By Andrew Payne
All the TV statuettes may have been handed out last night, but that doesn’t mean the awards have to end here, right? Of course not! That’s because we still have room to give awards to the actual show.
With that, here are this year’s Emmy Awards…Awards.
Biggest Upset: “The Amazing Race” has won the Emmy in the Best Reality Competition category literally every single time this category has existed. Every. Single. Time.
Well, that’s no longer true as “Top Chef” stormed the stage with a visibly shaken production team not believing what had happened was real. I’m still not so sure I didn’t see Jerry Bruckheimer coolly walking up to the stage to accept another award for “Race”.
Biggest Surprise: While “Chef” may have pulled a bigger upset, there wasn’t a bigger shocker of the night than hearing Kyra Sedgwick’s name called rather than heavy favorite Julianna Margulies for the Outstanding Actress in a Drama Emmy.
Not only did Margulies win the SAG and Golden Globe in this category already, but she also won the TCA award which combines all drama acting categories (where she beat out Emmy winners Aaron Paul, Bryan Cranston and John Lithgow). Here she can’t get by a TNT mainstay who loses every year. Crazy.
Worst Host: Jimmy Fallon. It was a simple case of non-presence. A few 30-second songs to introduce montages a bunch of lame jokes (he introduced the “True Blood” presenters by saying they “suck”) and an onstage opening that looked like a high school talent show (though the filmed piece was boffo).
It’s not that Fallon was awful. He just didn’t do anything.
Best Host: In 3 minutes Ricky Gervais got more laughs than Fallon’s entire evening combined. Between serving the audience beer, taking an even better shot at Mel Gibson than he did at the Golden Globes, and delightfully shouting the name of Emmy winner Bucky Gunts, Gervais has everyone counting down to his next stint as Globes host. And speaking of Gunts…
Best Running Gag: After Gervais’ Gunts joke, the Olympic Director became the best joke of the night. Can you say that name on TV? It was never clear.
Worst Running Gag: Not once, not twice, but three time we had to hear Fallon read horrid presenter introductions from Twitter followers.
Keep in mind, this gave us one tweet saying, “Tina Fey? I’d hit that.” Yes, that made it onto a nationally broadcast awards ceremony. Insulting, unfunny, and possibly a violation of WGA rules. Not all technology is an advancement.
Good Riddance Award: This goes to “Lost” who ended a stellar final season as one of the most beloved TV series of all time with absolutely no major Emmys. And only one win for sound mixing or sound editing or something involving the noise The Smoke Monster makes.
Aaron Paul was the best supporting actor in a drama this year and I’m glad he won, but wouldn’t it have been nice to see O’Quinn or Emerson take the stage for a quick acceptance speech trip down memory lane? Or to see Darlton on the stage to claim Outstanding Drama. Or writing?
Yes, those would have been nice, but the real robbery here was Jack Bender’s not winning for directing the breathtaking feature film of a finale. Yes, it’s nice to see “Dexter” finally take home an major Emmy for its taught finale, but it couldn’t come close to matching the grand scope of “The End”.
Least Likely Superstar: If I told you before the show that a 63-year-old autism advocate and animal behavior specialist in a Western get-up would steal about an hour of one of Hollywood’s biggest nights you would have thought I was crazy, but that’s exactly what the real Temple Grandin did as the HBO Film about her life had an “All About Eve”-like run in the TV Movie categories.
Also, if you know anything about Grandin, you know why her hugging Emily Gerson Saines during her acceptance speech was the sweetest moment of the evening.
Best Acceptance Speech: It was the first one, it set the pace, and came out on top – Eric Stonestreet’s heartfelt thanking of his family for their encouragement and delight at being able to work in show business was classy and real. Everything a pre-written acceptance speech isn’t.
Worst Acceptance Speech: By all accounts Ryan Murphy is a prolific creative genius. And the best he can muster is a deadpan finger painting reference in his acceptance speech? Maybe it was nerves, but that was a letdown.
The “Amazing Race” Award for This is Getting Old: “The Daily Show” makes history by winning Outstanding Variety Series for the eighth straight season. Yes, that’s eight straight seasons. As in one more than seven. Yes, that is a record for consecutive wins. The old record was set by “The Late Show with David Letterman” whose streak was broken at five by, you guessed it, “The Daily Show”.
In other words, two shows have won this award this award in the past thirteen years. It’s time for some new blood.
Robbed of History by Network Executives Award: This goes to Bryan Cranston who tied Bill Cosby (for “I Spy”) by winning three consecutive Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series Emmys last night, but he’ll have no chance for a fourth.
Why? Because AMC scheduled season four of “Breaking Bad” to premiere after next year’s eligibility period. Shameful.
Biggest Shock While Researching This Column Award: When I checked to see if anybody else had won three straight Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series I came across this nugget.
In 1992, Christopher Lloyd (as in Doc Brown, not the producer of “Frasier” and “Modern Family”) won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Alistair Dimple in the Canadian Children’s Series “Road to Avonlea”. I mean, What!?
And, Finally…
The Award For Loudest Applause During the Death Montage: There were some strong contenders (Rue McClanahan, David Lloyd), but in the end recent television star Dennis Hopper broke the noise meter with the loudest cheer of the night.
What was your favorite Emmy moment? Have your own Award category/winner? Leave it in the comments below!
