Thoughts on the 2012 Emmys

I decided not to liveblog last night's ceremony, though at certain points I wish I had, because there were some really slow points this year. It is not nearly as much fun watching award shows when you haven't watched any of shows that win the awards. "Modern Family" continues to be on that giant list of shows that I'm interested in, but isn't a priority. Meanwhile, I watched the first episode of "Homeland" a while back and was so unimpressed with it, I didn't even bother writing a review. Apparently it got better, because the show nabbed several of the major awards, including Outstanding Drama Series, leaving the contenders that I had been following this year, "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad," and "Game of Thrones" in the dust, along with "Downton Abbey." I really can't complain, because I haven't seen enough of "Homeland" to have a decent basis of comparison, and I'm not in a hurry to remedy this. However, I'm highly incredulous since "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" both had incredibly strong seasons. Maybe they cancelled each other out.

The "Homeland" wins at least made this year less predictable. There were still some winners that had me rolling my eyes, like "The Amazing Race" winning for Outstanding Reality Program and all the supporting acting awards in the comedy categories going to "Modern Family" cast members again. However, Julia Louis-Dreyfus picked up a statuette for "Veep," and performed a great bit with Amy Poehler during her acceptance speech that echoed last year's impromptu beauty pageant in the category, and Louis C.K. won for writing on "Louie" and for his stand-up special later on in the evening. I have no idea how John Cryer walked away with Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, but who can begrudge the man after what he and "Two and a Half Men" have been through lately? And then there were the repeat performers that you couldn't really argue with, like "The Daily Show" nabbing its tenth trophy in a row. Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon tackling Jon Stewart as he tried to make his way onstage to collect was a high point of the evening.

Easily the most awkward stretch was the Movies and Miniseries categories, where I don't think anybody had really seen the nominees, and trophies were being handed out to actors we knew better from their films, like Julianne Moore and Kevin Costner. I was momentarily mortified that Benedict Cumberbatch and Idris Elba both showed up to lose the Outstanding Lead Actor trophy to Costner. Didn't anyone tell them that "Sherlock" and "Luther" were only in the mix to shore up the faltering number of domestic long form programs, and there was no way in hell an import would win anything against American-made products like "Game Change" and "Hatfields & McCoys"? This ain't the Golden Globes. Also, the shuffling of different categories around with the Creative Arts Emmys was very noticeable this year. We had the Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Special winner announced, but not the Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Series winners, which always has the bit with the long lists of writers from various late night programs. I always looked forward to their finding new ways to picture all the nominees (As chimps! As politicians!) but this year it was not to be.

The presentation itself was fine. Kimmel was a decent host, if not particularly memorable. The opening sequence was weird, but a good kind of weird. Even though I'm not sure what bits like the Tracy Morgan fake-out were supposed to accomplish, none of the scripted sketches or comedic moments elicited any cringing. However, I wish they wouldn't front-load them in the Comedy section so much, especially as some of the categories later in the evening could have really used their energy. Also, I wish they had saved Josh Groban for the actual In Memoriam segment instead of the fake In Memoriam devoted to Kimmel. This year I think the audience was ordered not to clap until the very end, which was a good idea in theory, but the segment felt weirdly muted as a result. Still, the presenters were lively, the winners were mostly articulate, and the cameos were appropriate. The Q&A format for the writing and directing nominees worked great, and I hope they keep it the next time around.

There's always room for improvement though. Maybe John Hodgman's announcing turn was too heady, but whoever wrote this year's stuff was just awful. Why do we care where the winners were born? Also, I was severely irked by some of the montage segments, particularly for the Drama category. They decided to highlight specific shows this year, but only had room for a handful - so of course they used up two slots with clips from "Once Upon a Time," and "NCIS" instead of, oh, "Justified" and "Treme." This may seem like a small thing, but the montages are really the only place where less high-profile shows get any recognition at all during the evening, and there are so many, many good ones out there now, it's very obvious and aggravating when they pander to more popular tastes.

But there's always next year.
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