FlipBoardNow 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.
(GIFs )
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!!!
I thought Christina Hendricks’ cleavage deserved a “best” mention.
As I noted in the first post today, there will be a separate post with pictures of attractive people.
@Matt, my bad.
Creed Bratton buying meth from Jesse Pinkman was easily the best thing ever. “Hey guys! My crystal meth is here!”
Seeing Valderama totally threw me off, it just couldn’t connect in my brain that this no talent was on stage with the likes of Robin and Jeff Winger.
For what it’s worth, Downton Abbey is pretty great.
Tho, only thing that made that part of the ceremony slightly less boring was it’s floor wiping with Mildred Pierce.
God, listening to singing presenters causes me more pain than a needle in my urethra.
@Smalls, I was also about to cite the Jesse/Creed transaction.
I loved Ty Burrell’s acceptance speech, made “Modern Family” winning all those awards less irritating.
Stringer Bell was robbed!!
Jimmy Fallon, once again towing that line of, “Wait, is he actually funny or not?”
I love the Fallon GIF, because not only is the fake clapping funny, you’ve also got Stringer Bell & Co. as the only black people in sight and Lorne Michaels looking a corpse.
Jim Parsons should be shot into the sun.
Its really unfair how hot Sofia Vergara is and how an asshole like me will never be lucky enough to get a sniff.
Cobie Smulders looked absolutelly adorable at the emmys, and I was really just watching to see if PEter Dinkelage would win the emmy and he totally deserved it.
All awards shows should have live Lonely Island performances.
I was pretty much crying by the time they dropped the giant American flag.
Time out, has anyone on Earth ever watched Raising Hope?
They should call the Emmys the Shows Your Mom Watches Awards.
What happened to the Asian guy from The Lonely Island? Is he buried in a desert somewhere?
Also thought the Jesse Pinkman/Creed appearance was my favorite part of the show. Any chance you can post of gif?
I’ve seen one episode of Raising Hope. It was actually pretty cute.
But I also liked My Name is Earl, so there you go.
True story: I found out about Raising Hope because one day I thought, “Hey, whatever happened to that weird blonde chick from Parenthood?” and googled it.
OMG, I forgot about the Asian guy. Chester? Chaz? Something like that?
Two observations: 1) Maybe this makes me a prick, but while watching the In Memoriam, I was hoping someone cooler had died this year. 2) Anyone who laughs at Big Bang Theory should be castrated so they cannot procreate.
Raising Hope has one of the most obnoxious leads on TV (Lucas Neff), with one of the strongest supporting casts (especially Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt). Solid, not great, show.
@brandon_ROTU: someone cooler DID die–his name was Greg Giraldo, and they fucking left him out of the reel.
@Mark Holy sh*t, you’re right! I guess they couldn’t dig up any clips from Last Comic Standing for the montage. They’ve all been destroyed.
Matt, it’s “Downton Abbey” not “Downtown”.
Kate Winslet is getting closer to winning the EGOT.
Needed more Kelly Kelly.
/may have my posts/sites confused
If you have “tenors” in your group’s name and you use microphones, you’re really just 98 degrees.
And not one mention of Margo Martindale winning for Justified? To me, that was the best part (and the only real reason I was flipping over to the Emmy’s).
AND
First they came for the Tonys and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t like musicals. Then they came for the Emmys…
/I may go to hell for that one.
And not one mention of Margo Martindale winning for Justified? To me, that was the best part (and the only real reason I was flipping over to the Emmy’s).
Sigh. I really wish people would keep up.
@Smegga – Fixed. Nevertheless, fuck your abbeys.
How ’bout a tip of the cap to Steve Levitan’s wife?
Downton Abbey is rapidly becoming event TV over here. Never seen it myself so I can only assume it’s just generic costume drama tosh.
No mention of Charlie Sheen? Oh that’s right, his fifteen minutes were up ten minutes ago.
@Matt – No! Our abbeys are vital to national identity.
@AEVC – I haven’t seen it either, but the missus says it’s brilliant.
[www.youtube.com]
@ Smegga – I gave last night’s episode ten minutes on the ITV iplayer. Big fat meh. I don’t get it. Nothing in the writing or acting to distinguish it from the kind of Catherine Cookson horseshit ITV have been serving up for years.
No Billy Mays for the memoriam?
Kate Winslet is looking sorta doable right about now.
Agree with others that Downton Abbey is worth it. Perhaps the Emmys is doing good broadening its appeal to a PBS audience?