Last night's Emmy Awards, under the hosting of Jimmy Fallon, actually turned out to be a relatively solid show (it actually came in at exactly 3 hours, which is pretty impressive). However, not everything worked, whether it was in the acting awards or in Fallon's hosting job. Here's a look at the 62nd Emmy Awards' best and worst moments, along with a handful of things that land somewhere in-between.
Best:
The Opening: What started as a Jimmy Fallon-meets-Glee bit quickly expanded to include the likes of Tiny Fey, Jane Lynch, and Jon Hamm (who may have missed his calling in physical/slapstick comedy). After the taped segment ended, the group rushed on stage live to deliver a fast-paced and very funny song and dance rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" (I'll add a video if it ever pops up online).
Ricky Gervais presenting (oh I wish I could find a picture, believe me): After a slightly rambling (and increasingly funny) intro and a fantastic line about Mel Gibson ("he's been through a lot. Not as much as the Jews..."), Gervais then became obsessed with one of the nominees for Directing for a Variety Series named Bucky Gunts. After several jokes, Gervais opened the envelope, only to throw up his arms and exclaim, "And the winner is...BUCKY GUNTS!"
Modern Family takes Best Comedy Series: The other, less talked about, hit freshman show of last year deservedly took home the award for its consistently hilarious first season. Though I hope the cast and crew are prepared to receive hundreds of angry letters about how they "suck and OMG GLEE SHOULA WON!!!"
Mad Men wins for the third consecutive year: I was slightly hoping for a Dexter upset here, but this is more than acceptable. My only fear now is that the show's winning streak will end next year, even though season 4 has thus far been consistently superior to season 3.
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) and Jane Lynch (Glee) take home the Supporting Actor/Actress - Comedy: The rightfully deserving duo (though as I've said before, both of these categories were stacked with deserving winners) made for a great surprise and an expected triumph respectively, delivering sweet, albeit rushed, thank-you's.
The pre-taped segment about "how to improve Modern Family": Just more proof as to why this is the best (comedic) ensemble on TV. Video to come if it can be found.
Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) wins Supporting Actor - Drama: Against formidable competition (especially the Lost boys), Paul won for what was probably his best work on the show, and seemed genuinely delighted (make that "ecstatic") and in awe of it all.
Dexter's Steve Shill wins for Best Directing (Drama): That the show won an award for its wrenching season finale is fitting, though it can't quite erase the sting of the fact that Michael C. Hall went home empty handed.
George Clooney's humanitarian award: No, he really doesn't need to be exalted any further in Hollywood, but he did give a lovely, grounded speech, so kudos.
Worst:
Everything else in Jimmy Fallon's routine: The constant singing in the audience (which at one point involved a duet with Kim Kardashian...why!?) didn't take long to grow old.
Top Chef wins Best Reality Competition Program: Project Runway is never going to win this award, apparently. And what exactly makes Top Chef so great when you can never truly judge what the contestants have made? At least with something like "Runway" or American Idol you can see/hear the contestant's work, but no matter how well you know food, you'll never be able to taste whatever the TC contestants come up with, which seems pretty weak to me.
The Mad Men girls lose out: I haven't seen The Good Wife, in all fairness, but Moss and Hendricks were both so good last season, and isn't it about time that this show actually took home an Emmy for acting?
Al Pacino's acceptance speech: For all the ups and downs in his career, there's no denying that Pacino is one of the finest living actors. That said, whenever he gives a speech, he becomes a very fast cure for insomnia.
Anna Paquin: I wasn't aware that the matador look was in style this year...
In-Between
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) wins Best Actor (Drama) for the third consecutive year: I'm torn here, because while his work is certainly strong, I think it's high time that either Jon Hamm (Mad Men) or Michael C. Hall (Dexter), who were both at career highs in their most recent season, took this one home. Maybe that will finally happen next year, considering those rumors that Breaking Bad's 4th season might be coming back too late to be eligible for the 2011 ceremony...
The order of presentation: While keeping the awards (save for best series) clumped together by category (comedy, reality, drama, miniseries/TV movie) kept the show from feeling scattershot, once the comedy awards were over (they were first) the show started to get a little sluggish.
John Hodgman's commentary: Though he would usually throw in something funny/false in about the most recently announced winner, Hodgman was often rushed and inaudible, rendering his quips useless (to be fair though, there were a few great lines in there).
Mad Men wins the wrong award: Congratulations to Matt Weiner and crew for picking up a writing award. It's just a shame that it was for the wrong episode ("Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency..." is one of the series' all-time best).
30 Rock leaves empty-handed: I hope no one had a rage stroke...
The Daily Show wins...again: I'm stunned that of the two men in the audience likely to benefit from sympathy (Michael C. Hall and Conan), that O'Brien didn't take this one. And for that matter, is The Colbert Report ever going to win this? It's not that Jon Stewart's show can't be funny and/or insightful, but he's not exactly miles ahead of his competition; this is one Emmy winning-streak that really needs to end.
The speeches: Amidst the gushy, boring, and sincere acceptance speeches, none of them really sparked with wit, charm, or humor, (and there's usually one a year, if not more).
