The 61st Prime Time Emmy Awards are this Sunday (9/20), with super-talented Neil Patrick Harris presiding as host -- which could finally make everyone forget the lingering bad vibe of last year's interminable opening bit when reality hosts Ryan Seacrest, Jeff Probst, Tom Bergeron, Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum stood around talking about how they had nothing worked out for the opening.

That's what happens when you're "unscripted" 'cause that's "reality" -- get it?

The first bad review came in even before the show ended -- from "Entourage's" Jeremy Piven, who commented onstage after winning his Emmy, "What if I just kept talking for 12 minutes, what would happen? That was the opening."

Critics were at least as unimpressed.

However, what looks real on reality TV and what is real are often two different things, remember. So, nobody should be surprised when Heidi complains that she and her fellow hosts didn't deserve to get the brunt of complaints.

"You know, we got beaten over so hard after that, and I have to say, I thought it was a little unfair. I wonder, do people think that we come up with all the lines?' she asks.

Well, that's kind of what we were supposed to think, isn't it?

But Heidi goes on, "I mean, they do have writers. It's not like we had much input on how we talked."

As the "Project Runway" beauty and brains describes it, "Basically, you get hired and obviously, you're very honored to do this job. You get your lines and then you read your lines. We're hosting the Emmys, but we're not producing the Emmys, so you do what someone else wants you to do."

In spite of the flap, Heidi makes it clear she doesn't hold any bitterness. She tells us she definitely plans to be at the Awards Sunday, where her popular show is up for Emmy honors in the Outstanding Reality -- Competition Program category. Not only that, she says she would consider hosting again.