… and embrace the fact that I turned up at all, to paraphrase the great Sam Seaborn.
It’s a day late, but what better way to kick off a popcult blog than a post about an awards show? Also, how are the Emmys able to be surprising and predictable at the same time? That’s some skill, that is.
I will say this – and I can’t believe I’m saying it – Seacrest did not suck. This does not mean he was good – that may be impossible. But I’ve seen worse jobs hosting (looking at you, Whoopi – not to mention Ellen’s snorefest at the Oscars last year) and I expected much worse from him, so I was pleasantly surprised.
On to other things: The decision to do the show in the round was unbelievably stupid. It probably helped Seacrest, but to not have the thing turn during the commercial breaks, or to set up the prompters all around the auditorium? Dumb, dumb, dumb. Whoever made that decision better not win a technical Emmy next year.
I was going to go through a minute-by-minute recap, but those are available elsewhere, so I’ll just say the following:
JAMES SPADER??! The hell? I cannot believe The Sopranos was shut out in all the acting categories. I cannot believe James Gandolfini didn’t have Spader killed immediately afterwards.
Also filed under Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? (tm someone on the TWoP boards) :
- Jaime Pressly thanking her lawyer all tearful-like
- Conan O’Brien winning best writing. I mean, I love the guy, but how on earth The Colbert Report didn’t win that one, I just… there are no words
- The “Jersey Boys” tribute: What. The. Hell? Never mind that the music was totally inappropriate for the images being played out above the tiny little singer and his backup boys, why do we have to treat The Sopranos like its an unprecedented phenomenon? IT’S A TV SHOW AND NOW IT’S OVER. LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT, HOLLYWOOD.
- Katherine Heigl winning anything other than Best Example Of Having No Class At An Awards Show for a) correcting the announcer lady, b) allowing Kyle Chandler to say nothing while they presented together and c) looking utterly bored and disgusted when The Sopranos won Best Drama. I mean, see above re: the continuing Sopranos hand-job all night, but it’s not as though that show on its worst day wasn’t a hundred times better than the steaming pile of crap Grey’s has become, to which outcome Heigl herself has contributed no small part.
The best parts, as usual, were those involving Jon Stewart and/or Stephen Colbert and/or Steve Carell, although I thought Jon and Stephen’s presentation wasn’t as funny as last year’s. I do like to see the Hollywood crowd’s collective ego get punctured though: “green Emmys” – yeah, whatever. As for the Ricky Gervais win that got all three of them onstage at once: that might not have been the most graceful way to handle Gervais not being there, but if he didn’t know about it beforehand, I can’t imagine he’ll be offended, especially since he’s getting a cut of Carell’s success on the U.S. Office. I can’t wait for him to return to The Daily Show so he and Jon can have a good giggle.
That quote is genius! I must use it sometime. And it goes great with that picture LOL!
It’s from Season One of The West Wing. A marathon of which Kogon and Tracy and I will shortly be subjecting you to, as the first two seasons may be the best ever shown on television.