Except for the occasional moment from host Jane Lynch, television’s brightest stars at last night Emmy Awards show were deadly dull.
It’s one thing for actors to toe the line and behave, but even Charlie Sheen was a snore, presenting the award for best actor in a comedy show. All fake contrition, and seemingly sedated, he expressed his best wishes to the cast and crew of the revitalized Two And Half Men. This is not what anyone wants from Sheen. And it’s not at all clear what he gets out of that stance. Nobody’s going to be interested in – let alone pay to see – a warm and toasty Sheen.
And when even Jon Stewart, whose Daily Show took yet another Best Variety award, didn’t utter one pointedly political word, you knew that the chances for controversy at the Emmys this year were nil.
The show started our promisingly with a major production number – gotta have it after Hugh Jackman’s Oscar turn and Neil Patrick Harris’s sensational Tony Awards openers. Lynch sang her guts out while encountering various TV characters. Her run-in with the Mad Men crew was a riot as she let them know times have changed: lesbians can get married, she told the team, while hitting on Elizabeth Moss’s character Peggy, and TV viewers can fast forward past the commercials. That last line got her thrown out of the office.
Strange that Alec Baldwin’s moment was cut by broadcaster Fox because it referred to the New of the World’s phone hacking scandal. Hasn’t The Simpsons been sending up News of the World for years – on FOX?
Good idea to start with the comedy genre, because the funny people have some energy. The Jimmys – Kimmel and Fallon – played up their competing talk show host shtick, wrestling n the ground, before presenting and the nominees for best actress in a comedy changed things up when they each appeared on stage as their names were mentioned. Looked like a Kanye West moment for a second, but it was obviously planned.
Modern Family swept all the comedy awards except best actress, copped by Melissa McCarthy of Mike And Molly
But big mistake to end with the best movies and mini-series category. Most viewers haven’t even seen these shows – and we never get any information as to what they’re about. Most TV watchers are much more invested in the regular drama series and really, isn’t the whole point of the show to reel in these viewers for the upcoming seasons? I’m guessing a lot of viewers bailed after the Best Drama awards were given out.
As usual, the Academy couldn’t resist giving a fallen show a few awards – Friday Night Lights took the writing award and star Kyle Chandler won for Best Actor. He was obviously surprised and completely unprepared. The Academy got it right by giving Julianna Margulies the best actress award for The Good Wife. Former NOW cover guy Peter DInklage (Games Of Thrones) is terrific but Alan Comming, not Dinklage, should have taken the best supporting actor award for his work in The Good Wife.
As for the risk factor, Lynch got a few zingers off, at the Entourage cast, for example – “People wanna know why I’m a lesbian: Ladies and gentlemen, the cast of Entourage” – but her edge was consistently blunted by the wardrobe department which, after letting her wear a sharp suit for the opening, put her in a series of butt-ugly dresses for the rest of the night.
Ellen Degeneres would never have put up with that.
