Sunday night’s Emmy Awards ceremony, telecast live on ABC
from the huge and yawning Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, was anything but a blast.
Despite the fact that the show marked the competition’s 60th
anniversary, the only surprising things about the event were the big winners,
or at least some of them.
After a null opening by the five nominated reality TV show
hosts, the awards started pouring and basic-cable television shows claimed
several of the most popular prizes.
The AMC network’s glossy ‘60s drama “Mad Men” was awarded
with the title of best drama series of the year, thus marking the first time a
basic-cable show received one of the top two Emmys.
NBC’s sitcom “30 Rock” won, as expected, the statuette for
best comedy series for the second year in a row, while its star and creator,
comedienne Tina Fey, who recently humorously impersonated Republican
vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live,” took home the
award for best actress in a comedy series.
In addition to this, Bryan Cranston was named best actor in
a drama series for his performance in “Breaking Bad,” which can be watched on
the sassy and jittery AMC cable network.
Fortunately or not for NBC, all of the Emmys that went to
the Peacock Network were won by “30 Rock,” regardless of the fact that the
major network once dominated the comedy and drama domain. It seems that NBC
lost ground in both luring TV viewers and in claiming prizes.
Moving on to FX, Glenn Close won the well-deserved title of
best actress in a drama for filling the shoes of an insensitive, tough attorney
in “Damages.”
“John Adams” was a great success for HBO, one of the most
popular pay-cable networks out there, giving Paul Giamatti the chance to win
the award for best actor in a miniseries or movie.
Furthermore, a new Emmy was handed out on Sunday night,
which honors the best host of a reality or competition program. The first prize
for this category was won by Jeff Probst of “Survivor,” who also hosted the 60th
annual Primetime Emmy Awards together with Tom Bergeron of “America’s Funniest
Home Videos,” Heidi Klum of “Project Runway,” Howie Mandel of “Deal or No Deal”
and “American Idol’s” Ryan Seacrest.
However, the five hosts offered nothing at all, as they only
talked about how they had not prepared anything at all for the show. We would
have figured it out ourselves, believe me!
Jeff Probst’s prize was one of the only two important Emmy
Awards which went to CBS. The second prize also honored one of the network’s
reality shows, “The Amazing Race,” which was chosen the best reality show for
the fifth consecutive time.
Those who were anxious to witness some controversial
political statements or flare-ups must have been really disappointed at the end
of the show, as the comments which were made were not numerous and concrete by
any means. For instance, such a moment was offered by Tommy Smuthers, who told the
audience, “There’s nothing more scary than watching ignorance in action,” a
seeming reference to the Bush administration.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Emmy ceremony celebrates
the magnificence of television, the show itself was a total bore. If it weren’t
for the mad shows which definitely rocked small screens, the competition could
have even been considered a “successful” failure.
