TV Talk: The 60th Emmy Awards

Ah, the Emmys, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

You are probably the most recognized awards show in the television business but at the same time you are also the most controversial and everyone who remotely appreciates good television agrees that your voters barely do what they are paid to do: watch television! It is now common knowledge that the shows and people that are the most rewarding in getting an award for the recognition of their great work are not likely to be at the Emmys but at some other awards shows, say the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Writers Guild Awards or the Television Critics Association Awards, just to name a few. But not the Emmy Awards.

Case in point: the recurring habit of your members/voters to give nominations each year to probably one of most mediocre comedies on the air, Two and a Half Men, and the not-so-good-either drama Boston Legal... How do you call it, if not injustice, when such shows get several major nominations and real outstanding and deserving series, actors and writers (like Friday Night Lights for instance) get no nominations whatsoever? This is the reason why critics and other television fans have accused the Emmy voters of playing it too safe year after year and ignoring the hidden gems in the TV landscape.

But let's acknowledge the fact that in the last few years, there seems to be a change to the right direction, although still a lot of injustice. Let's focus on this year. The nominees were, I concede, pretty solid with the first time in the Emmys' history that basic cable series had more nominations that broadcast network series. Thanks primarily to Mad Men and Damages with more than 20 nominations combined. Dexter was also another strong and deserving contender among the cable series.
Amongst network series, Lost was finally back in the Outstanding Drama race after being an outsider looking in last year, 30 Rock was the most nominated comedy (with an astonishing 17 nods!) while some other series (Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Pushing Daisies...) were still present in at least one major category.

So what went down during the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards? A mixed bag I would say. Mad Men and 30 Rock left clear winners, taking home the biggest trophies for Best Drama and Best Comedy respectively. Tina Fey (actor and producer on 30 Rock) also got Best Actress in a Comedy and Best Writing (and she delivered amazing acceptance speeches every time!).

Okay, I have the feeling I've been far too neutral in this post so far, so let's get down to what I really thought of this year's winners!

The Bad. Why am I saying that? Simple because I' not a big fan of either Mad Men or 30 Rock (maybe I should...) and even if I applaud the Emmy voters for "thinking outside the box" for a change, I was still disappointed that my favorite contenders didn't win. In the drama category, I would really have loved to see Lost, Dexter or Damages win as I thought they all deserved it. I think Michael C. Hall should definitely have won Best Actor in a Drama for Dexter (Duh!). But my biggest disappointment was probably the complete shut down of Grey's Anatomy, as the long overdue win for Chandra Wilson (Bailey) in the Best Supporting Actress category still didn't happen! I mean, come on, this woman is a terrific actress and she has been doing a amazing work on Grey's, being the heart and soul of the show! And Wilson didn't even lose to Sandra Oh (Cristina), I would have been fine with that! Another letdown: Desperate Housewives was not even up for anything this year when the fourth season proved to be one of the series' strongest!

The Good. Still, there were some winners that I was really happy about, thank God! Among them, I was ecstatic for Glenn Close's win as Best Actress in a Drama for her spooky performance as Patty Hewes on Damages. Kudos to that! On another Damages win, I'm glad Zeljko Ivanek (Ray Fisk) won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. I was also at peace with the win of Jean Smart as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy as Christina Applegate's mom on Samantha Who? Though I would have been okay with the win of fellow contenders Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies) and Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty) in that category.

The Ugly. Ugly Betty didn't win a single award this year but the Emmys for sure didn't this show to have the word "ugly" attached to the ceremony since the telecast in itself was completely preposterous. It was so bad, really! The five appointed reality TV hosts (yes, you read that right: five hosts!) were as bad as an Emmy host can get and opened the show basically saying for like 12 minutes that they didn't have anything to say but still went on and on about it for a long time! It felt forced and most importantly, it wasn't funny! What pisses me off is that the hosts' interventions lasted forever and when happy winners who actually had something meaningful and interesting to say got on stage to make their acceptance speeches, they were cut in the middle of it or were harshly hassled by the prompter to "wrap it up" because the show could last forever and they needed to be quick! What a shame, really! And because the beginning of the ceremony was dragging on, the presenters and winners that came halfway through had less time to say what they had to say and some presenters even mentioned when they got on stage that their piece had been cut!... I mean really, about halfway through the telecast, they must have gone so out of time that they cut everybody's lines and speeches and even reduced the nominees announcements to a bear minimum. As a result of that, the pacing of the show suffered and it became rushed and choppy.
The only thing good about the telecast in itself: the subtle (or even sometimes not-so-subtle) and often funny political allusions given the fact that 2008 is a US election year. I laughed out loud to the only funny line of one of the hosts during the long opening: "We got nothing; our opening is like Sarah Palin's road to nowhere!" Many other allusions made by various people followed during the show, also urging people to vote, whoever for.

Wrap it up, wrap it up! I think it's time I conclude my (ridiculously long) post on these 60th Primetime Emmy Awards. I was happy for some winners, not so much for others, and the show in itself sucked. Too bad for a ceremony that is supposed to celebrate what's best about television. But I trust that you will surprise us next year dear Emmy voters and organizers. I hope so at least.
In the meantime, I'm happy to let you know that, even though I do not seem to, I respect your choices and tastes. So much so that you made me want to get into Mad Men and 30 Rock!! Darn you! As if I didn't have enough shows on my plate these days! Oh well...