The channel formerly known as American Movie Classics made its grand debut at television's fancy ball Sunday night, as its series "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad," in their first year of eligibility, took home two of the gaudiest prizes at the 60th edition of the Primetime Emmy Awards. (Above: Creator Matthew Weiner and the crew and cast of "Mad Men.")
The wins by cable networks AMC and FX also added some surprise and spark to a broadcast that veered from lifeless to cringeworthy.
What worked and didn't work for me Sunday night:
"John Adams" winning big. The 13 Emmys for HBO's latest historic miniseries masterpiece made history itself. No program had ever won more than 11 Emmys in a single year (when the eight prizes from last week's Creative Arts Emmys are added).
Little shows that could. "Mad Men," a little-watched drama about advertising men and their lives in the early 1960s, won best drama for AMC, a channel that had never aired a one-hour original scripted program before July 2007. "Mad Men," FX's "Damages" and AMC's "Breaking Bad" all took home major Emmys.
"30 Rock" on a roll. Speaking of little shows, NBC's workplace comedy, once deemed to be clearly inferior to another NBC show-about-a-show ("Studio 60," anyone?), was the sole bright spot for the old-time networks in major Emmy categories. "30 Rock" won best comedy, best comedy actress (Tina Fey) and best comedy actor (Alec Baldwin). In accepting her show's award, Fey reminded people that besides the internet, cell phones and in-flight entertainment, "30 Rock" was seen "occasionally on television."
Reality bites. CBS's Jeff Probst defeated Fox's Ryan Seacrest won for best reality host of "Survivor," but not before ABC's Jimmy Kimmel made the five nominees stew on stage during a commercial break. That funny gotcha moment, unfortunately, didn't make up for the five hosts' dreadful opening routine, a totally unscripted, ad-libbed disaster that ended with Heidi Klum losing her breakaway clothing to William Shatner. If you didn't see it, don't bother YouTubing it.
Groban sings the hits. The show's one YouTube moment was the recording star shocking the world by joyfully belting out, in rapid succession, bits from some 30 TV theme songs, including the theme to "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "South Park," with impressions of the show's cartoon voices. Sadly, few TV shows anymore have theme music that can even be sung.
Writers writing their lines. In this year of the reality host, it was noteworthy that some of the best zingers were written by comedians who are also excellent writers. Conan O'Brien got a huge laugh when he ended his monologue with, "I had a few more jokes, but Katherine Heigl told me she didn't think they were Emmy-worthy." And Steve Martin -- who, as blogger Andy Ihnatko observed, should have the right of first refusal to every major awards telecast -- kept the crowd in stitches with deadpan lines like, "You know, I don't use the word 'genius' often. I just thought I'd mention that."
Basically great. Basic cable channels have won Emmys before, but never have they piled up with such surprising ease as this year. Besides "Mad Men," Glenn Close and Zeljko Ivanek won acting prizes for FX's "Damages" and Bryan Cranston took home the Emmy for AMC's "Breaking Bad," where he plays a chemistry teacher coming slowly unhinged.
Tributes to old shows. Yes, we loved "Dragnet" and "M*A*S*H" and "Seinfeld," but did precious set-design and network broadcast time have to be devoted to remembering them? And as for that disaster of a "Laugh-In" tribute, I think we all now know why it was such a success back in the 1960s: editing.
Director directs director. Emmy director Louis Horvitz at one point was seen on-camera directing his own acceptance speech (he won the Emmy for directing the Oscars), in a moment that reminded some viewers of Hal Gurnee's "Network Time Killers" on the old David Letterman show.
ABC marketing run amok. Bad enough that ABC confused viewers telling them to watch the premiere of "Pushing Daisies" during "National Stay at Home Week," a gimmick touting the upcoming seven days of ABC television debuts. (Problem: "Daisies" isn't premiering until Oct. 1.) But forcing Glenn Close to wrap up her acceptance speech so that the Emmycast could end at 9:59 so that ABC could air a one-minute promo for its upcoming season ... that's pretty low.
I've discovered the Internet. If I weren't so busy liveblogging and twittering and, what's that other thing? -- oh, yes, writing for print -- I would've been awfully bored Sunday night.
Don Rickles. You can never give Mr. Warmth enough standing O's, and he got two Sunday night, including one when he accepted an Emmy for his HBO documentary. The orchestra didn't interrupt his hilarious speech, either. Good move.
Speaking of the orchestra.... Here's a time-saver for next year: Have the orchestra start to play over the presenters after they've been onstage longer than 15 seconds. And play over the clip reels after 30 seconds. And have them start playing the minute TV Academy chairman John Shaffner opens his mouth to give his annual booster speech for the industry. We just might get this down to two hours yet.
I am so glad the John Adams series won; It is by far the best movie/series i have ever seen. The acting was superb. The special effects, scenery. I can not say enough. I also read the book and loved it too. I am a genealogy buff and find that my "Parker" family connects with the Adams' circal colonial times. John and Abigail are in my family tree!!! kudos to everyone, Producers, directors, costumes, and of course all the wonderful actors who brought history to life.
Posted by: karen L. Galvin | September 22, 2008 at 01:08 PM