The 2007 Emmy Awards (Or At Least the Parts of the Show I Actually Watched)

What's up with all the crappy award shows lately? First the VMAs, now the Emmys - what happened to the days when these events were worth tuning in to? When something of note actually went down during the broadcast?

To be honest, I was never a big fan of the Emmys in the first place, because (while no one believes me) I actually don't watch that much TV. I read enough magazines that I just so happen to know what's going on on just about every major TV show, but I watch very few programs regularly (remember how long those Lost write-ups take me? I don't have time for anything else!). I nearly forgot about the Emmys this year until I read about Ryan Seacrest hosting, and about plans for Kanye West to do something with Rainn Wilson during the broadcast.

So, on Sunday night, I settled in to watch the show just for the heck of it. I have to admit that it was more entertaining than I thought it would be - but those moments didn't come scripted from the show itself. The actual program seemed poorly produced - the sound kept going out (even when they weren't deliberately trying to cut away from someone), the camera panned to bizarre places (like, um, the ceiling, and some big disco-looking ball hanging from said ceiling), the "theater in the round" set-up was completely awkward, Ryan Seacrest was almost non-existent as a host, there was way too much time spent on mini-series and made-for-TV-movies that I had never heard of, and some of the entertainment acts flopped (hello, Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera!).

But for the part of the show I saw, there was enough to keep me interested:

- Ryan Seacrest saying, "Hellllooo, Teri," to Teri (alien) Hatcher, whom he reportedly dated a while ago (though I think it was all for publicity for the both of them)

- Jeremy "The Pivert" Piven winning Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and looking like he had enjoyed a hard night of partying on Saturday. Was it just me who noticed his messed up hair (unfortunately not visible in the picture to the right)? I haven't seen that commented on yet elsewhere - it totally jumped out at me and I thought it was hilarious. I also thought it was funny that Ryan Seacrest told just- turned- 18- year- old Hayden Panettierre from Heroes that he did her a favor by seating her far away from The Pivert. Ain't that the truth!

- The hot-air balloon dress that Hayden was wearing. Her small head sticking out of the top of it reminded me of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory when Violet turns into a giant blueberry.

Decide for yourself:

Take Hayden's orange skin and imagine it blue and they are twins, I tell ya!

- Lewis Black's rant against network executives. Normally I can't stand him, but I tolerated his screeching because I agreed with most of what he was yelling about. I, too, am very sick of the "crawl" at the bottom of the TV screen, as well as the endless and invasive promotions for upcoming shows. Everyone likes to bemoan the shortening attention span of the general public, but perhaps TV is helping to speed it along by making shows across all networks look like the control panel of a spaceship?

- The Rainn Wilson/Kanye West "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" rap battle, during which Kanye was surprisingly subdued. Word is that he came to life at the after-party at Les Deux, though.

- The Stephen Colbert/Jon Stewart environmental debate, which didn't get too warm of a reception (probably because Hollywood has no ability to poke fun at itself). The last 20 seconds with Steve Carell were pretty classic, too.

Of course, for me, the best part of the night was right at the beginning, when Terry O'Quinn won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. I thought he wouldn't win because the vote might have been split between him and Michael Emerson (Benry) by anyone who liked Lost. But justice prevailed and I was bouncing up and down on the couch clapping and squealing. Now, let's see if the Academy gets its act together next year and nominates Lost in the Outstanding Drama Series category once again - because it's a total joke that it wasn't included this year!

- e