I don't watch enough TV. I confess to this character flaw, and I promise to work on it.
But still, I do have my shows. And my shows got nominated for Emmy awards. And they all lost — which, by association, means I'm a loser too. And I'm not too pleased about it.
I'll be the first one to admit that Boston Legal is a severely flawed series. So Candice Bergen didn't win — fine: Anyone wearing that dress didn't deserve to win. But Denny Crane? Denny Crane! The greatest presence on network television since Archie Bunker... losing to Alan Alda's dreary West Wing character? Unbelievable... lock and load.
And why wasn't James Spader even nominated? Doesn't anyone else remember the Shatner/Spader mambo dancing scene — easily the most amazing thing on TV last season? And those brilliant balcony scenes between the two of them? I thought these guys were America's favorite couple... is the honeymoon over already?
As for my beloved Curb Your Enthusiasm: Shafted. Four nominations, zero wins. Sure, The Office is a masterpiece — and it was on the BBC network several years ago. By all means, buy the DVDs. But Curb deserved the Emmy. Or at least Cheryl Hines deserved one instead of that "actress" from the finally cancelled Will & Grace series who couldn't even deliver a coherent acceptance speech.
And that Monk guy from Monk beats Larry David for best actor in a comedy? Is Monk still on the air? Has anyone ever seen it? At least Larry had the presence of mind to stay home last night. And Jeff Garlin wasn't even nominated? That's just a big bowl of wrong, my friends...
And then there was the Manilow incident. I happened to witness the end of his monstrosity of a "variety or music program" on PBS not long ago, during a particularly shameless barrage of pledge drive programming. If they're giving out Emmys for "so incredibly awful you can't avert your eyes from the wreckage" — well, then Barry definitely earned it. Mad props.
Article comments
1 - Chris Evans
I agree with you that a lot of people won last night that shouldn't have, and a lot of people didn't win that deserved it. Hell--the nominations themselves were bullshit. But I must take issue with your Monk criticism, as it's currently the second highest rated series on cable television and has nearly five times the viewers than Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Yeah, Tony Shalhoub's won twice before--so they probably should've given it to someone else -cough- Steve Carrell -cough-, but Shalhoub's turned out Emmy worthy performances every year Monk's been on the air.
2 - Stephen V Funk
I guess it's not fair (but it can be fun) to criticize a show I've never seen... but really, I didn't even realize it was on the air for this long...!
I can live with Larry not getting the actor nod, but Cheryl Hines losing to someone, anyone from Will & Grace is a disgrace...
3 - Chris Evans
Lmao! You're right...the Will & Grace shit is really ridiculous. The show should've been off the air about 3 years ago. It was such a great show in its prime--they let it go past its creative peak.
They could've gone out like Friends, Seinfeld, and Sex and the City, but no. Had to milk that money train for all its worth.
4 - DJRadiohead
Congratulations, Stephen, this review has been selected as an Editors' Pick.