The Foot: Thoughts on The 2010 Emmys

The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmys took place last night in Hollywood. Rich people were paid to wear expensive clothing. Rich people were paid handsomely for work they already are paid handsomely for. Also, expensive gift bags were given to the rich people who attended. I digress.

In other years, the Emmys showcased an alarming lack of originality. Before last night, The Amazing Race won every year since it debuted. Top Chef took home the Best Reality Program award last night, ending The Amazing Race's streak. New shows were rewarded as well as deserving actors and actresses who were deemed an after-thought by critics who had grown weary of the predictability of the Emmys; however, as the night wore on, the Emmys began irritating me. Perhaps the hour plus time spent celebrating mini-series and movies was the reason. Can there really be a category for Best Miniseries when exactly two miniseries are nominated? Obviously, the category existed. I would have bumped Tom Hanks and his mini-series to the Creative Arts show that occurred a week ago.

Here are my (mostly) complete thoughts about last night's Emmy Awards:

-Jimmy Fallon hosted the show last night. While I had no problems with how he performed as the host, I wondered how much power Lorne Michaels has in television. For example, if I was a writer's PA or writer's assistant on SNL and I happened to trip over his shoe accidentally, would I ever work in the business again? Take a gander at Horatio Sanz's career compared to Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. Lorne Michaels doesn't like Horatio Sanz. Sanz was abruptly fired from SNL. Since SNL, he's worked small roles in Will Ferrell movies and landed a role on a Comedy Central series that critics hate; meanwhile, Fallon replaces Conan O'Brien as the host of the Late Show after struggling as a movie actor. I read Lorne made it a mission to find success for Jimmy Fallon. A year and a half after taking over Conan's chair, Fallon is hosting the Emmy Awards on NBC.

Seth Meyers has been the head writer of Saturday Night Live for a few years now as well as the Weekend Update host. Let us remember that Seth Meyers never made the audience laugh in sketches. If there were laughs, credit goes to Will Ferrell or any other cast member who appeared in the sketch with him. Not only is Meyers the king of the SNL writing staff, he hosted the ESPYs in July. Damon Lindelof, co-creator of LOST, tweeted "Briefly met @sethmeyers21 backstage and got starstruck." In the infamous words of Meyers, REALLY?!? Seth Meyers has overseen some of the worst SNL years in the show's history. The ideas are unoriginal and the execution of the ideas is brutal. Like Fallon, the majority of laughs during Weekend Update occur when Seth Meyers can't help but laugh at the jokes he just delivered.

I don't get it.

-I almost turned heel on Mad Men last night because of my overwhelming LOST fanaticism but the frustration disappeared rather quickly and I watched the latest episode of Mad Men mere minutes after they won the award for Outstanding Drama Series. They won for the third year in a row. Matthew Weiner didn't thank his writing staff. Instead, he thanked his wife for reading the scripts. I have no problem with Mad Men winning this award because LOST didn't have a shot in Emmy Land. It's a genre show and hadn't been nominated since the show won in 2005 for the first season.

-I don't think Matthew Weiner and Erin Levy should've won for "Shut The Door. Have A Seat." Again, I'm biased but I think Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse deserved the win for "The End." But Mad Men is the Emmy's favorite child. The one award I wanted LOST to win was the writing award. I will now sigh heavily.

-Jack Bender did not win the directing award for LOST. Steve Schills won for an episode of Dexter he directed. I did want Bender to win the award not only for the greatness that is "The End" but for the entire six years he spent as the creator of the visual look and style of the show.

-I enjoyed the opening segment of The Emmys. I was surprised and overjoyed when Nina Dobrev jumped into frame. She is the star of The Vampire Diaries and an absolutely stunning looking girl. Holy moly.



Will she replace Emilie de Ravin as my fanboy crush? After watching her last night on The Emmys and seeing the TVD trailers for the second season with Dobrev in the Katherine look...I will answer with an emphatic yes.

-Aaron Paul won the supporting actor award for drama series. Paul once acted in a 2000 movie called Whatever It Takes and it's one of my all-time favorite comedic performances. The majority of people in America won't agree with me. I've read no supporting actor was more deserving than Aaron Paul. Very well.

-Archie Panjabi won the award for supporting actress in drama series. I hear she was outstanding. Good for her.

-Kyra Sedgwick won for Best Actress in a drama series. Many thought Julianna Marquiles was a lock. I wanted Connie Britton to win for her portrayal of Mrs. Taylor on Friday Night Lights.

-Bryan Cranston won the award for best actor in a drama series. This was a stacked category. Every actor deserved to win. I thought Matthew Fox had an outstanding season portraying Jack. Jon Hamm's performance in "The Gypsy and The Lady," especially the kitchen scene with Betty, is out of this world. Kyle Chandler's been great for four years as Coach Taylor on Friday Night Lights as well.

-The only comedy series nominated that I watched was Curb Your Enthusiasm. The show earned zero awards. No surprise. J.B. Smoove wasn't even nominated and I have no doubt that he's funnier than every actor nominated for supporting actor in a comedy series.

-The show itself was poorly paced. Again, no one needs an hour plus devoted to mini-series' and movies. The musical transitions performed by Jimmy Fallon were decent but the twitter stuff was a bad idea.

Overall, I regret watching the entire three hour program. I should've stopped when Nina Dobrev left the stage but I had hope LOST would win, at least, one award.

I thought I'd write about the Emmys and Beyond Survival in one post but my write-up on Beyond Survival will be online tomorrow.

THE QUOTE OF THE (YESTER) DAY!

Gio Gonzalez, A's pitcher, on his relationship with the baseball

"I had a pep talk with the baseball today ... It's the first time. I guess he's rubbing off too much on me," Gonzalez said. "After Hamilton's homer, I got the ball and started yelling at it. 'C'mon, do your job.' Then the baseball told me to calm down. I'm losing my mind."

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK