The 2010 Emmy Award winners included some fresh blood, a few surprises and a handful of perennial favourites.
The Emmys bring good old Mrs Bucket to mind. Self-consciously determined to be perceived as a celebration of intelligent and thoughtful television, the awards instead come across as slightly pretentious, clique-y and completely ignorant of the general public's preferences.
My main gripe is the lack of two categories I would consider relevant today, teen programs and scifi/fantasy programs.
There are no awards for these genres, despite their rampant fan bases. There is, however, an award for Outstanding Commercial, and, of course, Outstanding Hair Styling for a Multi-Camera Series or Special, won by Dancing With The Stars. No way insulting to genre television AT ALL.
This came to a head last year, when Kim Manners was left out of the In Memoriam tribute. Despite having produced almost a hundred episodes of The X-Files, and executive producing Supernatural, he'd also directed episodes of everything from 21 Jump Street to Baywatch, Star Trek: the Next Generation and even the original Charlie's Angels.
Worth a mention, much??
The Emmys tried to appear a little more populist this year, nominating True Blood for Drama and awarding Jim Parsons the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory. Reactions have been divided, but at least there were some surprises.
Definite thumbs up to Jane Lynch, who won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance as Coach Sue Sylvester in Glee. To be fair, the character scores some great, gasp-inspiring lines:
Sue: All I want is just one day a year when I'm not visually assaulted by uglies and fatties.
Glee, Season 1, Episode 12.
I spotted Lynch playing a nurse with two or so lines in an old episode of Gilmore Girls the other day. Talk about moving forward.
It was also great to see Archie Panjabi walk away with Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Her portrayal of in-house investigator Kalinda Sharma in The Good Wife is a ver-y long way from the part of Pinky in Bend It Like Beckham.
Mad Men, the (apparently) fabulous show nobody watches (including me), took out Outstanding Drama Series, beating Dexter, True Blood, Lost, Breaking Bad and The Good Wife. I know I shouldn't really argue against it, never having watched it, but given all the accolades and the fact it still hasn't drawn me in for even one episode... all I can say is, I see where most of America is coming from.
I was surprised Modern Family beat Glee for Outstanding Comedy Series. Another award I couldn't really get behind was Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama going to Kyra Sedgewick for her portrayal of Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson in The Closer. I would definitely have gone for Glenn Close (Damages) or Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife). I guess it was a case of fifth time lucky for Kyra.
Really though, Jim Parsons win was the biggest news of the night. All I can say is, welcome to the In Crowd, Sheldon.
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