The 66th Primetime Emmy awards aired on Monday, and fell flat.
Host Seth Meyers seemed to base much of his comedy on how little people care about the Emmys. He included a bit where he and comedian Billy Eichner asked unsuspecting citizens on the streets of New York City questions related to the Emmy Awards. The duo’s attempt at comedy proved prophetic. Viewership has tapered since the 1990s and is down in total viewership with only 15.6 million viewers Monday.
Additionally, Meyers seemed short on content. He did a bit where he simply had celebrities in the audience ask him questions, which produced few laughs.
The best moments of the Emmys included Billy Crystal’s tribute to the late Robin Williams. This seemed to be the only authentic and sincere moment of the monotonous night. He talked about his great friendship with Williams, saying he “could be funny anywhere.” Crystal completed the tribute with video clips of some of Williams’ great moments in comedy.
The strangest and lowest point of a disappointing Emmy show was Weird Al Yankovic performing a song with lyrics about the nominated shows. The lyrics dissapointed because he did not properly pay tribute to the shows nominated and the performance was executed in a way that was cringe-inducing.
When Academy of Television Arts and Sciences President, Bruce Rosenblum gave a speech about the goals of the Academy, producers thought it would be much more entertaining if he gave this speech with Sofia Vergara on a rotating pedestal beside him. The idea was demonstrating the importance of giving something for people to watch, but succeeded at making all social media users up-in-arms over the attempted “ironic” display of blatant sexism and racism. The camera cut to audience members looking around uncomfortably in their seats.
The night may have been staged poorly, but the awards still managed to make their way to worthy shows.
Of course, there were snubs like every other award show, but the major revelation of the night was how the televised Emmys seemed to demean the effort of the television medium this year.
TV has become a huge part of pop-culture, succeeding at reaching all demographics through new modes including online streaming, HBO and Cable. It has achieved new levels of artistry unseen previously. Such achievements in television are unmatched by the flop of the Emmys, seeming to undermine the current progression that television is making; television is currently surpassing movies in many aspects.
We are past the point where TV is merely considered a frivolous pastime, especially seeing that so many shows are challenging preconceived stereotypes and subvert many devices that we have been trained to accept from the medium. With shows such as Orange is the New Black, demonstrating well-represented transgender characters, and Mad Men and Breaking Bad deconstructing out notions of white-male heroism, TV has the ability to challenge the status quo.
In the end, TV deserves better.
