Emmy report & new kind of TiVO moment
The Emmys were worth watching last night for three brief, shining moments:
• The Office won! If you aren't watching this show yet, you are missing out on the best comedy in years. You may need to watch 2 or 3 episodes to get into its dry humor and realize how brilliant it is. (I never could get into the British version. Trust me and give the American version a try.) Season 2 is about to come out on DVD. You can rent or buy it and catch up a bit before the premiere on Sept. 21st. Watch a few episodes and the season finale Casino Night so you can be ready for the JAM (Jim & Pam) resolution.
• The Daily Show won. I love Jon Stewart. I've met one of the show's writers before, and there he was on stage. Yay Kevin Bleyer!
• The Colbert Report lost. Which is tragic, because it deserved to win in the category that didn't pit it against The Daily Show. But it was worth it to see Stephen Colbert break down after losing to Barry Manilow. (Stewart & Colbert were the only presenters who had any chemistry.)
The Emmys were strange for several reasons:
• What is this, 1976? I got a kick out of seeing the three original Charlie's Angels together again. But it reminded me that these women were popular when I was in the third grade! Half the actors in the audience weren't even born when Charlie's Angels was on. The long Aaron Spelling tribute was overdone. The Dick Clark tribute was heartfelt and it was nice to see him get recognized and enjoy it. But overall, there were many more reminiscent clips than there needed to be. I see that we're catering to Boomer nostalgia here, but it's time to move forward, people. It didn't help that Lost wasn't nominated at all and Grey's Anatomy didn't win anything. The whole Emmy effort seemed outmoded and passe this year. In an era of fantastic TV, how can they give out such lame awards? I am sure Blythe Danner is a terrific actress, but her performance on the cancelled Showtime show Huff feels irrelevant next to the vibrant, ongoing, yet unawarded performances by Chandra Wison and Sandra Oh on Grey's Anatomy. (And it's best I don't get started on Tony Shaloub beating out Steve Carell.)
• Did anyone else notice the distracting background graphics that had animations that looked like the Wicked Witch of the West flying around?
• Did anyone else notice that the clips they showed of winners were absolutely awful? You have an Emmy-winning show or performance and you can't find 8 seconds of good material to put up? Someone was really lazy in that effort.
And finally, I had a new kind of TiVO moment watching the show. The ceremony was so long, and mostly boring with brief flashes of entertainment, that I actually felt sorry for the actors who had to show up in person and experience the entire three hours live. (Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, because if I were offered Emmy tickets I'd be there in a heartbeat.) I let the show get ahead of me on TiVO, then I'd watch until I was caught up in real time, then I'd go away for a half hour and come back again. My point here is that many of the bits were so deadly boring that I'd never sit through this show if I had to watch all of it. The networks are worried about viewers fast-forwarding through commercials, but I found TiVO essential for enduring their bloated program itself.
One commercial did stop my TiVO fast forwarding in its tracks--the Discover card ad with the animated scissors hopping around like puppies, cutting up other credit cards. Well done.
• The Office won! If you aren't watching this show yet, you are missing out on the best comedy in years. You may need to watch 2 or 3 episodes to get into its dry humor and realize how brilliant it is. (I never could get into the British version. Trust me and give the American version a try.) Season 2 is about to come out on DVD. You can rent or buy it and catch up a bit before the premiere on Sept. 21st. Watch a few episodes and the season finale Casino Night so you can be ready for the JAM (Jim & Pam) resolution.
• The Daily Show won. I love Jon Stewart. I've met one of the show's writers before, and there he was on stage. Yay Kevin Bleyer!
• The Colbert Report lost. Which is tragic, because it deserved to win in the category that didn't pit it against The Daily Show. But it was worth it to see Stephen Colbert break down after losing to Barry Manilow. (Stewart & Colbert were the only presenters who had any chemistry.)
The Emmys were strange for several reasons:
• What is this, 1976? I got a kick out of seeing the three original Charlie's Angels together again. But it reminded me that these women were popular when I was in the third grade! Half the actors in the audience weren't even born when Charlie's Angels was on. The long Aaron Spelling tribute was overdone. The Dick Clark tribute was heartfelt and it was nice to see him get recognized and enjoy it. But overall, there were many more reminiscent clips than there needed to be. I see that we're catering to Boomer nostalgia here, but it's time to move forward, people. It didn't help that Lost wasn't nominated at all and Grey's Anatomy didn't win anything. The whole Emmy effort seemed outmoded and passe this year. In an era of fantastic TV, how can they give out such lame awards? I am sure Blythe Danner is a terrific actress, but her performance on the cancelled Showtime show Huff feels irrelevant next to the vibrant, ongoing, yet unawarded performances by Chandra Wison and Sandra Oh on Grey's Anatomy. (And it's best I don't get started on Tony Shaloub beating out Steve Carell.)
• Did anyone else notice the distracting background graphics that had animations that looked like the Wicked Witch of the West flying around?
• Did anyone else notice that the clips they showed of winners were absolutely awful? You have an Emmy-winning show or performance and you can't find 8 seconds of good material to put up? Someone was really lazy in that effort.
And finally, I had a new kind of TiVO moment watching the show. The ceremony was so long, and mostly boring with brief flashes of entertainment, that I actually felt sorry for the actors who had to show up in person and experience the entire three hours live. (Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, because if I were offered Emmy tickets I'd be there in a heartbeat.) I let the show get ahead of me on TiVO, then I'd watch until I was caught up in real time, then I'd go away for a half hour and come back again. My point here is that many of the bits were so deadly boring that I'd never sit through this show if I had to watch all of it. The networks are worried about viewers fast-forwarding through commercials, but I found TiVO essential for enduring their bloated program itself.
One commercial did stop my TiVO fast forwarding in its tracks--the Discover card ad with the animated scissors hopping around like puppies, cutting up other credit cards. Well done.
posted by MojoMom at 8:56 AM
2 Comments:
Amy,
Shame on you for just now discovering this TiVo moment. Sadly, I watch too much tv like this. TiVo is essential for the award show, but I also use it to watch Days of Our Lives. My husband is shocked when I can watch a weeks worth of Days in less than a half hour. I can watch the storylines I want and fast forward through the ones I don't care about.
I'm such a TiVo snob and I don't mean to be.
Hi Obxmom,
Thanks for commenting. I'm with you--I've been using TiVO for time management, but what was new about last night was that I felt kind of sorry for the people in the live audience. I kept thinking, "Wow, those people in California are still sitting there this whole time." Now I am for living in the moment as much as the next person, but since the Emmys were so long and overall very boring, I was happy to go on with my life and check in for periodic updates, rather than sitting through the 3 hour event in real time.
It's hard to say whether TiVO or the iPod would win as my favorite recent technology. They play a similar role in my life. I think of kids growing up with TiVO as a fact of life--my daughter asks to "watch TiVO" rather than "TV" and she has been known to be extremely puzzled when she can't pause or fast-forward a show.
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