Perhaps the biggest change this year was in the assignment of hosting duties. Traditionally, the job has gone to a comedian who has some connection to the network televising the Emmys ceremony, as Conan O’Brien did two years ago on NBC.
In addition to showcasing one of the network’s big stars, the precedent usually had the added of advantage of managing to keep the audience entertained through what can be a tedious evening. Last year, however, Fox bucked that precedent, giving the job to Ryan Seacrest, the American Idol host, who received tepid reviews.
Seacrest was back as a host this year, however, joined by the other four nominees for a first-time award, outstanding host for a reality or reality-competition program. The other nominees were Tom Bergeron, of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, Howie Mandel of NBC’s Deal or No Deal, Heidi Klum of Bravo’s Project Runway and Jeff Probst, the host of the granddaddy of reality shows, CBS’s Survivor.
None of those hosts opened the show, however; rather, it was Oprah Winfrey, the queen of all media, who took the stage first and ushered in the hosts. It was all downhill from there, as the hosts made a point of telling the audience how they were improvising, even pointing out the blank teleprompter at the back of the auditorium — as if the audience couldn’t tell.
“The government cannot even bail us out of this,” Mandel said, like a stand-up comic who realized too late that the audience was turning against him.
“I thought we were being punked as an audience,” Piven said backstage of the opening. “It was a celebration of nothingness so I was confused.”
Probst won the reality hosting Emmy, a victory that left some other winners nonplused.
Kirk Ellis, who won the writing award for his mini-series John Adams, reacted angrily at the fact that so few award winners were given time to say much of anything. “I thought it interesting that we can have 30 minutes of a show devoted to reality show hosts, but the people who create the work don’t have time to talk,” he said backstage after the show.
The Colbert Report won the award for best writing for a variety, music or comedy program, while the Comedy Central show from which it was spawned, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, won for outstanding variety, music or comedy series.
Weiner won for outstanding writing for a drama series for Mad Men, the most talked-about television series of the year.
Zeljko Ivanek won best supporting actor in a drama series for Damages. And Dianne Weist won best supporting actress in a drama series for In Treatment on HBO.
Jeremy Piven won his third straight award for supporting actor in a comedy for his portrayal of the brash agent Ari Gold on HBO’s Entourage.
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