2010-2011 Emmy Awards

[Big Magilla]

One thing I found strange in the telecast was that they awarded Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or Drama Special after they awarded Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or Drama Special.

Yeah, that was unusual, but Guy Pearce's win just before Kate Winslet's made for good tlevison.

[Greg]

One thing I found strange in the telecast was that they awarded Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or Drama Special after they awarded Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or Drama Special.

[Sabin]

anonymous1980 wrote

Sabin wrote
Seeing Amy Poehler's deceptively complex creation lose to Melissa McCarthy is so lame!

What? I thought it was a wonderful moment. I haven't seen Mike & Molly so I have no opinion but Melissa McCarthy seems like a very nice person, a girl of her size doesn't get that many big roles and here she is having a great year topped off with an Emmy win. I loved the "pageant" format that Amy came up with since it really made it feel fun and special for all the nominees.

The only benefit of the doubt I can give Melissa McCarthy is that I only saw the pilot for Mike & Molly, so I can safely say that at least only the pilot was one of the worst thing I have ever seen. Mike has a black friend who at one point in the pilot says "Yeah, right. My sweet mocha ass." I will never forget that!

I like Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids and Gilmore Girls. But she is on a sitcom built around the fact that these two people are fat! She was cast because she was fat first and talented second. The two characters meet at Overeaters Anonymous. It is a sitcom on CBS. What about this warrants any form of accolade? I don't care if it's a wonderful moment. I'm sure a wonderful moment could be crafted from somebody from the cast of Yes, Dear winning.

[anonymous1980]

ISeeing Amy Poehler's deceptively complex creation lose to Melissa McCarthy is so lame!

What? I thought it was a wonderful moment. I haven't seen Mike & Molly so I have no opinion but Melissa McCarthy seems like a very nice person, a girl of her size doesn't get that many big roles and here she is having a great year topped off with an Emmy win. I loved the "pageant" format that Amy came up with since it really made it feel fun and special for all the nominees.

I hope Amy gets a chance to host the Emmys someday and spread her magic around the entire telecast.

[Sabin]

...last thing:

Jon Hamm plays an iconic character on Mad Men, and it doesn't allow for a performance that stretches outside Don Draper's intensely guarded borders. I remember when he first lost for Mad Men to Bryan Cranston, I couldn't believe it! He was such a heavy front-runner. And then I got addicted to Breaking Bad and I can't begrudge Bryan Cranston a single win. It's a fantastic show and a performance full of desperation. Jon Hamm gives a performance that is guarded and that only lends itself to so many different colors. He certainly deserves an Emmy for his work, but I completely understand how he lost. To Bryan Cranston at least. I haven't seen Kyle Chandler or Friday Night Lights, but that under-appreciated show from what I am told certainly deserves the visibility.

[Sabin]

I have never been more interested in so many shows that I haven't seen. The Good Wife, Justified, Friday Night Lights...television is very, very good.

It's also very mediocre. I had a long conversation with a friend today about how when it comes to comedy specifically there are shows that are Old (which is to say bad), New (which is to say good), and those that straddle the line. Everyone is talking about Two and a Half Men, which is like lining up to see Transformers 3. You know what you're going to get, and it's going to suck! Something like How I Met Your Mother, which I've seen a couple of times, is all right. But it's still a three camera sitcom that peddles the familiar. However it clearly tries to tell something of a story. I don't have much use for it but it and The Big Bang Theory are at least fairly noble in their intents. So is Modern Family. This is a show that essentially synthesizes Arrested Development and The Office and makes both of them more family friendly. It's not a bad show. It's occasionally pretty funny from what I've seen, but it's also faintly dull. I can't argue with the awards that it's won for its performers, but when you can't compare them with people like Nick Offerman for Parks and Recreations.

Or Amy Poehler. This is a show that started off so redundant and derivative, and now it is the strongest show I have ever seen about mediocrity. The characters are full of hopes that will likely never be fulfilled, and they wrap them (as we do) inside of hope, inside of delusions, inside of compensation, inside of disillusionment. And I've also never seen a show rise so much so quickly. What was once intolerable is now more wonderful than pretty much anything on television. Seeing Amy Poehler's deceptively complex creation lose to Melissa McCarthy is so lame! I saw the pilot of Mike & Molly and it was repugnant! She's a hoot in Bridesmaids and I remember her fondly from The Gilmore Girls, but my God! Is there a great divide between quality and commerce than Parks and Recreations and Mike and Molly?

