'em

The Greater Philadelphia Film Office's Sharon Pinkenson, Nicole Ross and Nicole Shiner will be in L.A. this week to drum up business at the 12th annual American Black Film Festival, and they'll have a captive audience as they host the Filmmakers' Lounge, the registration and hospitality suite. They'll talk up Philly locations and Pennsylvania's tax-credit program, using glamour (with appearances by actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, actor-director Bill Duke, and producer-director Lee Daniels) and hard numbers (with an appearance by a rep from the Center City accounting firm Milligan & Co.). Grants totaling $40,000 from State Sen. Vincent Hughes and Rep. Tony Payton helped fund the trip. Besides more film business here, the goal is to develop more film jobs for traditionally underrepresented groups.

Pinkenson last week was spotted around town with director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). Is he thinking of shooting here? Pinkenson would not say.

Briefly noted

Countdown has begun to the Sept. 6 wedding of Action News-ie Erin O'Hearn and developer Sal Paone Jr. O'Hearn graciously declined my questions about the nups. They met in May 2007 when she interviewed him after he helped an Ambler family whose house was hit by a tree. O'Hearn, 31, grew up in Albany, N.Y. Paone, 30, is a 1995 grad of Germantown Academy and a member of its athletic hall of fame.

The CBS series Cold Case is due here Friday through next Sunday to shoot fresh Philadelphia exteriors.

Chef Jennifer Carroll, high hat at Eric Ripert's 10 Arts at the Ritz-Carlton, scours the reservation book before dinner for friends and VIPs. Twenty-five fellow 1993 alumnae of Mount St. Joseph Academy in Flourtown, led by Kate Shields, made reservations for Thursday under assumed names. Tipped-off staff then summoned Carroll to the dining room, and a reunion ensued.

The audio-book rights to Fox29 reporter Gerald Kolpan's Etta - a fictionalized account of Etta Place, girlfriend of the Sundance Kid (think Katharine Ross in the movie) - have just been sold to Blackstone Audio by his agent, ICM Talent. ICM says it's unusual for a previously unpublished author whose book isn't out yet - it's due March 24 from Ballantine - to land such an audio deal.

To be or not to be? The trout or the duck confit? Actor Steve Coogan, in town touting the new comedy Hamlet 2, chose the fish late Thursday at an outside table at Parc on Rittenhouse Square. That it should come to this.

Musical chairs

After hearing that the Spectrum will come down, Bensalem's Dennis Parrish wrote to talk-show host Michael Smerconish with a simple request: Section H, Row 7, Seat 14, from which he saw Blind Faith in 1969, the first of 100 shows he attended through the 1970s. Spectrum PR guy Ike Richman gave Smerconish the closest thing: a folding chair used as a floor seat. Smerconish gave it to Parrish, a network systems engineer, who put it in his living room. The Spectrum has a year before the wrecking ball, and owner Comcast-Spectacor is considering how to dispose of the main seats.

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Contact columnist Michael Klein at 215-854-5514 or mklein@phillynews.com. See his recent work at http://go.philly.com/michaelklein.