emmys

Welcome to the 59th Primetime Emmy awards: The results show." One of the first jokes this year's Emmy host Ryan Seacrest bunted from the Shrine Auditorium's stage-in-the-round ended up not being too far from the truth.



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Photos from the 2007 Emmys
Here's a pleasant shock: spending three hours and 11 minutes watching the Emmy Awards did not sap our will to live. Fox's Emmy telecast in the round -- a first for the awards program -- was glossy and playful, without a doubt the least stuffy awards program in years.

That is Fox's and director Bruce Gowers' gift to an awards show that has a reputation for dullness. Since there is no way to make such a night into something extraordinary, Gowers, the guy who brings "American Idol" in on time each year, made the whole affair go down easy. As entertainers worked the round in presenting and performing, the telecast had the pulse and freewheeling excitement of an "Idol" results shows. For once stars didn't take themselves so seriously that they forgot they were in the business of keeping us interested.

Sadly, there was no live performance of "Dick in a Box." Viewers got the next best thing in "The Family Guy's" evil infant Stewie and his vodka-swilling dog, Brian, soft-shoeing their way through a snide ode to television. It began by knocking Federal Way's Sanjaya Malakar's thin talent:

"You've got megahits like "Idol," where Sanjaya took his bow Just a little boy from India who made us all say wow
With a voice that makes you wanna just go out and kill a cow
Here the plain situation, a simple declaration, if you want it, you can find it on TV!"

We got "Lost's" Terry O'Quinn, winning a supporting actor in a drama Emmy at long last, savoring his moment by observing, "You know, sometimes when we're rolling around in the jungle in the mud, and we're hitting each other and stabbing each other and shooting each other, and they're pouring on the blood and turning on the sprinklers, I wonder what it would be like to bake up a sheet of cookies on Wisteria Lane. And get one of their checks."

Yes, everybody always thinks the grass is greener.

In essence, we got an enjoyable show, as well as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences voters doing the best with what they had to work with. In a number of cases.

"The Sopranos" got its due throughout the night, including an entertaining if odd, at times, tribute from the Jersey Boys singing Frankie Valli tunes. The drama walked away with the best drama statue, as it should have, and a writing Emmy for David Chase. Given the way the rest of the night went, those wins were not a foregone conclusions; James Gandolfini lost to "Boston Legal's" James Spader, who has the distinction of not only whacking Tony Soprano in his final season but of winning outstanding lead actor Emmys every time he has been nominated.

Edie Falco also failed to snag another Emmy in honor of Carmela Soprano's swan song, beaten out by Sally Field.

Including the haul from last weekend's creative arts Emmys, HBO walked away with 21 awards. NBC came in a strong second with 19 -- out of those, its special "Tony Bennett: An American Classic," racked up seven to become the year's most honored program, followed closely by HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," which won six.

It was also a big night for AMC's miniseries "Broken Trail," which won three Emmys on Sunday night (for best miniseries, a supporting statue for Thomas Haden Church and a best actor statue for Robert Duvall), and Masterpiece Theatre's "Prime Suspect: The Final Act," which came away with directing and writing Emmys, as well as an award for Dame Helen Mirren.

As always, Sunday gave us a "win some, lose some" proposition.

On the one hand, Jeremy Piven won another supporting actor in a comedy statue for "Entourage." Then again, isn't it time Kevin Dillon got a taste? Or Rainn Wilson?

Focus on the good times: America Ferrera was a favorite to win outstanding lead actress in a comedy. But you'd have to have a cold, stony heart not to grin in pleasure at that.

To see "30 Rock" get its due, and no doubt a stronger lease on life, with its best comedy statue, was also a wonderful thing. Jaime Pressly's supporting actress in a comedy win for "My Name is Earl" was well-deserved, just as Ricky Gervais' best actor in a comedy win was an unexpected coup.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Emmys backstage: Meanwhile, back at the ranch ...
Thomas Haden Church, winner of an Emmy for his work in "Broken Trail," was characteristically down-to-earth as he answered questions for the press backstage.

Asked "where do you find your inner strength" -- presumably because of the strength his of character he displayed on-screen in "Broken Trail" -- Haden Church replied, his Texas-tinged baritone edged with just a touch of sarcasm, "I don't know ... fiber?"

He's refreshingly un-Hollywood. When he's not working in L.A., he lives on a ranch in Texas.

He described his golden statue as "so pointy, it's like a barbecue fork!" He then said he was considering keeping it in his tool shed.

Answering a question about the resurgence in popularity of the Western, Church said he believed it was because "it's uniquely American."

The same could be said about him as well.
There wasn't a long list of "wow" moments, save for Brad Garrett's highly inappropriate comments about Joely Fisher's ta-tas; but neither were there too many embarrassing flops.

There were, however, a couple of flubs; Ray Romano went a little too blue for primetime, which made the screen go black for a few minutes. "Grey's Anatomy's" Katherine Heigl, who won best supporting actress in a drama, mouthed a dirty word that got through. And then there was Fields, running free during her acceptance speech to the point where the cameras frantically cut away.

