The Oscars are notorious for their favoritism - time and again, movies like "Lord of the Rings" clean up with nominations and awards while other films (comedies are perennially shafted) and actors suffer for being out of vogue that year.
The Emmy Awards are even worse, allowing the same people to win year after year and often pitting co-stars against each other; three women (Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman) from "Desperate Housewives" were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, begging the question, "Are there really this few good shows on television?"
The answer would seem to be "yes," judging by the variety of nominations and number of key awards that "Everybody Loves Raymond" took home in its final season. Brad Garrett and Doris Roberts won for Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series, and the show somehow won Outstanding Comedy Series, besting fellow nominees "Arrested Development," "Desperate Housewives," "Scrubs" and "Will and Grace."
The other major awards were more evenly distributed. Although "Lost" won for Outstanding Drama Series, it did not get any of the major acting awards. "Boston Legal" surprised by taking home both Outstanding Supporting and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for resident weirdo William Shatner and "not-sure-if-he's-sexy-or-creepy" James Spader, respectively.
Of course, the most interesting parts of the awards ceremony had nothing to do with the prizes themselves. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences made a wise decision by selecting comedian Ellen DeGeneres as the show's host. DeGeneres played up her "confused by everything" persona; in her opening monologue, she spoke regretfully about the spread of nudity and foul language on TV before conceding, "Let's be honest: we like to watch naked people cursing."
DeGeneres also set the bar for the somewhat subversive undertone of the evening when she noted that she had now been asked to host the Emmys after two major American disasters and joked, "Be sure to look for me next month when I host the North Korean People's Choice Awards."
College favorite Jon Stewart continued the theme of edgier humor when he harangued against the government for their handling of the Hurricane Katrina relief. As he grew angrier and angrier, his rantings were comically censored: by the end, he was describing government officials as "[-]ept" and reminding us that "George Bush hates Black [Sabbath]."
Stewart was part of another of the Emmys' unexpectedly funny moments. It seemed that the nominees for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Series were able to design their own identifying montages. As a result, "Da Ali G Show" featured what appeared to be publicity stills from a porn movie, "The Daily Show" had all its writers doing embarrassing things on (or with) their computers, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" had half a minute of O'Brien tossing his hair in sunny meadow, "Late Night with David Letterman" featured Regis Philbin wrestling a man in a bear suit, and "Real Time with Bill Maher" showcased a ridiculously diverse writing team.
All night, acceptance speeches were pretty unremarkable, perhaps because of DeGeneres' warning that no winner should ever seem too surprised since they know they have a one in five chance of winning. Some notable exceptions were Brad Garrett, who dedicated his award to "Britney and her baby" and Tony Shaloub, who claimed that he wasn't familiar with any of his fellow nominees' work but reminded them "there's always next year... except for Ray Romano."
Other highpoints included unexpected revelations on the part of presenters - Quentin Tarantino announced that he got his start on an episode of "Golden Girls," and Teri Hatcher did a surprisingly accurate Groucho Marx impression when presenting Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
A new feature this year, "Emmy Idol," in which television personalities compete by singing different classic TV theme songs, was somewhat of a mixed bag. Donald Trump's and Megan Mullally's rendition of the "Green Acres" theme deservedly won. William Shatner and Frederica von Stade performed an absurd but fitting version of the "Star Trek" theme. Kristen Bell of "Veronica Mars" was disappointing in her performance of "Fame," as were "CSI"'s Gary Dourdan and Macy Gray (who shouldn't have been at the Emmys anyway) in their version of "Movin' On Up."
Perhaps the Emmys biggest problem was their inability to shake their inferiority complex with the other major awards shows. In the opening musical number, Earth, Wind, and Fire and the Black Eyed Peas performed a review of major events of the year which included references to both the Oscars and the Tonys (as well as the awkward phrase "of the Yankees the Red Sox made quick work"). Later, Conan O'Brien joked that the Emmys were the biggest awards shows after the Oscars, the Tonys, the Golden Globes and the People's Choice Awards, among others.
Finally notable was that the big celebrities in the audience were movie stars like Halle Berry, Geoffrey Rush and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who were only there because of obscure miniseries or arty cable movies they had made in their free time. Hugh Jackman, in one of the more mind-boggling choices of the evening, won an Emmy for hosting the Tony Awards.
In the end, the Emmys were able to prove their superiority in at least one area. Despite its various musical performances, wacky "Ellen-in-places-she-shouldn't-be" interludes, and appropriately lengthy tributes to television greats like Johnny Carson and Peter Jennings, the show still finished exactly on time, at 11 p.m. - a feat the Oscars can only dream of.
