Hello again my readers! As the majority of you probably know, the 65th Annual Emmy Awards recently occurred. Ah yes, the Emmys, the biggest annual event in the televisual calendar. I myself always watch it at home on Fox 8 and dress up as if I were actually attending. Sad, I know. Considering this blog often talks about what's happening on television, what better occasion to review and criticise something? Now let's get to the main event . . .
Best and Worst Dressed
I know, this isn't exactly a fashion blog (or have anything to do with fashion whatsoever), but I can still praise and critique, because that's just the kind of judgemental person I am. And let's face it, who doesn't like judging others?
Because I'm feeling super nice today, let's start with some of the people who I thought were best dressed (in no particular order).
Best Dressed
Ariel Winter
Known for her role as the nerdy Alex on 'Modern Family' (which took home quite a few Emmys at this year's award show), she certainly went in a different direction from her character. I thought that Ariel looked really nice (and I'm totally not just saying that because she's wearing my favourite colour) and completely age appropriate (15 year olds represent). So yeah, I think that justifies my answer.
Zooey Deschanel
And now, introducing New Girl's very own Jessica Day. Personally, nothing can beat her Emmy dress last year, because I think that was totally awesome. Saying this, I still think that Zooey looked really nice this year, and blue is definitely her colour. Sure, one of the main reasons she is on the best dressed list is because I really like her and I love 'New Girl', but still, don't let that subtract from anything, I genuinely do think she looked nice.
Kaley Cuoco
Here we have good old Penny from 'The Big Bang Theory'. