Emmy Ante

I know the Emmy Awards are old news and probably have been for at least ten years now, but I noted a few items of of interest as I paused my channel surfing several times on Sunday night. Since it was the lowest rated Emmy show in years, you may not have been watching, so here's what you missed.

First, the presentation for Best Reality Show by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert was hilarious, lampooning reality shows, Hollywood and the huge, thin-skinned egos that lurk behind talk show desks. I stopped when I heard their names as the next presenters, and was rewarded by this clip. I laughed the first time and again the next night when I found it on Bravo, and every time I watch it on youtube, I laugh again. The bit at the end about Barry Manilow and Hugh Jackman had to have been added at the last minute because it reflected an award that had been presented earlier, but it's the funniest two minutes I've seen on television in a while.

The other segments that caught my attention were the tributes to Dick Clark and Aaron Spelling. Yes, Dick Clark looks terrible, but, hey, the guy had a stroke, give him a break. And somebody tell Simon Cowell to either wear a tie or one of those tight little T-shirts he dons for American Idol because the Austin Powers chest hair look is really not working (and I would know). Aside from that, I thought the whole thing came off as very sweet; the American Bandstand production number led by Barry Manilow fit right in and capped off a salute to an indisputably impressive body of work.

The Spelling tribute did not work nearly as well. Maybe it's because I find his work contemptible. No, I'm not going to pull a Jerry Seinfeld and deny ever watching Melrose Place, but I hate myself for doing it and I don't think a single person's life was enriched by any of his shows. Plenty of bank accounts, but that's about it. And the reunion of the original Charlie's Angels looked more awkward than David Lee Roth rejoining Van Halen on MTV a few years back. For supposedly professional actresses, Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson were awfully fidgety waiting for their turn to read from the teleprompter. Is it so hard to stand still and smile while the audience might for one moment be focusing on someone else? How 'bout a little Ritalin for the Angels next time, huh?

Speaking of short attention spans, that's all for now.