Homeland, Modern Family Clean Up at the Emmy Awards

Overall this year's Emmy Awards were a mixed bag.  While some will gripe about Jimmy Kimmel, I think the host did a much better job than I thought he would do.  I am not one of his biggest fans, but he has grown on me over the years.  I went into this show thinking he would be adequate, but he had me laughing a lot, and his while his opening video was weak, his monologue was solid.  This is one of the moments when award shows have to learn over production can hamper the thematic undertone of the night.  

The main problem with the show was the poor production, ranging from sound problems to the uneven way nominees were announced.  None of the comedy nominees were given clips, while other actors in the drama categories either had a still show them in action on their show or a clip.  Towards the end the last it felt like the presenters were rushing through the list of nominees, a little tip cut the award that honors a person who as Gervais joked may be working on the show at the moment.  The person who won the directing award did not pace his show well either, allowing people to have long speeches in the beginning then cutting off the major winners in the end.  I have said it before and I will say it again the way the break down the show into "genres" makes the show uneven, my friend who DVR'd the show got bored and fast forwarded through most of the end.  That should not be the case in an effective program.

On to the good, the boring, and the ugly of the winners:

The Good

-Homeland winning Drama Series, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, and Writing, the show was truly one of the best on the air last year, and I am glad the Emmy Awards did not rubber stamp Mad Men for a record fifth win, or honor the weaker season of Downton.  I was shocked when Lewis won, and at that moment I knew the show won Best Drama.

-Julia Louis Dreyfus is great, and moving beyond the fan boys she was the best in that category.

-Louis C.K. getting double the recognition for his true strength writing was great, but just proved that this man will no win an acting award, and is proof that most voters still do not take stand up comics seriously as actors. (not a good thing there)

-Game Change was a solid well made film and deserved its accolades, although I would have liked a little love for Sherlock.

Aaron Paul winning his second trophy for Breaking Bad; he is one of four people to win twice in Supporting Actor Drama category.

Julie Bowen winning Emmy number two was well deserved, and she was the most talented in her category.

The Boring

Modern Family in Outstanding Comedy Series While the show is solid, the third season was the weakest by far!  Who will dethrone this show next year?

While Eric Stonestreet gave my favorite speech of the night, there are so many great supporting actors on television, some of whom were not even nominated, this reminds me of the Brad Garrett repeat wins.

Boardwalk Empire winning directing over the likes of Breaking Bad, and Homeland is baffling.

Maggie Smith winning for Downton, folks know she no longer shows up to these things, and while she is solid this should have gone to Christina Hendricks.

The Bad

Kevin Costner and Tom Berenger beating out the men they were up against made little to no sense to me.

Modern Family winning in the directing category was absurd, and every other nominee was much better.

The Ugly 

Jon Cryer winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, even he knew he should not have won, and was baffled when his name was called.  I would have honestly rather had Jim Parsons win a third trophy. One of the worst wins in Emmy history.




-