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No Round of Applause for "Emmys-in-the-round"
James Spader by John Shearer/WireImage.com
It kinda looked cool when first unveiled, but the "theater in the round" approach to this year's Emmy Awards telecast drew decidedly mixed reactions from those who partook in the festivities. "It was very disconcerting... the way they had the theater set up," James Spader (Boston Legal) said after grabbing gold for Lead Actor in a Drama Series. "So many people you wanted to be addressing were behind you. Literally all of my bosses were sitting behind me, and so were the other nominees."
Conan O'Brien, after winning for writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program, countered that thought by saying, "It was neat to try it in the round, and [Ryan Seacrest] was right to not do [a previous host's] awards show." Seacrest, however, "is on TV way too much," O'Brien, the show's 2006 emcee, quipped. "It's not good for anyone."
Related: Emmy Ratings... Out! Smallest Audience Since 1990
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Sep 17, 2007 12:34 AM
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I watched the emmys and was not impressed with Ryan Seacrest. I am not a fan of his and did not think he was funny. It was boring.
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Sep 17, 2007 7:26 AM
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Was that the Emmys on FOX last night? I thought it was a fall preview for FOX programming.
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Sep 17, 2007 7:46 AM
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I watched the first 10 minutes of Emmy, and I almost threw up when I saw RS appeared on the stage and started his monologue. It was so awkward and painful.
I started watching program that I recorded on my DVR. I felt much better afterward.
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Sep 17, 2007 8:13 AM
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Actually, I thought his opening bit wasn't bad...especially when he approached Teri Hatcher. But after that I kinda watched off an on as I did laundry, so I wouldn't know. But from what I did see the writing overall for the presenters was terrible. Let them just walk out in their gorgeous outfits and spend more time acknowledging the nominees, please.
I was most disappointed with Ray Romano's schpiel. He went on way too long and he should've known better than to drop the f-bomb in the 7 p.m. cst hour. Dude, give us time to miss you, ok?
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Sep 17, 2007 8:15 AM
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I watched right up till Ray Romano came on. Didn't think Ryan did bad, he could have been much worse. But like ctheslayer, I got tired of listening to Ray. I was beginning to think it was a stand up routine and to be quite honest I am not a huge fan of his so I quickly turned the channel. From what I heard Ray wasn't the only one to use questionable language.
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Sep 17, 2007 8:31 AM
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I was not impressed with the Emmy's last night. The "Emmy's In The Round" idea was awful, and not thought thru at all. Are you telling me that Fox could not have had a microphone and camera on all four sides so the winners could address the people from their OWN SHOWS? And the way they kept cutting off the big winners at the end of the night.. maybe SOME of that could have been avoided by saving the Jersey Boys for the Tonys. And Kanye West? Having them on was almost as stupid as having the show in the round.
It is a shame that how poorly executed the show was seems to overshadow the winners. Congrats to each one.
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Sep 17, 2007 9:09 AM
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I thought the whole point of theatre in the round was so that everyone had a good seat. I understand that, for production purposes, they had the camera set up at only one angle, but that defeats the whole purpose, doesn't it?
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Sep 17, 2007 9:26 AM
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I really don't understand the hate for this year's Emmys. It was the first I've sat through and enjoyed in years.
Plusses:
No Sopranos sweep -- great show yes, but not in its final season, so I'm glad voters resisted just handing them everything.
30 Rock (!) -- in no way was The Office this year better than Fey and Co.'s amazing little series. Most deserved win of the night.
Gervais, Stewart, O'Brien, O'Quinn -- fine acting/variety recipients. Plus, the variety writing intros (the montages) were some of the funniest stuff I've seen on an award show in, well, ever.
Jersey Boys salute The Sopranos -- for anyone who's actually SEEN The Sopranos and realizes the mindset that goes into creating it, this was one of the most perfect ways to send it off. It was ridiculous, a little tongue-in-cheek, perfectly broken down and coordinated, and deeper and more satirical than a lot of viewers will realize right away. Fits with the tone of where that show was rooted as well, which is 50 years ago in the mindset of the generation that really typified and glorified the mafia, a generation that no longer exists.
