I'm a big fan of Neil Patrick Harris as an award show host. I guess he had to disappoint me, sooner or later. I thought tonight's Emmy Show was tedious, self-important and lacking in substance. Okay, so that's most award shows and some of that at the Emmys simply comes from the fact that because people like to get awards, the Academy keeps adding categories. They now have to present thousands of those statuettes a year, broken up over a few hundred different telecasts or ceremonies. Or at least, that's the way it feels.
A certain percentage of every award show is simply going to be boring and overflowing in the egos of successful people. That's a given. But Mr. Harris has usually come up with a few great moments, usually in song, that made the tune-in worth it. This time, no. The opening with the former hosts was especially grim.
What did I like? Well, Neil mentioned a few times that a lot of the winners were unexpected. The most interesting one of those to me was that The Colbert Report got the awards that always seem to go to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
And I feel a bit uneasy thinking like this but I'm really glad that Phil Spector movie didn't win anything. I'm really surprised it was even nominated, what with Al Pacino playing a part he could have Skyped in on his lunch hour, and the whole "indict-the-victim" theme. Next, I suppose, David Mamet will remake The Boston Strangler and try to open up the possibility that every woman he supposedly killed was a worthless slut who offed herself.
But getting back to what was wrong with the telecast: I was speed-TiVoing through some of the non-essential moments but often when I watched, what I saw made me imagine a game show where really rich people win large sums of cash. Would you watch such a program? Obviously, a lot of Americans wouldn't…which is why a lot of Americans don't watch the Oscars or the Emmys. I need to remember to try that.