And while it's quite sad that Steve Carell never won for The Office, we can't forget that he should have won (if at all) a few years ago. The Emmys are not sympathetic. And in a year where Louie breaks new ground for televised melancholy, I don't feel like I'm watching somebody robbed at the top of their game.

That's really all I'm fit to comment on. I kinda want Conan O'Brien to win even though his show isn't quite up to par. It's tanking pretty bad and I'd like for him to get the opportunity rebound.

[Okri]

Liked some winners, didn't care for others. I'm more annoyed that Mad Men won again (I was defeated by the first season and couldn't be bothered to finish it, so maybe it's the masterpiece everyone says it is) but I didn't watch any of the other nominees - though I'll definitely catch the HBO duo. Rather glad Chandler won the emmy, even though I like FNL about as much as I like Mad Men - he was a favourite of mine from Early Edition.

Loved Martindale in Justified and think that was a pretty exceptional victory.

I actually think Ty Burrell's pretty amazing in Modern Family, but I loved pretty much everything about that show. Glad it swept.

[OscarGuy]

Oops. Sorry, Anon. your brain caught my brain wrapping around someone else's name.

[FilmFan720]

And happy as I was to see Jim Parsons win again, it means that Steve Carrell will go home never winning for Michael Scott, which is sad.

The Office is still on the air. Steve Carell could conceivably come back and make a play for Guest Actor, perhaps in the series finale. Ricky Gervais never won for David Brent either.

C'mon, him winning a Guest Actor Emmy wouldn't be anywhere near the same. It would be a joke. It is said that in all those years on the show, for such a great creation, he never got the chance to upend Alec Baldwin or Jim Parsons or Tony Shalhoub. I don't care about any makeup Emmys down the line, nor do I really care what Ricky Gervais did or didn't do.

[anonymous1980]

And happy as I was to see Jim Parsons win again, it means that Steve Carrell will go home never winning for Michael Scott, which is sad.

The Office is still on the air. Steve Carell could conceivably come back and make a play for Guest Actor, perhaps in the series finale. Ricky Gervais never won for David Brent either.

And I think Elizabeth Olsen will eventually win.

You mean Elisabeth MOSS.

[OscarGuy]

I think the "muted" comment best describes why Mad Men loses acting awards. In addition, Jon Hamm plays a truly unlikable person, which doesn't endear him much to the Academy's voters who love to feel sympathy for their winners. And I think Elizabeth Olsen will eventually win. She just need to not go up against formiddable actresses. I think Hamm could win if not for his character. The rest just face stiff competition. I think Julianna Margulies' win this year was a make up award for losing last year. There was much ado made about that loss, so I would guess that, against the same competition with an award under her belt, she might not win again. Then again Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless regularly won the top prize even when Angela Lansbury did excellent, if muted work.

[FilmFan720]

For a year in which the winners were pretty much top to bottom strong, the show itself was pretty lacking. It moved, but I thought most every joke fell flat, especially from Jane Lynch (although the Lesbian/Entourage joke was brilliant). The biggest laughs were from across the board great acceptance speeches and the Lonely Island bit.

However, the winners were great. There were several others I may have picked, but seeing Kyle Chandler and Jason Katims on stage was enough to make me a happy chap, along with Julie Bowen, Margo Martindale, Peter Dinklage and Melissa McCarthy...it seemed like the television journeyman awards! And happy as I was to see Jim Parsons win again, it means that Steve Carrell will go home never winning for Michael Scott, which is sad.

Question: What does Mad Men have to do to win an acting Emmy? I know that a lot of it has to do with competition and going up against some great work every year, but I find it odd that not one single cast member has been able to pick up an award here. Is it because the writing and design work is so good that people assume they have any easy job? Is it because the emotions are usually too muted for people to get overenthusiastic about them? Is it just bad luck?

[anonymous1980]

L I think it's noteworthy that Mad Men, with 19 nominations, won only two awards, one for hairstyling and then Best Drama Series. This seems anomalous to me. Can anyone remember a series doing this poorly?

