If only the Emmys itself was as great as the shows and actors it awarded.
The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held Sunday night awarded well-deserved shows “Mad Men” and “30 Rock” as Outstanding Drama and Comedy Series, respectively.
So Emmy knows good shows when she sees them – she just doesn’t know how to be one herself.
The major faux pas of the night was having the five nominees for Outstanding Reality TV Host share the hosting duties at the ceremony. Ryan Seacrest, Tom Bergeron, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Jeff Probst may be great hosts; but, their opening gig was so awkward it made us wonder why the Emmys decided to honor them with the new reality TV host category.
Mandel and Probst rambled for about 10 minutes about how the five hosts couldn’t agree on anything so they “literally have nothing,” while the rest of the hosts uncomfortably stared straight ahead. Were their awkward expressions intentional or unintentional? Either way the audience felt awkward.
Supporting Actor in a Comedy winner Jeremy Piven, who won for the third consecutive year, spoke what we all were thinking: “What if I just kept talking for 12 minutes? Wait, that was the opening,” Piven quipped.
One star who chose to sing rather than speak was Josh Groban who sang snippets of 30 famous TV theme songs in a manic couple of minutes. The normally serious singer showed his silly side and exceptional impressions mimicking “South Park” characters and late night show announcers in an entertaining, nostalgic musical number.
Other funny moments included last year’s Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner Ricky Gervais “demanding” his Emmy back from always funny Steve Carell. (Gervais didn’t attend last year, so presenters Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert gave Carell Gervais’ Emmy instead.)
Sparse funny moments like these did their best to make up for the dull middle and rushed end of the show, as well as the deserving winners. Glenn Close, Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey took home acting awards (Fey also won for writing), and surprise winners included Bryan Cranston and Zeljko Ivanek for Outstanding Lead and Supporting Actor in a Drama, respectively.
Hopefully, the Emmys will award deserving actors next year too. But as for hosting duties, how about no hosts at all?
Really the presenters do most of the work transitioning the show and handing out awards anway, so the host position is almost obsolete. Or instead of the reality host nominees hosting, how about the five nominees for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program host? They’re at least funny.
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