As if being the worst Emmy ceremony of them all weren’t
enough, Sunday night’s annual Primetime Emmy Awards lured the franchise’s
smallest audience ever.
This is bad news, but, taking into account that the yearly
event celebrates television and its magnificence, the reports regarding the
only 12.2 million viewers who tuned in for the 3-hour-8-minute prize-giving
episode become the worst possible.
Organizers went all-out to promote this season’s Emmy
ceremony, they invited popular celebrities and even assigned five well-known
figures to host the much talked about show. However, all the fuss and buzz
around the Emmys proved to be much ado about nothing.
According to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research,
the ceremony telecast live on ABC, which included big winners such as the AMC
network’s glossy ‘60s drama “Mad Men” and NBC’s sitcom “30 Rock,” averaged 12.2
million viewers, unable to outshine the historic low of 12.3 million of the
1990 ceremony aired on Fox.
HBO collected 26 Emmy statuettes this year, 13 out of which went
to “John Adams,” the most successful miniseries in Emmy history. In addition to
this, the pay-cable network’s “Recount” received another three prizes.
The heavily discussed “Mad Men” became the first basic-cable
series to win one of the top two Emmy trophies, being awarded with the title of
best drama series, while “Breaking Bad’s” star Bryan Cranston was named best
drama series actor.
“30 Rock” wiped up the major comedy-related awards, as it
predictably won the statuette for best comedy series for the second year in a
row, while its star and creator, comedienne Tina Fey, who recently wittily
impersonated Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on “Saturday
Night Live,” walked home with the award for best actress in a comedy series.
Distressingly, this year’s Emmy ceremony only saw a
significant gain in viewers between its first and second half-hours and, after
approximately 30 minutes, ratings dropped. Moreover, during its final hour, the
show averaged only about 1 million more viewers than when it started off.
Only 10.6 million people wanted to see Oprah Winfrey open
Sunday night’s Emmy ceremony with her television-is-the-best speech and
introduce the five hosts of the show: Jeff Probst of “Survivor,” 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.
The five were also nominees for the new Emmy category, which
honors best reality TV show hosts, and the lucky first winner was “Survivor’s”
Jeff Probst.
However, the hosts did not make the most of their skills
during Sunday’s event, as they offered nothing at all and kept on talking about
how they had not prepared anything for the much-awaited event. Heidi Klum
wanted to save the day, but getting out of a tuxedo and exposing a pair of
glittery shorts does not always work.
“Really, this is completely unscripted!” Ryan Seacrest
bragged. Well… one could surely tell, because the hosts’ act was worthless.
Enthusiastic reactions regarding the 60th
Primetime Emmy Awards lacked and, as viewers failed to tune in for the event,
critics expressed their aversion towards the show.
“It was hideously awful from start to harried finish,
dragged down by five amateurish reality anchors who would have been unwelcome
as guests, let alone hosts,” USA Today wrote.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
