Emmy Highlights

So, my roommate Brett and I turned on the Primetime Emmys last night (remember when they were just called 'The Emmys' and they didn't have to distinguish from 'Daytime' and 'Primetime'? Ahh... those were the days!) in order to watch the wonder and amazement that was 'the Primetime Emmys'!

...man, was I disappointed...

Some highlights:

• I'm not sure who's decision it was to make the five contestants for 'Best Reality Show Host' the hosts for the show, but whoever they are, they need to be fired. Badly. Worst decision ever! The egos were enormous - I'm amazed they were able to fit Ryan Seacrest ("American Idol") and Howie Mandel ("Deal or No Deal") on the same stage! Tom Bergeron ("Dancing With the Stars") and Jeff Probst ("Survivor") were just awkward, and, though she was gorgeous (as always), Heidi Klum ("Project Runway") contributed nothing. The opening bit ("We have... nothing planned!") was like watching a train wreck and it really didn't get better from there. The best bit with them all night wasn't even theirs, but Jimmy Kimmel's, who played the announcement of the winner like an episode of "American Idol" - announcing that each nominee was "in the final two" and then taking a commercial break right before announcing the winner. When the winner was announced, Kimmel held out a card with the name of the winner - Jeff Probst of "Survivor" - just like on "Survivor".
• Jeremy Piven: "Do you want me to just stand up here and talk for twelve minutes? That was the whole intro!"
  
• Steve Martin showed everyone what true comedic genius really is. Had the Academy just let him (or another funny comedian) host, the show would've been better by far. His honorary award to Dick Smothers was as hilarious as it was heartfelt.
• Ricky Gervais punking on Steve Carrell to hand over the Emmy he won last year (that John Stewart and Stephen Colbert 'awarded' to Carrell as Gervais was in absentia). As a diehard fan of the British "Office," I liked seeing Carrell get his comeuppance at the hands of a better comedian!
• Don Rickles! If you didn't see it, check YouTube or something! Dude had me in stitches all night! Even Kathy Griffin seemed to be losing her composure - which seemed odd.
• Neil Patrick Harris: "Thanks to Howie Mandel's incessant prattling, our bit has been cut."
  Kristen Chenoweth: "Bitter, party of two!"
• Barry Sonnenfeld: "Love television, fear the Internet."
• "John Adams" took home bucco awards! I always feel a small personal victory when Paul Giamatti wins anything, so it was awesome to see him take home "Best Leading Actor in a Miniseries or Made-For-TV Movie"! I also loved the exchange between Sally Field and Tom Hanks when she presented him the award for "Best Miniseries" (Hanks executive produced). It went a little something like this:
  Sally Field: "How you been, son?"
  Tom Hanks: "Fine, Mama. (pause) Mama always said, 'Life...' Ah, forget it!"
• Craig Ferguson: "Brooke... I've always respected you."
  Brooke Shields: "Is that your hand on my @$$?"
  Craig Ferguson: "Yes... and it's respecting you."
• There was a lot of hooplah regarding a "Laugh-In" cast reunion. It was unbearably cheesy! If you didn't used to watch the show, you were pretty much up a creek in terms of understanding what the heck was going on... and a lot of them just weren't as funny as they used to be.
  

All in all, I suppose the show wasn't too bad, but the hosts did drag the proceedings down a bit. Towards the end, presenters were just running out, saying, "We're running out of time! Here are the nominees!" The writer's strike made for a pretty lackluster season, this I know - but, hopefully, with things back to normal, next year will pick up and things will improve dramatically!