SEPTEMBER 19, 2016
Color me surprised.
When I heard that Jimmy Kimmel was to host Sunday night’s Emmy Awards, my heart sank a little because I remember his last Emmy hosting gig, and it wasn’t pretty. On Sunday night, however, it was very pretty. Very very pretty.
The opening bit where he had to hitch a ride to the Emmys with a succession of celebrities (including Uber driver Jeb Bush) was spot on, after which Kimmel delivered a sharp but very funny monologue, where he blamed TV producer Mark Burnett (who created “The Apprentice”) for foisting the Republican Presidential nominee upon us, and he even dared to lambaste worldwide treasure Maggie Smith for never showing up to the Emmys.
(When Smith actually won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Sunday night, Kimmel proved true to his word and snatched the trophy away, telling Smith that if she really wants the statue, she can pick it up at the lost-and-found.)
But I digress. There was a lot of good, a little bad and not much ugly, thank goodness, in Sunday night’s show.
THE GOOD
DIVERSITY — People of color were winners in major categories, including an Egyptian-American, an Indian-American and a number of African-Americans (though the Academy should work on bulking up their Latino contingent NOW). Still, after the Tonys (where all four acting winners in musicals were black) and Sunday’s results at the Emmys, the Oscars have got to step it up or be left behind.
BEST ACTRESS (DRAMA SERIES) — Tatiana Maslany (BBC America’s “Orphan Black”) — No slight to Robin Wright, Viola Davis or any of the other Best Actress nominees, but when you are portraying up to 11 different characters (sometimes as many as 5 in the same frame), that is an acting challenge that is unmatched probably in television history. (“The Patty Duke Show’s” two cousins seem like a breeze by comparison.) For years, critics were screaming for the Academy to notice Maslany’s achievements, and last year the Academy finally nominated her. Then, on her second nomination, they rewarded her, and this was for me the most satisfying win of the night.
BEST ACTOR (DRAMA SERIES) — Rami Malek (USA’s “Mr. Robot”) — When the young star of “Mr. Robot” took to the stage to accept his first Emmy on his first nomination, he looked out at the crowd and said “Please tell me you are seeing this too.” While that is a line of dialogue often spoken by his troubled character Elliot when he hallucinates in the USA series, it was also a charming moment for a newcomer (at least to me) who was given a major break and made the most of it. The only downside of Malek’s win is that once again Kevin Spacey was bypassed for his iconic Frank Underwood in “House of Cards” — Spacey watched year after year as Bryan Cranston or Jon Hamm took the prize, and to this date, the two-time Oscar winner has yet to win an Emmy.
BEST COMEDY WRITING — Aziz Ansari & Alan Yang “Parents” (Netflix’s “Master of None”) — Full disclosure: I am a certified Emmy voter and voted in this category, but I didn’t vote for this episode I must admit, although I liked it very much. The premise of “Parents” is that Ansari and Yang, both sons of immigrants, have little appreciation of their immigrant parents’ experiences, so Ansari’s Indian-American family (his real parents, who are fabulous) and Yang’s Chinese-American father simply sit at a restaurant table, and the parents teach their sons the lessons of what they went through. It’s not a laugh riot (which explains my vote), but it has miles and miles of heart. The exuberant joy that both men displayed on the stage, Emmy in hand, was infectious. I just wish more winners were as appreciative.
THE BAD
NO CLIPS — Or at least very few. Gone are the days when Emmy viewers knew all the shows on (at that time) the three networks. Just look at our drama acting winners above. “What’s ‘Mr. Robot’?” “Orphan wha…?” I imagine those questions were asked in households across America on Sunday night. And with good reason. With so much good television, like “Mr. Robot” and “Orphan Black,” on so many channels, it’s impossible to keep up with everything. Next year, Academy, please show us why these individuals deserved their nomination with clips, preferably lengthy, thank you.
EMMYS FOR CAMEOS — From a Writers Branch member to my Acting Branch comrades — what were you thinking? Granted, Ben Mendelsohn should have won the Drama Supporting Actor Emmy last year for his role as the black-sheep brother in the Netflix series “Bloodline,” but unfortunately his character died and that was that. This season, however, he drops in once in a while as a ghost. And he wins this year for that? Even worse was Emmy awarded to Margo Martindale, an actress whom I otherwise adore, who had about 90 seconds of screen time in “The Americans,” robbing Laurie Metcalf who gave a blistering 9-minute uninterrupted monologue in “Horace and Pete.” A performance doesn’t have to be lengthy to be good, but 90 seconds? Come on.
FEEDING THE AUDIENCE — It was funny the first time when Ellen DeGeneres delivered take-out pizzas to the audience at the Oscars. It was funny because it was fresh. (The idea, not necessarily the pizzas.) Then Chris Rock had his daughter and her friends sell Girl Scout cookies at this year’s Oscars, and while it wasn’t exactly the same thing, it really was been-there, done-that. Then this year, Kimmel had his mother make PB&J sandwiches for the entire audience. There was zero comic payoff, and it was REALLY been-there, done-that. Stop it! Now! (Use the time you alloted for PB&J to show actual clips of the nominees, dammit! Harumph.)
All in all, it was one of the more entertaining Emmy telecasts of recent years. Kimmel was much funnier this time around, there were lots of good award surprises (for the most part), and he brought it home at just 3 hours. What I hope that comes out of this ceremony is the exposure to a wider audience of all the wonderful series and performances that just might not currently be on their radar. Though the Emmy Awards are rotated among the four major networks, it was the cable and streaming services that were the big winners last night, and Sunday’s ceremony indicates that that’s where the future of television lies.
