The 60th Emmy Awards Show: Horrible!

It’s bad enough that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences snubbed so many for Emmy nominations. But the insult was compete when the Emmy Awards Show didn’t even seem to put much effort into providing a decent awards show.

I’ve written here before that I don’t like awards shows. They are usually only good for the first half hour, and then they descend into boredom. But last night’s Emmy Awards began with boredom already in full swing.

The show opened with some clips of past shows that seemed disconnected. It was followed by a speech from Oprah Winfrey, which was OK but a little long and frankly I’m not sure of its point. Still, it seemed to be a wasted lead in for what was to come. The hosts of some of the top reality shows were introduced, with Tom Bergeron, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Ryan Seacrest, and Jeff Probst. And they seemed proud of the fact that they had nothing prepared, stating, "We have nothing…This is serious. This is not a bit….We have nothing." Heidi Klum stood there in the center of the pack and said nothing. Then, William Shatner was called onto the stage to help tear off Heidi’s manly tuxedo costume to reveal a more scantily clad Klum. It was…weird.

My husband and I switched over to the Green Bay vs. Dallas football game on NBC, but, like watching a bad accident, we had to switch back to the Emmys to see if the horror continued. It had. What was even stranger is we found ourselves watching more of the Emmys than we normally do, just to see how bad it was. We switched the game back on during acceptance speeches, but did manage to catch Jeremy Piven’s dig where he asked "What if I just kept talking for 12 minutes? That was the opening." No kidding.

Before I switched off the show, I saw Josh Groban lower his standards to perform a horrific montage of 30 themes from primetime TV shows of the past, complete with the infamous Law & Order “doink doink” which of course is not part of the Law & Order theme song. (Idiots!)

Probably the funniest piece, although maybe drawn out too long, was Ricky Gervais going on about missing last year’s awards where he won, and where Steve Carell accepted for him in a hysterical celebration. Well, Ricky demanded his award back from a purposely stone-faced Carell, descending into even attempting to tickle Carell. I couldn’t believe it, actual entertainment!

One commercial that I did watch was the Macy’s commercial. Full disclosure here – I hate Macy’s. They took over a Kauffman’s store in my home town and since then, I have barely purchased anything from them because they reduced their selection of products and they also don’t have the same quality they had before. Yet, years after this big Macy’s merger had been announced, we now see a commercial, which touted the deep history of the store in New York City. Well, since New Yorkers sometimes seem to act like the world revolves around them, I became even more miffed at Macy’s, since they still seem to think that what New Yorkers have liked over the years the rest of the country will like too. Still, Macy’s should ask for their advertising money back, seeing that this dog of a show didn’t do much to put me in the mood to “reminisce” about Macy’s in New York.

Also horrific was a disjointed and sometimes uncomfortable skit with some of the old stars of the show Laugh-In. Ruth Buzzi looked eerily the same in her old lady costume, Lily Tomlin and Joann Worley seemed the same too, and Alan Sues seemed feeble or drunk, or both. It was almost embarrassing.

And that was it for me. The TV went off and I never looked back.

All I can say is that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences should be ashamed of themselves for this show. It seemed disjointed and lifeless. It was like amateur hour(s). I actually felt sorry for those performers who were nominated for an Emmy. The show was an insult to them, but even more of an insult to viewers. The sad thing is, the Academy will probably nominate themselves for an Emmy next year.



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