Emmy Live Blog VII: Wrapping Up

Final thoughts on (what I hope is) the final 30 minutes or so (starting at 10:28 p.m.) of the show:

-- Good for Alec Baldwin, a very funny man who finally got the Emmy he deserved. And wonderfully gracious link in his speech between Tina Fey and Elaine May.

-- Man, after the microphones worked all night for Howie and Heidi, they cut out when the genuinely interesting America Ferrera and Vanessa Williams show up to give an award? There is no justice.

-- Very nice eulogy clip moment, and good for the audience for not clapping during, allowing every death equal weight instead of just clapping for famous people (like the Oscar audiences often do) (OK, they just slipped for Bernie Mac and Sydney Pollack). And good for the Academy for remembering Cyd Charisse and Alice Ghostley, and Harvey Korman. That said, "Whiter Shade of Pale"? Does that lyric have something to do with death that I don't know about? And did they just show George Carlin twice, at the beginning and end? Well, if you're going to show someone twice, Carlin is a good choice, not least of all because he had a kind of bifurcated career, and each clip showed one-half of it.

-- No more Grey's Anatomy, please. These ads make it look like a CW show. No, wait, worse than a CW show, most of which are at least aware of their own silly qualities. I think Grey's is deluded enough to believe it's a Serious Drama. No wonder Conan O'Brien cracked a Katharine Heigl joke in his Emmy bit.

--"We are running out of time, and I'd rather leave this time for the winner"-- in graciously introducing the Lead Actor nominees, did Kiefer Sutherland just diss the self-involved reality hosts? Yes-- yes, I think he did. Thank you, Kiefer.

--Wow. Bryan Cranston just beat Jon Hamm and Hugh Laurie. That's unexpected. Loved him on Malcolm In The Middle, haven't seen him on Breaking Bad. It looks like Mad Men faces the same challenge The Sopranos did in '99-- Academy voters don't know what to do with challenging material, especially on a network (AMC in Mad Men's case, HBO in the case of The Sopranos) that they aren't used to rewarding. It'll take Mad Men a couple of years, I suspect.

--Good for Tina Fey. One can never give too many awards to Tina Fey.

--Did I say "Symphony of Suck" earlier? That's only because I didn't know they were saving Jimmy Kimmel for later. He's giving out the reality host award (I think that's called Finding Your Level), and he's called out the nominees, who are also our pseudo-hosts for the evening. He calls them out, they stand in a line, and I can only hope that a firing squad will follow.
A commercial break? Really? Stretching this award when they've already admitted they're behind, when they are cutting the bits of genuinely funny people? When they've cut off acceptance speeches of people we actually like and care about? Really? Lame. I did like Kimmel's description of them as "sufficient," though.

--The winners have been fine (if frustratingly conventional), but this is quite possibly the worst Emmys show ever. Painful, dull, self-involved. Only my masochistic curiosity and my love for you all keeps me watching. Maybe Jimmy Kimmel will give me an Emmy for it.

--And here comes Mary Tyler Moore to redeem it. Moore rocks, but she's not Superwoman. Betty White's great, too, but she's also struggling with the lame format and limited time. I liked it when White caressed the microphone stand, though.

--30 Rock. Again.

--Tom Selleck to hand out the drama award? That's surprising. I've always kind of liked him, though. No Boston Legal this year, ok?

--And the winner for drama is...Mad Men. OK, so I was wrong about them having to wait a year or two, but I am happily so. I can't figure out how they could overlook directing and cast but reward the show, but it's fantastic TV, and I'm so glad they didn't make it wait.

Speaking of waiting, my bed calls, so I will do what Howie Mandel refuses to do, and get off the stage.