Guess who’s back?
After last year’s somber and much-rescheduled Emmy telecast, it was time for things to get back to normal, and in true award show style, the 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards did just that–with all the glitz and glamour it could muster. Guys wore tuxes. Gals wore spangly designer dresses, bejeweled in diamonds. It was business as usual, from the red carpet to backstage.
Except this time, the show had a very clear-cut objective: get in and get out.
Host Conan O’Brien‘s opening remarks made it perfectly clear that this Emmys was not going to follow March’s Oscar telecast by droning on for four and half hours. There would be no tearful acceptance speeches, no hilarious impromptu and lengthy riffs by comedians, no filmed mini-tributes to actors (OK, maybe just one).
In essence, there simply would be no pussyfooting around of any kind.
Sure, there were some funny moments along with a couple of poignant ones, but unfortunately, in running the show like a military operation, the Emmys telecast lost a lot of its spunk.
The Conan Factor
There’s no question Conan O’Brien is a funny guy. His self-deprecating style and understated comedy is refreshing, making his show Late Night with Conan O’Brien a night owl’s staple.
Hosting the Emmys, O’Brien did an adequate job. His staged skits were pretty hilarious, including the opening sequence in which he was the “other” Osbourne, yelling at the clan for making him late to the Emmys. His intro, peppered with some zingers (“Tonight we’ll let Anna Nicole Smith know she’s had a TV series on the air for the past two months”), culminated with a bit in which O’Brien first fell for Jennifer Aniston (who hammed it up beautifully when the camera cut to her in the audience) but after being thwarted by Brad Pitt (was he embarassed, amused, what?), aimed his attention at Garry Shandling. Funny stuff.
During the rest of the telecast, however, we needed a host with some bite–and Conan just didn’t seem to have the teeth to do it. Maybe the fact his getting paid over $8 million by NBC made him a little squeamish about slamming anyone. Too bad.
Notable presenters
The cast of Friends: Their little repartee before giving out the supporting actor and actress awards in a comedy series makes it easy to see why these six people have such a camaraderie on television.
The Osbournes: These people are walking train wrecks (and it’s more than a little scary that we laugh at Ozzy, who really has completely lost it). Still, they are fascinating to watch and their appearance boosted the show considerably, especially after Sharon Osbourne
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gave heartfelt thanks to those who have sent her prayers and well-wishes (she is currently battling colon cancer).
Eric McCormack and Debra Messing: The camaraderie of the Friends cast goes ditto for these two Will & Grace pals.
Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon: This “it” duo from Saturday Night Live sparkled with wit and intelligence. An odd combination to find on network television.
Ellen Degeneres: Honestly, it would have been a true highlight if we actually heard the whole Montana story. How big was the sky again, Ellen?
Garry Shandling: Someone has got to get this man back on television.
The blah, blah, blah moments
The trend to this Emmys show was to have as many presenters as possible, sometimes several for just one category.
We’ll start with the lengthiest yawner: the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award presentation. Talk show guru Oprah Winfrey was this year’s first recipient of the award and if they had just let her talk from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been so dull. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ chairman Bryce Zabel came out, gave a speech about it and then introduced Tom Hanks, who in turn introduced a filmed mini-tribute to Winfrey. At this point everyone had gone to the kitchen to make popcorn, which was a shame since Winfrey‘s speech was one of the better ones of the evening. Finally, to watch her carry off this bronzed head of Bob Hope, well, that was something.
Later O’Brien launched into a spiel about the inventors of television and we hoped that at any moment he’d break out in a grin, say something funny and it would all be a joke. No, this was a serious matter, and it led into a look back at the people we’ve lost the past last year. That’s OK, these are moments all awards shows must include, but this one had a tribute to Milton Berle, presented by Larry King. Enough already.
But the dullest moments of all? Most of the acceptance speeches.
Winner highlights
Larry Wilmore from The Bernie Mac Show: Upon winning the award for best writing for a comedy series, Wilmore said he felt like Halle Berry, standing up there representin’ the folks. Funny how the cameras cut to the black people in the audience. Sheesh.
Stockard Channing: It was quite a night for the actress as she scooped up two Emmys. She won her best supporting actress for her work as the tough First Lady Abigail Bartlet on The West Wing probably because co-star Allison Janney was out of the running. Channing won the second for supporting actress in a movie or miniseries because, dammit, she really is a good actress.
Band of Brothers: As if anything else could have possibly won. The spontaneous show of emotion from the audience for the men of Easy Company, who were watching via satellite in San Francisco, said it all.
Jennifer Aniston: Who out there wasn’t ecstatic to see Aniston win for lead actress in a comedy series? Certainly her husband, Brad Pitt, who (we think) yelled out “JENNIFER!” before she started her acceptance speech.
Ray Romano: Even if you don’t watch Everybody Loves Raymond, it was nice to see the guy win for lead actor in a comedy series. Especially after telling the audience how he dreaded having his parents come into town and stay a whole week just to see him lose each time.
Allison Janney: She is turning into the Candice Bergen of drama. “Thanks for the promotion,” she said, having won the last two years in the best supporting actress in a drama category as the acerbic Press Secretary C.J. Cregg and now winning the award in the lead actress category. Thank you, indeed.
Michael Chiklis: Who?
The West Wing: Three years in a row as best drama series, hmm. Even after all the nominations, Six Feet Under couldn’t pull it off. Conan O’Brien quipped that the Emmys never used to pay attention to the cable programming and well, sorry to say this, they still don’t.
Friends: For a show that many said was going downhill, especially after being beaten in the ratings by a group of Survivors, winning the best comedy series no doubt feels great to our favorite sextet.
And on a somber note…
The terrorists attacks of Sept. 11 could not be overlooked. Rudolph Guiliani presented the Governor’s Award to the four major networks–NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox–for airing the night’s winner of the Outstanding Variety, Musical or Comedy Special America: A Tribute to Heroes. The show, which aired in the week after Sept. 11, raised thousands of dollars to the families of those who lost their lives on that fateful day. It was a poignant, moving moment.
After three hours and 15 minutes, that was it. We were done. The Emmys may have run with clockwork precision, but let’s hope next year they’re a little more fun.
