I survived The Emmys. 
Somewhere in the midst of the show, someone paid Neil Patrick Harris a compliment in stating he was doing an outstanding job overseeing everything. And all I could think was: “Really?”
Oh … there were moments. There were the briefest moments of intrigue and comedy here and there. But, when the best part of the show is Sarah McLachlan (“Harbinger Of Death”) singing her signature “I Will Remember You” during the In Memorium segment showcasing those that have been lost, one would think there’s something not quite right with the telecast.
When you have to explain what’s different about the show this year … when you have to give a tour of the stage, noting each little nuance and change from the previous year’s telecast … when you have to crack wise about the band being in the background as opposed to below stage in “The Pit” … when color commentary having nothing whatsoever to do with the actors and actresses is forced through the pipes … well … you’re reaching. And it’s a long, long reach in order to pull your audience back from that nether void to which they’re slipping minute by minute during a drudgingly, over-long, three-hours-plus ceremony. Yawn.
The pre-show and Red Carpet segments were more fun than the show itself. If you didn’t catch the Red Carpet walk and listen to some of those network yahoos try to engage sweating stars in conversation, you missed some good times. Some hysterical times.
A glaring example was Jean (Big Love) Tripplehorn’s husband being interviewed by Chris Harrison from the TV Guide Network. Alluding to her hit HBO series, Chris asked Jean’s husband: “Can you imagine having more than one wife?”
His response was terrific: “Okay … I’m on live television and I’m standing next to my wife. What do you expect me to say?” Faux pas!
Sarah Silverman: Were you scratching your ass or wiping your sweaty paw on your designer dress before shaking Carrie Ann Inaba’s hand goodbye?
Hey, Jimmy Fallon, here’s a news flash: When you’re being interviewed, take the freakin’ mints out of your mouth so you don’t sound as if you just came fresh from a tooth extraction, still sporting the effects of Novocaine shots…..
And Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother): You used to be a model, right? You should know to set your shoulders back when you wear a dazzling-red, shoulder-baring dress so you don’t look like you’re auditioning for a role as Quasimodo in a modern remake of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.
Speaking of fashion, I have a question: Who gives a hoot “whom” or “what” the celebrities and others are wearing? Seriously … does anybody? Because it’s not like you’re heading over to Rodeo Drive come late Monday morning after The Emmys. You’re fooling no one into thinking you’re going to drop thousands on that purple Versacenumber you saw painted on what’s-her-name with the $1.5 million in jewelry hanging off her neck and the diamond encrusted purse clutched tightly by her side.
At least Chevy Chase came in a T-shirt and a jacket and didn’t care. Props to him for being a renegade at his age and not caring. And to William Shatner, sans tie.
Terry O’Quinn’s (Lost) wife was simply glamorous in her response to what she had on: A dress from “a little boutique in Maryland” she didn’t remember the name of. Isn’t that completely refreshing? It was for me.
But The Emmys? Refreshing? I thought they might be. But they were not. The broadcast was a snoozefest but for a few glimpses of brilliance by Ricky Gervais and … and … and … and….
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on Sep 21, 2009 @ 16:30 EST5EDT
I have to disagree. I thought this year’s Emmy telecast was done well. Especially after the ‘theater in the round’ debacle of a few years ago. Neil was funny and the way they handled the process this time around made the show go faster. Sure, there were flubs along the way, but that happens with any awards show.
I’m with Rich, Michael. Nothing that made me say “wow”, but it’s an awards show. I enjoyed it.
There were a few slow spots in the show, but there were few. NPH did a great job and the show moved along swiftly and only ran a few minutes late. I did miss some of the musical pieces, but overall it was a huge improvement over the last few years.
And, you didn’t even mention the best part of the show: the Dr. Horrible piece. That was hilarious!
The worst part-unfortunately the winners.
I have to agree with the other commentors. I think NPH did a great job, and with the exception of the movie/miniseries category that seemed to drag on and on, the night moved pretty quickly (and only went over by several minutes!). I agree that giving a tour of the stage was odd, and that bit about the fan having bad seats was pretty stupid, but I’m sure both of those were written in for him (and in the case of the latter, NPH seemed to agree). As for the red carpet– I didn’t have time to watch it last night but I taped it and started watching it today, but it seems more inane than usual so far, and I don’t think I have the energy to sit through two hours of it just to get to the parts you mentioned (though I liked how Seal just grabbed a suit from his closet)…
As someone who routinely hates award shows, I actually watched the entire thing. That alone is testimate to how much better it was this time. The winners were sadly anti-climatic, but I can live with that.
The best thing …. cutting it up into parts. I was able to record the emmys, watch Army Wives and Mad Men during the parts I hated…great…stuff all of the reality and late night stuff into pockets so I can watch all of the presentation that I want, without having to sit through that crap. That was the best for me.
I thought it was pretty bad, but it’s an awrd show and it’s always bad. However it was horrible like the reality show host hosting it, or the round stage thing or anythnig like that.
You’re severely in the minority on this one. It was more entertaining than it’s been in years. And the sections really made it easy to fast-forward through the dull middle parts when watching it TiVo-delayed.
The fact that you liked watching the meaningless red carpet part more, and spend half your review on it, says a lot about you.
I was going to watch the opening for Neil Patrick Harris, but got stock in traffic. Then the Giants game came on and well all I saw was Ricky Gervais during halftime. I enjoyed that and probably enjoyed the rest of the show, but they put it against the Giants playing in the Cowboys new oversized suck compensator…. I mean new stadium.
I have to agree with most of the other commenters. I actually enjoyed the Emmys this year. I wasn’t overly thrilled with a lot of the winners, but I thought NPH was wonderful. He hit just the right note in the hosting. Sure, some of the bits were dumb, but comedy writing is hit or miss on these shows, and I thought his writers were more hit than miss. I thought the Dr Horrible thing was a wonderful alternative to listening to the accountants. And finally, it’s like the show was meant to be watched on Tivo. It was so easy to just fast-forward through the clearly marked boring sections (er, movies/mini series).
Cheers!