Emmy Awards: Brief Reactions

I just finished watching the Emmys, and want to post a few reactions about the ceremony and the winners. Neil Patrick Harris was a fun and competent host, and his introduction of the past hosts was entertaining if a bit overlong. The opening segment was relatively funny, and his musical numbers throughout were enjoyable. Having specific performers present designated tributes to actors like James Gandolfini and Cory Monteith was a nice touch, and it’s good to see them spotlighted. It’s interesting to me that the Best Choreography nominees got to put together a dance number, which was admittedly fun, for the telecast when it’s been such an unsuccessful uphill battle for a similar category to be introduced at the Oscars. It’s weird not to have every nominated show represented in that number, but it was still fun.

As for the winners, I scored 11/23 for the categories I predicted. That’s better than 8/25 for two years ago and about on par with 10/25 last year. Though I missed every single acting winner except for Claire Danes, I did predict both series categories and all four comedy and drama directing and writing prizes correctly. I’m thrilled for two winners I was rooting for, Tony Hale and Bobby Cannavale, and excited about “Breaking Bad” winning for Best Drama Series, even if I would have voted for “Homeland.” It was also nice to see diverse winners such as Merritt Wever and Anna Gunn honored, and, the most surprising win of all, Jeff Daniels. That’s an enormous blow to Aaron Sorkin and his show, because it means that voters really like Daniels’ performance and just don’t like “The Newsroom” as a show.

That’s about all I have to say for the moment – it wasn’t a bad show, but it wasn’t all that memorable either. Thanks for following along this Emmy season, and stick around for pilot reviews galore here in the coming weeks and the start of Oscar season over at Movies With Abe!