I never thought I would say this, but from seven to eight on Sunday night I really missed Joan Rivers. ABC's lackluster Emmy pre-show was shamelessly self-promotional and left a lot to be desired: Joan and Melissa Rivers' catty, shallow and deliciously shameless banter was replaced by a sleep-inducing George Lopez, who strolled around passing out "The George Lopez Show" water to fans and actors. And whose brilliant idea was it to have the stars interview with Muppet couple Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy?
But on to the real show.
HBO miniseries "Angels in America," a drama detailing the AIDS crisis of the 80s, swept the 56th annual Emmys with a record-tying 11 wins out of 21 nominations. The miniseries' win followed the typical awards show formula, in which the members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences fall madly in love with one particular work and proceed to shower it with countless awards. The ceremony is the part where acting on television comes in: everyone else in the audience sits for three hours trying to look surprised.
Speed seemed to be the name of the game at this year's awards, with the amount of time allotted per acceptance speech clocking in at a swift 30 seconds. "I'd like to sing this now if I may," Mitchell Hurwitz quipped as the Emmy orchestra began playing in the midst of his acceptance speech. Hurwitz picked up an award for his writing on FOX's comedy and critical darling "Arrested Development."
Drea de Matteo, who was offed on "The Sopranos" and resurrected on the new "Friends" spinoff "Joey," received the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She neglected to thank anyone specifically, saying that her surprise over the win might cause her to "puke, choke, cry or die - and you've already seen me do that!"
Mary Louise Parker won for best supporting actress in a miniseries for her role in "Angels in America" and credited the show's director, Michael Nichols, saying that "he could get a good performance out of a quiche, I swear."
Two mere non-Hollywood mortals provided some of the most original Emmy entertainment of the night: Amy Scholsohn of Florida and Bruce Milam, Jr. of Illinois were led onto the stage blindfolded to unwittingly present the Outstanding Reality Show award (which went to CBS's "The Amazing Race" for the second consecutive year). The pair was in L.A. filming what they were told was a new reality series, but the joke was on them. When the blindfolds came off to reveal the 6,000 stars, and Garry Shandling reminded them of the additional estimated television audience of 20 million, it appeared that Milam began to shed a few tears. Scholsohn, upon spotting Jennifer Aniston and hubby Brad Pitt a few rows from the stage, eloquently blurted out, "Jennifer Aniston! They say I look like you!"
Unfortunately for the two new reality overnight sensations, the number of people who were actually watching the Emmys was considerably less than expected: only 14 million viewers reportedly tuned in for the awards show, which is the lowest figure in 14 years. With this year's departure of the television powerhouses "Friends," "Frasier" and "Sex and the City," the continuing deluge of reality shows, and the clean sweep of awards by exclusive cable programmer HBO, mainstream network execs are probably starting to feel the pinch. But at least ABC has a good strategy: George Lopez surely won a lot of new fans on account of that brilliant water bottle idea.
With only a few slightly surprising upsets, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences mainly stuck to the obvious, with acting veterans Al Pacino (who won for his role in "Angels in America") and Kelsey Grammer each picking up another statue at Sunday's awards to add to their abundant collections. Grammer has milked "Frasier" for its weight in Emmy gold: his latest statue brings his total to four.
Towards the end of the night, another familiar awards-winner took the stage. Meryl Streep brought home an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Emmy for her role in "Angels in America." "You know, there are some days when I myself think I'm overrated," she said, laughing as she clutched her award.
