Billy Crystal's Emmys Tribute to Robin Williams

I'll just be over here, I think I have something in my eye. . .
 

Blast from the Past: Emmy's Best Comedies of the 80s

Since the Emmys are on tonight (Sunday night), I thought I'd switch gears from the music-focused Blast from the Past entries, and go to television. When it comes to television of today, I'd have to say that comedy is in fine form. In fact, I think we are currently in a real golden era for fantastic sitcoms, which today often means single-camera shows with no laugh track. Going back to the 80s--though the shows are stuffed with nostalgia--there is often more of a "stage play" feel to sitcoms. Many wouldn't play well today.

Starting with 1980 (though technically speaking that is the last year of the 1970s. . .look it up), Taxi was the coda to the stellar ABC Tuesday night line-up. Though it had its moments, I never cared for it much. It certainly had the harshly lit, playing to the audience stage feel I was talking about. But for some reason, I didn't like it, and particularly loathed the theme song Angela, which never really fit the absurdest vibe of the show. Taxi won both 80 and 81. So, I'm including WKRP in Cincinnati, a runner-up both years, and a vastly superior show, with a vastly superior theme song.



In 1982, both of the above shows were still in contention. But the winner was the long-running Barney Miller. It wasn't one of my favorites, but might be were it on today. It was a little "old" for me at the time. But I always dug the theme song.  1983 brought the first win for Cheers, the long-running Ted Danson comedy. I was slow to liking Cheers, but then, so was the rest of America. I still can't believe it was started when I was a sophomore in high school. Soooo long ago.



1984 was the year I graduated high school, and started college. Cheers was still the Emmy winner. So, I'll choose a period runner-up I always liked, the Susan St. James/Jane Curtin comedy, Kate & Allie. For 1985, The Cosby Show took the crown. Due to un-embeddable YouTube clips though, I had to settle for the final season's theme song. Why the f*&k to people do that to the videos? Ticks me off!



1986 and 1987 were both won by a comedy about retirees living in Florida. Yes, a cast with primarily 60+ year-old women, The Golden Girlsmanaged to not only win the Emmy, but also was extremely popular on Saturday nights, a night the networks don't even try to program anymore. By 1988, it was finally time to sentimentalize the late 60s and early 70s. The Wonder Years, a sitcom that seems very un-80s, picked up the award.



1989 saw a return win for Cheers, so to quote Wolf Blitzer and David Gregory, "we're going to have to leave it there. Happy Monday, and welcome to the new fall TV season!

The Emmys Glee-ful Opening Number

I just loved this. . .

Emmy Awards Recap

Image from Stargate-SG1-Solutions.com

I'm not going to post any winners here, since people may have recorded it to watch later, and I suppose some markets could be time-shifting it. For me, in Las Vegas, I was surprised to see The Emmy Awards broadcast live.  They may have done it before, but usually it is tape-delayed in the Pacific Time Zone, which is terrible for someone who doesn't want to be spoiled. 

Anyway, for the first time in a while, almost the entire program was really, really entertaining. I've underestimated Jimmy Fallon (and who could blame me after Taxi?).  The opening Glee! tribute was amazing and funny.  I'll post the clip when it is available. The speeches (except for Al Pacino's) were funny, entertaining, or at least endurable.  This year they tightened the show by moving some awards to last week's untelevised "Schmemmys," and hurray for that.  It looked like the people present were having a great time, and Fallon really delivered.

Here's a comedy clip they did using ABC's Modern Family cast, allegedly getting tips from the powers that be, on how to "improve" the show.  That sort of network meddling happens a lot, especially with freshman shows--it killed Mork & Mindy, and countless others--so I'm sure the cast enjoyed digging at the network execs. Plus, there's a great star cameo (which I can go ahead and spoil as George Clooney, since the preview gives the joke away).  Kudos to NBC for putting on a great show, and allowing Fallon (and others) to rip on them for the Conan O'Brien/Jay Leno fiasco.

Kathy Griffin and Kristin Chenoweth Not Taking Emmy Losses Well. . .

And Kathy lost to Ryan Seacrest! Oh, well. It will be a great bit in her next standup special!

Via Twitter.

Family Guy: Stewie Wants His Emmy!

Hilarious. . .

Emmy Awards Controversy

Photo from source, television.aol.com

OK, now that the show has aired, I can finally read the afore-mentioned AOL story on the Emmys controversy. Nice of them to put that on their splash page while the show was just airing in the West. Harrumph.

Anyway, the FOX censors got a little melodramatic, cutting away to a silent shot of a large disco ball over the stage, blanking out whatever it was that Ray Romano and Sally Field were saying at different times during the show. Much ado about nothing, I think. A simple bleep would have done just fine, and not called so much attention to it.

Another note: that whole "in the round" concept was not a good idea. These shows are usually played against a backdrop, and the entrances and exits are obvious. Most of the stars looked confused about which way to go. Not to mention, half the audience present had to look at backsides. I'll bet they go back to the traditional stage setup next year (another prediction!).

[Excerpt]

Emmy Censors Get Workout

Ray Romano joked about his former "Everybody Loves Raymond" wife, Patricia Heaton, sleeping with her new "Back to You" co-star Kelsey Grammer. But he used a stronger word than "sleeping," which prompted Fox to cut away for a few seconds. [snip]

Sally Field praised mothers when she won an Emmy for lead actress in a drama series but also let her anti-war sentiments surface with a God-related swear word." And, let's face it, if the mothers ruled the war, there would be no (expletive) wars in the first place," Field said.

From: television.aol.com

UPDATE: The video is now available:

Emmy Wrap Up - How Were My Predictions?

Image from Wikipedia

When the Emmy nominations were announced back in June, I made some predictions. Let's see how I did.

Drama Series: The Sopranos. I got it right, but was hoping for Heroes.

Best Actor in a Drama: James Spader. He was my wish, but I thought James Gandolfini would get it.

Best Actress in a Drama: Sally Field. Totally missed this one, but you go Sally! More on her later.

Comedy Series: 30 Rock. I got this one right too, though I was pulling for The Office.

Best Actor in a Comedy: Ricky Gervais. Missed this one too, I thought Steve Carrell would get it, and since he did jump onto the stage to accept, this sorta counts!

Best Actress in a Comedy: America Ferrera. Got this one too, but was hoping for Tina Fey.

So, the count is three predictions correct, one wish fulfilled, and two misses. I think that's pretty good! Maybe I should go into the prognosticating business?

Emmy Dodging in Pacific Time Zone

Image from Wikipedia

I'm back online after my restful day away from the computer. The Emmys are in their third hour (too much padding guys). And I'm trying to find out what's going on in the world, but I'm getting skittish about spoiling any Emmy surprises that might come up.

So, perhaps I shouldn't have signed on to AOL. . . The geniuses there put up a top story on their splash page, with a picture of Sally Field and the headline "Controversy at the Emmys." GREAT. Anyway, I clicked it down, and didn't read it. I also didn't see what Sally may have done that would be controversial. She was up presenting an award, and seemed fine to me.

Maybe it's coming up. Anyway, every year I seem to get something spoiled, either by a phone call, the Internet, or a newsbreak. C'mon, either air the thing live, or hold back on the news for a few hours, could ya?

Oh, hey, Al Gore just got a standing ovation! THAT will tick of the Freepers!

Kathy Griffin on Ellen Show After Emmy Win

Love her. 'Nuff said!



(Hat-tip to Towleroad.com, where I found these videos)