Emmy Comments

Neil Patrick Harris hosted the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. He promised to keep things moving. This after mentioning that they had just started and they were 27 minutes behind schedule. Harris gave a tour of the stage: the hosting booth, the orchestra (Harris quipped, "Now you see why they are usually in the pit."), and the control room (Since they were in a glass room behind the stage, Harris told the audience, "If you see them flip to the football game, let me know.").

The first award had the best speech of the entire night. Kristin Chenoweth won Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy for her role in "Pushing Daisies." "This thing is heavy....I'm currently unemployed, and I'd really like to be on 'Mad Men.' I also like 'The Office, '30 Rock,' and '24.'...I mean it, this thing is really heavy....Thank you to the Academy for recognizing a show that's no longer on the air."

The voice providing color commentary as an award winner approaches the stage [Background info about the winner including number of prior nominations and wins] is John Hodgman, aka "PC" from the Mac commercials. Asked if he verifies his information, he said, "I'll be making up most of this as I go."

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Amy Poehler were "thrilled to present on this, the last official year of network television." They also said the Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy is the one category that can be rigged/bought. Jon Cryer won for his role in "Two and a Half Men." How much did Chuck Lorre pay? He has commented for years on his vanity cards that his shows do not get recognized by the Academy. Charlie Sheen lost to Alec Baldwin for Best Actor in a Comedy.

"The Amazing Race" continued its perfect record at the Emmys. They have won the award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program since the category was created in 2003 (seven total wins).

CBS held a contest to give the "Best Seat in the House" at the Emmys to TV's Number One Fan. A young woman named Barbie won. When they first checked in, she was seated behind two members of the Harlem Globetrotters. The second time she was seated behind the main camera crew. As they panned out, you could see a lot of empty seats in the same general area. I though they would go back one more time to show her sitting in the best seat in the house. If they did, I missed it.

The accountants from Earnst & Young came out to explain how they tabulate the votes for the Emmys. Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) took over the airwaves to promote the Internet for watching television shows because you never have to [...buffering...] wait for your favorite show. The cameras came back to the accountants in time to hear, "then the results are kept secret until the presenters open these cards on stage."

When the core from "Big Bang Theory" came out to present awards for Outstanding Directing (American Idol) and Writing (Daily Show with Jon Stewart) for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program, why did Kaley Cuoco hold onto Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki the entire time? It's like she didn't want them to run away. Or perhaps her outfit did not suit walking across the stage at a reasonable pace.

An awards show won an Emmy. "Hugh Jackman Opening Number" from the 81st Academy Awards won for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics. Another nominee was "I Love Sports" from the 2008 ESPYS. At least the Emmys are not vain enough to give themselves an award.

Tina Fey spoke for "30 Rock" as the winner of Outstanding Comedy Series: "I want to thank [NBC executives] for keeping us on the air even though we cost so much more than a talk show."

Did you see the dress worn by January Jones? When the family from "Mad Men" accepted the award for Outstanding Drama, Jones stood to the side of the microphone and was in nearly every camera angle. The dress had triangular holes along lines from her breasts to her navel. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

And that's it. The Emmys concluded just 5 minutes after 10 pm.