Now that we’ve all vented about who won and who got shafted in the awards department, let’s take a look at the best and worst parts of last night’s Emmys telecast.
Overall, it wasn’t too miserable to watch, but that may have something to do with me constantly flipping over to Sunday Night Football to get updates on Michael Vick throwing up blood. But Jane Lynch was sharp without going into Gervais “people get offended because he’s mean” territory, and there were enough little pieces I enjoyed before the show grinded to a halt during the awards for miniseries and TV movies. Let’s take a closer look at what did (and didn’t) work.
You can skip the first four minutes of this video and just start watching Lynch’s brief interaction with Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson before the video’s highlight: her time in the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
BURN.
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The word on the street is that this was Amy Poehler’s idea, which makes sense because Amy Poehler is amazing.
FOUR times we had to watch reputable actors and Wilmer Valderrama singing like a high school a capella group. Joel McHale deserves better. And Wilmer Valderrama deserves much worse.
This was in reaction to “The Daily Show’s” ninth consecutive win for variety/music/comedy series.
There’s a lot to enjoy here: Michael Bolton’s ill-fitting pirate goatee; John Stamos and Ed Helms filling in for Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake; the Lonely Island guys air-humping William H. Macy; Akon’s woefully out of tune performance. It was all so slap-dash and bananas that I couldn’t help but enjoy it.
“Oh look, a movie star with an Emmy! How novel!”
Miniseries and TV movies can occasionally make for exceptional television (see: “Band of Brothers,” “Generation Kill”), but it’s long past time the miniseries/movie awards got relegated to the non-televised portion of the awards. As it stands now, nearly one-third of the Emmys telecast is dedicated to non-events like “Downton Abbey” and “Mildred Pierce.” For an awards show that’s trying to broaden its appeal, showcasing the nooks and crannies of HBO’s programming is a stupid idea.
Ladies and gentlemen… THE CANADIAN TENORS! Watch as they sing a pop-harmonized version of a Leonard Cohen song! Also: SMOKE MACHINE!!!
Best and Worst of the 2011 Emmys
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