Feature

The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards

Kirsty

30th August 2010

We’re moments away from the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmys, where the crème de la crème of television tell each other how amazing they are, and I’m going into this thing sober. It’s all for you…

As a foreword, I watched every second of this and reduced the recap from 7 pages to 4... it's a big read, with no pictures right now, but stick with it gang. At least there's no ads in my version.

Red Carpet Run-up
Some beautiful people wore some beautiful outfits, some wore hideous dresses of doom, and idiot Americans judged them on it. That’s all the colour commentary I’m going to do.

The Beginning

Hosting this year is NBC’s next big thing, and likely heir to the Tonight Show throne, Jimmy Fallon.

The show opens with the cast from Glee, Tina Fey, Kate Gosling (minus 8) getting burned, Jon Hamm, Betty White being mean, Hurley being fat, Randy Jackson and the lovely Joel McHale from Community all singing Springsteen’s anthemic “Born To Run” on video and then appearing, in all their glory, on stage in a shower of pyrotechnics.
It’s a great opening sequence, and I think it’s a nice nod to glee because they’re not winning shit. And the crowd all love it, except the kids from iCarly. Little bitches

Fallon’s going to be a singing host, it would appear. Straight of the bat he makes an NBC/Conan joke, which Conan does not like, but takes in good grace.
Amy Poehler sings along to the intro to “Comedy” section, which apparently includes CougarTown. Really, The Emmy’s? CougarTown?

Comedy

John Hamm and Betty White present Outstanding Supporting Actor, and they’re funny; she’s so dirty.
Jon Cryer won this by surprise last year; when his name is called by Hamm, no-one cheers him – aww. Chris Colfer from glee is a sweet kid but does not deserve this award, How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris was lax this year, but only because the last season was weak, but Modern Family get three supporting nominations, which may cancel each other out and give Cryer another sneak win.

It goes to Eric StoneStreet for Fat Gay in Modern Family who gives a nice heartfelt speech about supporting your children and living your dreams, and looks very overwhelmed.

Oh, the Twitter bit… Great… I’m sure you heard about their great idea of having tweets written by anyone read out as part of the presenters introductions. I’m sure you agree, it’s stupid and will fail.
Jimmy keeps saying the “@” bit of usernames – is that necessary? I knew they would be shit, and they are.

Jim Parsons, who looks like Tom Hanks in Philadelphia, and Sofia Vergara from Modern Family are presenting Best Comedy Writing.
The nominees are all kind of funny, despite how awkward the “hey! Writers! Be funny!” segment is.
Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd are on a horse! And they win for Modern Family. These guys deserve this Emmy, and they have been responsible for some truly great sitcoms. This Is Christopher Lloyd’s 7th Emmy! I for one was amazed when I found out that TV’s Christopher Lloyd isn’t The Christopher Lloyd. I really thought Doc Brown was Executive Producer of Frasier.
Steve Levitan gives a funny and charming speech and insults his wife all in one fell swoop.

Stephen Colbert schmoozes onscreen and hits on the audience. He’s presenting Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy on his own – he does have 2 people’s egos.
He blows Tom Hanks a kiss, and Tom loves it.

This one, I’d like anyone to win (except the old lady from Two and a Half Men), but I’ve a soft spot for the ever-amazing Jane Lynch who has been being funny on TV since forever. Very strong female supporting actresses.
Jane Lynch wins! Jane Lynch wins! She’s panicked and frenetic and grateful to everyone.

Introducing Lauren Graham and Matthew Perry, host Fallon does a great Gilmore Girls pop-culture rapid fire reference, but their cute little “Chandler was Gay” joke falls heavily on its arse.
Best Guest Actor and Actress in a comedy are announced together – we already knew them: Betty White and Neil Patrick Harris. Why present them last week, and announce them tonight. Why not just present them tonight??
They then present Best Director in a Comedy to Ryan Murphy for Glee, and it is a very well put together show, so no complaints (or real surprises) here.

In their 30 second skit, the cast of Modern Family get some constructive criticism which features Stewie Griffin, 3-D and everyone trying to shag George Clooney. I would watch the hell out of that TV show.

LL Cool J and Eva Longoria cut to the chase and award Best Actor in a Comedy to Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory in about 5 seconds flat. I’m pleased for him, surprised it wasn’t Alec Baldwin again and glad it’s not Tony Shalhoub; don’t get me wrong, he’s great but Monk’s not all that and he’s won this Emmy 3 times already. Parsons is incredibly camp and takes the time to thank absolutely everyone he’s ever met.

Neil Patrick Harris outs Jimmy Fallon before presenting Best Actress in a Comedy Series, another very strong category. Go sisters, and so on.
Toni Collette and Edie Falco both deserve it for bringing drama to a comedy series (or vice versa), and I’d never complain about Tina Fey winning things. It goes to Edie Falco, for Nurse Jackie who claims she’s not funny and then gives a very short speech proving herself correct.

On the whole, the speeches are short. This is good, because there are about a thousand awards still to come.

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