30 Rock -- yep, I said it again.
Seacrest -- I hate Ryan Seacrest. Or rather, I hate what he represents, which is to say American Idol. Turns out I don't hate Ryan Seacrest. He was wonderful and self-deprecating in Knocked Up, and he acquitted himself well (minus some cringe-inducing 'audience interviews') in a tough situation.
Emmy-in-the-Round -- I agree that they needed multiple mic setups to winners could address whichever side of the theatre they wanted, but other than that I liked it.
Stewie and Brian's opening -- yeah, it was a Fox plug, but it was damned funny, and offensive in that good way that award shows rarely muster.
30 Rock -- Damn right!
Minuses:
Poor James Spader -- I love James Spader, and really enjoy Boston Legal, but he looked truly sorry to have won over James Gandolfini, even if I didn't think this year was Gandolfini's best work. In fact, push came to shove, I might give it to Spader on a purely technical basis. He goes through a LOT of different stuff to play Shore. Gandolfini had Tony down years ago, and though he plays each level absolutely perfectly, we've seen it all before. Alan Shore is a great character, but he's already got two Emmy's for it, and to be fair, we've seen IT all before too. Basically, I think this whole category was messed up. No Kyle Chandler, no Michael C. Hall, no Edward James Olmos, Kiefer for an atrocious season of 24, and I could probably go on.
Sally Field -- personally, I DO think Edie Falco should have won, and just can't stand Sally Field, especially for the anemic Brothers and Sisters. Her screeching acceptance speech (politics aside, I actually agree with her politics) was the low point of the night.
Robert Duvall/Tony Bennett -- The miniseries is dead, no matter how reverent a salute to Roots you can put together. And Colbert (to a lesser extent Stewart and O'Brien) deserves an Emmy over Tony Bennett for a single night of the Colbert Report, let alone an entire year at the same extremely high level vs. a single night of singing standards. Also, both Duvall and Bennett's acceptance speeches were painful to watch (particularly as they had multiple goes at it -- Duvall just needed the old exaggerated Vaudeville cane-yank).
Brad Garrett -- this man has never been funny. He continued this trend last night.
All in all, it was the first Emmys in years that I've actually sat through, let alone enjoyed. I stopped watching years ago when West Wing was sweeping (though I didn't watch WW at the time, and have caught up in DVD boxes, so I kinda see why...), but I'm glad I tuned in.
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Sep 17, 2007 9:47 AM
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I hated the stage setup. I loved that Terry O'Quinn won. Mudmouth Romano should not have been allowed all that time & why does Katharine Heigl have to be so crude? She's such a beautiful woman but she has zero grace. After one hour into it I switched the channel & watched HGTV's Design Star finale which was very much more entertaining.
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Sep 17, 2007 10:03 AM
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Crashdown,
Remarkably well-said. I second everything you observed (although I think The Office is smarter and funnier than 30 Rock, but I don’t begrudge 30 Rock the win).
And I thought the Jersey Boys tribute to the Sopranos was a stupid waste of time. I kept saying I didn’t get it. I didn’t understand why the words to those songs weren’t changed to make them relevant and funny…My husband did point out that David Chase is a huge fan of that type of music though, so I guess crashdown and my DH saw a little something in that performance that sailed above my head.
To me, the entire cast taking the stage and getting the standing O was a good tribute in and of itself.
I enjoy Ryan Seacrest—on pretty much everything he does. He seems like a genuine person and he doesn’t take himself too seriously.
I was thrilled Katherine Heigl won, and her quips & speeches were funny and touching.
I just LOVE Helen Mirren. She is always so gracious (not to mention unfailingly beautiful, immaculately dressed, and even sexy!)
I wish Steve Carrell had won over Ricky Gervais, but I missed almost all the Extras episodes this year, so I can't really judge. I guess it's fitting that the original David Brent won over the newfangled David Scott, in any case.
