Last night's Emmys was an award show to remember, but not necessarily fondly. The event promised to be entertaining in the week leading up by teasing us with reality hosts, flashbacks to oldies but goodies and even a little theme song medley to keep the crowd going but about half way through I practically expected a big ol' Fail Whale to stamp the screen. Now that would have been entertaining. The show started off with Oprah. Other than the fact that she's Oprah and she has a television show, I have no idea why she was up there. Apparently 5 reality hosts need an introduction of their own. Maybe it's because they knew their opening would be a monumental failure. FYI, reality hosts are so good at what they do because they're the only ones with scripts while surrounded by a bunch of normal people who have no freakin' clue what they've gotten themselves into. So I'm thinkin' improv for the opening, not such a great idea.
Oh, and just when you thought it couldn't get any more awkward, William Shatner (who has nothing to do with Reality shows, by the way) joined Tom Bergeron on stage to literally tear the clothes of Heidi Klum. Because hey, who is she without her legs showing?
Naturally, the opening took way too long and the show started out off schedule. We were then treated to a rushed and pretty embarrassing pace for the remainder of the evening, cutting some presenters dialogue out completely (and thank goodness for that, judging by the ones we did get to see in full). However, that didn't keep a couple funny men from stealing their moments. Don Rickles and Ricky Gervais soaked it in, knowing the show could go nowhere until they got to their points. It was worth it though as they turned out to be the silliest moments of the night with Don just doing his thing and Gervais harassing Steve Carell for his stolen Emmy.
There were a couple of other shining moments during the night, like when Brian Cranston beat out some major heavy hitters (Jon Hamm and Hugh Laurie) for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series. That was probably the biggest shock of the night and in my opinion, a well deserved win. Also, the presentation for best Reality Host was hilariously ridiculous when Jimmy Kimmel made the nominees sweat by grading them like contestants on one of their own shows and then making them sit through a commercial break before the winner was announced. Maybe it's just because I'm a reality fan but that really had me laughing. Of course, it also could have been the delirium from sitting through the rest of the event.
All in all, the show was a flop and mainly because it had so much potential. I do believe the writers are to blame for this snoozer. When you have a reunion of the Laugh-In cast and you muck it up, or a theme song medley missing some key elements (Hello? No Full House or Different Strokes? Isn't this supposed to be funny?) it's time to do a rewrite.
Better luck next year!
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Great review! As you know, I was with you to the bitter end. The only thing I'd add was the lovely moments with Tommy Smothers, and Steve Martin's introduction of him.