Just a couple of small bumps in an otherwise enjoyable broadcast fronted by Seacrest, who many doubted could cut it as an Emmy host. Seacrest was tidy, unobtrusive and acknowledged his limitations as an entertainer by handing off the heavy lifting to seasoned comedians. The downside of his willingness to delegate and yes, let others risk falling flat on their faces, is whatever he brought to the show will be forgotten in a week.

So what? The man's gotten incredibly rich by playing the cross between a ringmaster and a glorified usher. After saluting past hosts such as Johnny Carson, Conan O'Brien and Ellen DeGeneres -- "Sure, they were brilliant, if that's what you're into!" -- he turned it over to the comedians. Yes, Seacrest knew that Sunday night was not the time to stretch.

At one point he boomed in his approximation of a powerful Broadway tenor, "The-e-e-e-e-e-re's!!!!" -- only to follow it with -- "not a chance in hell I'm going to sing tonight."

Good man. Not only that, since he's not so good with the jokes, Seacrest quickly yanked the droning Romano onstage and let him do the yapping.

His slow start picked up when Ellen DeGeneres stepped in, running a montage tribute to late-night hosts and an memorial to Tom Snyder. Others, including Lewis Black, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, kept the fuel tank full.

But the funniest bit of the night may have been a loaded round of "Don't Forget the Lyrics," pitting comedy supporting actor Rainn Wilson against Kanye West.

"The theme for our musical competition tonight: The songs of Kanye West," Wayne Brady quipped, and West launched into a verse from his new single "Stronger," finishing the last line with the word "you."

"You are wrong," Brady told the rap star. "You are wrong. You, uh, the last line of the song is, 'That's how long I've been on ya.' Y-A. You picked a bad time to speak properly. I'm sorry."

Following Wilson's victory, West sighed, "I never win."

On Sunday night, however, viewers did.

Indeed, you may have felt something we haven't felt for a good long time while watching the Emmys -- joy.

Savor it; we might not ever get it again.



"Emmy" redirects here. For the female given name, see Emmy (name).
The Emmy Award is an American television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and are considered the TV equivalent of the Oscars.

Three related but separate organizations present Emmy Awards:

the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honors national prime time entertainment excluding sports;
the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences recognizes daytime, sports, news and documentary programming, and;
the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honors programming originating outside the United States.
The best-known of the awards are the Primetime Emmys, and the Daytime Emmy Awards, with both having categories classified as Creative Arts Emmys.

Contents
1 History
2 Primetime Emmys
3 Daytime Emmys
4 Sports Emmys
5 Technology and Engineering Emmys
6 Regional Emmys
7 International Emmys
8 Other Emmys
9 See also
10 External links



[edit] History
The first Emmy Awards were presented on January 25, 1949 at the Hollywood Athletic Club. The name "Emmy" was a feminization of "immy", a nickname used for the image orthicon tubes that were common in early television cameras. Shirley Dinsdale has the distinction of receiving the very first Emmy in the first awards ceremony. The Emmy Awards trophies are currently made by a private company with a manufacturing site at the maximum security El Dorado Correctional Facility, in El Dorado, Kansas.

The statuette of a winged woman holding an atom has since become the symbol of the TV Academies' goal of supporting and uplifting the art and science of television: The wings represent the muse of art; the atom the electron of science. It was created by television engineer Louis McManus, using his wife as a model.


[edit] Primetime Emmys
For more details on this topic, see Primetime Emmy Award.
The Primetime Emmys are presented in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming. Ceremonies generally air in mid-September, on the Sunday before the official start of the fall television season, and are currently seen in rotation among the ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX networks.


[edit] Daytime Emmys
For more details on this topic, see Daytime Emmy Award.
The Daytime Emmy Awards are presented in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming. The first daytime-themed Emmy Awards were given out at the primetime ceremony in 1972, but the first separate awards show made just for daytime programming was not held until 1974.


[edit] Sports Emmys
For more details on this topic, see Sports Emmy Awards.
The Sports Emmys are presented for excellence in sports programming. The awards ceremony takes place every Spring, usually sometime in the last two weeks in April or the first week in May, and is held on a Monday night in New York City.


[edit] Technology and Engineering Emmys
For more details on this topic, see Technology & Engineering Emmy Award.
Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards are presented to individuals, companies, or to scientific or technical organizations in recognition for their significant developments and contributions to the technological and engineering aspects of television.


[edit] Regional Emmys
There are twenty chapters of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, located across the United States, that conduct regional awards to recognize excellence in all the regional television markets. Because the headquarters of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences are located in Los Angeles, the Academy also handles the Los Angeles area membership and regional awards. These awards are less glamorous than the Prime Time Emmys and are sometimes technical.


[edit] International Emmys
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences hands out awards which honor the best of non-US television.

Identifying these recipients can take months, with judging taking place at various international TV festivals. The best two programs from a particular genre in four regions are selected to go to a semifinal round, from which the nominees are derived. Every nominee is screened at a festival in New York the day before the awards ceremony.