And was it just me, or were like 65% of the awards presented to miniseries? BOOOORRRRINGGGGG…
And, couldn't they have found a slightly less inept-looking censor screen than what looked like a technical malfunction??--an image of some weird disco ball hanging from the ceiling? There won't be any Emmy's for this production next year.
I don't mind that the Sopranos won for best show. I would have loved for Heroes or House to win, because that would have been exciting, but since Dexter wasn't nominated, the best show wasn't going to win anyway.
So, here's to next year, guys.
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Sep 17, 2007 10:15 AM
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The theatre in the round idea was a flop. The nominees ALL looked uncomfortable in their seats and I agree with past posters. It was a shame that they didn't have cameras hooked up so the winner's could face their loved ones/crew members to give their thank you speeches. When it was time for them to leave the stage, I noticed a heck of a lot of them didn't have a clue WHERE to go, Tony Bennett ended up returning to his seat, for example. With no sidestage exits, no one could step out of the wings to graciously guide the giddy winners to the press room, etc.
I personally thought it was smart of Seacrest to let Ramono do the monologue -- he's not a comic. I guess most people missed the point that Seacrest was allowing someone else more talented in comedy to do the comedy bit that is almost prerequisite at the beginning of the show.
Winners: I was rather surprised that Field won over the others in her category -- but then again, the way the emmys work is that the voters vote on a specific episode of a show that is submitted by the show on behalf of the actor/actress, etc. Perhaps the others had weak submissions. It's happened before where the submissions sucked even though the actress rocked in the over all show.
I was not a Soprano fan but even I got the connection between the Jersey boys and the montage that was showing behind them. It might have been better directing if they had allowed US the viewers more close ups of the screen playing behind the singers.
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Sep 17, 2007 10:15 AM
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I was truly looking forward to the telecast. For the first time in months, I sat down in front of the tv without some kind of craft in my hands (to fully enjoy the show). The first 20 minutes were fine. Ryan did okay. The awards were alright (yea, Terry O'Quinn!). (Whew, no Britney.) Then I fell asleep. Yep, the show was that boring.
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Sep 17, 2007 10:26 AM
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don't know if anyone's actually hatin' on the Emmy's - I think the big selling point of the theatre in the round fell flat, and so that's what everyone is picking on. Over all I really can't complain about the winners, and personally I thought some of the lyrics falling on inappropriate scenes (Who Loves You as Drea Matteo was shot) in The Jersey Boys Soprano's tribute was intentional - pretty frackin' ironic and funny to me.
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Sep 17, 2007 11:01 AM
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(FTR, my BA is in live theater . . . on with the rant.)
I think that the Emmys should give In the Round staging another . . . go 'round. (Hee.) You know, so that they can do actual In the Round blocking next year rather than do proscenium blocking on a round stage. Except for the Jersey Boys number and, kudos to him, Ryan Seacrest's opening bit, nothing else was actually blocked even remotely appropriately for an In the Round stage.
It's not hard to actually stage the show in the round -- just place mics every 120 degress (thirds), put cameras on each mic and just rotate who gives what award where. The actors are smart. They know how to hit their marks (okay, everyone but Elaine Stritch, but still . . .). Stage it totally in the round next year and the cast of Ugly Betty won't be totally disrespected by having to stare at everybody's posteriors the entire night next year.
Whoever made the decision to only use one main camera placed at one point on the stage made so amateurish a mistake that s/he should not be allowed to stage the Emmys again.
Also, I think it was hypocritical of FOX to bleep Ray Romano, Sally Field and Katherine Heigl and NOT bleep the entire routine of Brad Garrett. While I go for risque humor -- when it works, as with Bad Santa, and it very much didn't work here -- it looks to me like the FOX star got special treatment, no bleeping no matter how much more inappropriate his joking was for the ceremony than Sally Fields' last comment, Heigl's . . . exclamation of shock and Romano's off-color joke were.
Where did Garret think he was, the VMAs?
-- Rob
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Sep 17, 2007 11:38 AM
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