ER and The Office have at one point in their run won the Outstanding Drama Series and the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy respectively -- and nothing else. The Emmys have a very different voting system from the Oscars, Grammys or even the Tonys which can produce surprising and at times unusual results like what you saw last night.

It's also noteworthy that Mad Men won the Drama Series Emmy four years in a row but has yet to win a single acting award.

Some thoughts from last night's Emmys:

- Overall, a decent show. The big number in the middle was all WTF?!? but Jane Lynch was pretty good if not totally outstanding.

- I don't watch Friday Night Lights but I know a lot of people who are fans (in this board included) and I swear I could here you scream all the way from here when it won Writing and Lead Actor. LOL. I'm happy for you guys.

- I have yet to see Justified but I'm so happy for Margo Martindale. I love it when the Emmys reward veteran character actors like her.

- My favorite win of the night has got to be Peter Dinklage. I love the show. I love his character.

- The Lead Actress in a Comedy presentation was genius. I think Amy Poehler came up with that. The Melissa McCarthy was a surprise. I'm glad a person like her is having a great successful year.

- Best acceptance speeches: Ty Burrell, Margo Martindale, Guy Pearce and Steven Levitan (Outstanding Comedy speech).

- The only truly sour note was Steve Carell's loss. I feel a little bit bad for him. Wish I could give him a hug.

[Big Magilla]

Downton Abbey was origianlly meant to be a mini-series, but was so successful in Britain that it was turned into a series so next year it will likely have to compete in the regular series categories. Maybe that means Angela Lansbury will finally win an Emmy for guest starring in the Season 2 opener. I think she plays Maggie Smith's cousin.

Jane Lynch was a fantasitc host, keeping it light and breezy throughout. She kind of reminded me of Kay Thompson in Funny Face for some reason, especially in the opening sequence. The show as a whole was quite entertaining though that Michael Bolton nonsennse came pretty close to duplicating the Rob Lowe-Snow White fiasco at the Oscars.

The "surprise" wins were all great to see. I've liked Kyle Chandler since he did that seies where he gets tomorrow's paper today and has to save the world around him in Chicago. Barry Pepper has always been good, though under-appreciated - no idea if the much dissed Kennedys is any good, but Pepper himself is, at least in general. I'm not familiar with Melissa McCarthy's work, but she's an uncommon star so bully for her. Margo Martindale has always been a nice addition to whatever she's been in, though I can't exactly remember what she was in. And Peter Dinklage has always been a formidable actor - it's nice to see him finally gettign this kind of awards recognition.

[OscarGuy]

Lynch did pretty darned well, but it seems like after the debacle of the reality hosts hosting stunt, they have chosen some really fantastic hosts. The Academy needs to take some lessons.

As for the prizes, you could tell from the first prizes of the evening that conventional was not going to be the buzz word of the night. Other than Kate Winslet, Maggie Smith and Julianna Margulies (and maybe Jim Parsons), almost all of the other prizes were left-field choices. Who would have expected Barry Pepper for The Kennedys or Melissa McCarthy for Mike & Molly or even Kyle Chandler for Friday Night Lights. Sure people liked the performances, but it almost seemed like other actors were "supposed" to win.

And when they announced Mad Men won, I was shocked considering Scorsese and how well Boardwalk Empire did at the creative arts awards. I think it's noteworthy that Mad Men, with 19 nominations, won only two awards, one for hairstyling and then Best Drama Series. This seems anomalous to me. Can anyone remember a series doing this poorly? Mildred Pierce also did poorly winning a total of four prizes, three at the creative arts awards. And I got the same impression Tee got, the Emmys just didn't like Mildred Pierce. Heck, in the end, the right wing blow job The Kennedys picked up the same number of trophies as Mildred Pierce. Downton beat them all with six. I hadn't realized the show was that popular, but I hate that it was submitted in Movie/Miniseries because it really should be considered a standard drama series regardless of how many episodes were produced.

It's also of note that Mad Men now joins Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and The West Wing in the 4+ club, series that have won the Drama Series award four times. Also noteworthy is that L.A. Law was the only one that didn't win its four prizes consecutively. AMC is still the only non-broadcast, non-pay cable network ever to win the Drama Series prize.