Emmys turn the tables on themselves

Complaining about the Emmys being out of touch with actual television viewers has eclipsed the level of cliché. Such complaints have become almost as tiresome as those moments when Simon Cowell appears on stage and is booed by audience members who secretly love him and his attitude, as happened during this year’s Emmys.

The 58th annual Emmy awards did offer a few exceptions to the rule that the awards are out of touch — surprises, those exceptions are called, because people who actually watch TV are just so shocked that a decent television show managed to be given an award by people who still have UHF tuners on their sets.

For example, FOX’s “24” and NBC’s “The Office,” both coming off incredibly rich seasons, won for best drama and comedy respectively. Jeremy Piven also received a statue for his role on HBO’s “Entourage,” and Julia Louis-Dreyfus broke the “Seinfeld” curse with her new CBS sitcom and now her award for best actress.

As the evening unfolded, however, the biggest Emmy surprise was how often the telecast itself acknowledged how frequently the Emmy awards suck.

Funny jokes, safe targets
Most of host Conan O’Brien’s host segments focused on making fun of the Emmys themselves. Because awards shows always run over time, Conan introduced Bob Newhart, who was enclosed in a glass case with three hours of air, in order to keep the show on schedule. “If the Emmys run one second over three hours, Bob Newhart dies. So keep those speeches short,” Conan said.

Slide show   Emmy Award highlights “Charlie’s Angels” reunite, Bob Newhart escapes a glass box, Conan O’Brien leaves ‘em laughing and more

Others also joked about the time running over, and about the generally insipid banter that is apparently required of celebrity presenters who can’t read a teleprompter without moving their heads from side to side. Late in the ceremony, presenter Victor Garber said, sarcastically, “I’m informed that we’re running a little late, folks. Sorry. That sadly means that Tyra [Banks] and I will not be doing the extended comic romp that we had so lovingly planned for you.”

At other points, Conan made fun of people who record the show on their DVRs and fast-forward through the boring parts, and also pointed out how ridiculously unimportant some segments are, such as the show’s annual introduction of its vote-counting accountants.

Those moments were funny, but ultimately they targeted completely safe subjects. The show gets points for making fun of itself and offends no one on the entire planet, except perhaps the local NBC affiliate crews who have to stay up later to do their 11 o’clock news broadcasts and wish the show would just get to the awards and skip the cuteness.

TV'S BIG NIGHT ‘24,’ ‘Office’ claim top prizes |   Video Review: Emmys with a wink | Lots of duds NBC apologizes for plane-crash skit |   Video   Slide show: 'Charlie's Angels' reunion, more Red carpet awash in aubergine | Images Parties everywhere |   Video: Conan's gig Tributes: Aaron Spelling | Dick Clark Complete list of winners

Some of the winners and presenters took their mocking of the Emmys a bit further than others, adding a bit of a sarcastic, slightly bitter edge to their remarks. “My Name is Earl” creator Greg Garcia, for example, acknowledged those people who did not contribute in any way to his win, including a teacher who said Garcia wasn’t funny. His colleague Marc Buckland, winning the directing award for the same show, acknowledged in his short speech what basically everyone at home was thinking. “Growing up in Cleveland, I used to watch the Emmys every single year,” he said, “and when the director’s category would come on, I would lean forward in my seat and think to myself, ‘God, I wish they’d hurry and get back to the actors.’”

These moments that jabbed at the more sensitive, swollen parts of the Emmy award process weren’t all improvised; some were even scripted by the show’s producers. Presenting an award, Sean Hayes acknowledged the “controversial process” that led to weak nominees, and his co-presenter — and fellow nominee — Julia Louis Dreyfus said, “Sean and I would like to say that that really hurts our feelings.” That moment was light, but they made an interesting point: criticizing the nomination process is a pretty solid slap in the faces of those who were nominated, even if we think they don’t deserve their nominations.

MORE FROM TELEVISION

Television Section Front

Test Pattern: Predicting the drama Emmys Was this the best ‘True Blood’ episode so far? Surreal pop icon SpongeBob turns 10 5Top: Top TV picks for your favorite tots Test Pattern: Predicting the reality Emmys Neil Patrick Harris to host Emmys Summertime, and the TV watching is easy ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ gets interesting Reality TV section Check your local TV listings Television Section Front   Add Television headlines to your news reader: