Let's Talk Emmys

I'm completely awards show obsessed. Not really with music, the performers are usually people I couldn't care less about, but put an award show on that has to do with movies or TV and I'll be watching.

I headed into last night's Emmy's with a sense of trepidation, last year's ceremony was at times painful to watch and I was concerned that the same would be true last night. And it was. I don't know who's idea it was to have the five people nominated for "best reality show host" as ceremony co-hosts, but I'd be willing to bet their updating their resume today!

I'm sure plenty has been said on other blogs about the "opening" which was not only completely unfunny, but was downright uncomfortable to watch. Thankfully, we didn't see too much of the "hosts" through the remainder of the show and they all but disappeared the last hour, so someone was thinking on their feet.

Another problem with last year's ceremony had been the "theater in the round" attempt. This year they couldn't seem to bring themselves to quite do away with it and there seemed to be some sort of strange bleacher seating not really in the wings, but behind and between the scenery. Weird.

That having been said, their were some truly funny moments in last night's broadcast. Certainly more than 2007 managed. Ricky Gervais was hilarious as he demanded his Emmy (won in 2007 and presented by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to Steve Carrell when Gervais wasn't there) from a petulant Carrell. Don Rickles was....well, Don Rickles. Probably the funniest person all night, refusing to read the teleprompter and riffing on all the idiocy of the night. The last great moment of the evening came when Jimmy Kimmel presented the Emmy for "best reality show host" calling the nominees onstage and reading fake judges statements about each before pulling the infamous "we'll find out who won....right after this break", which, let's face it, they deserved! The only other good thing to say about the show was that (shock!) it ended on time, which I attribute to the fact that it was so horrible, no one wanted to stay there any longer than was absolutely necessary!

In the end, the show was marginally better than last year's but still no where near where it has been in the past. I hope that the Emmy organizers will learn from this year and return to the formula that worked for so long. Get a comedian to host, and just let them riff as needed. They tried to fix something that wasn't broken, and ended up with a huge mess!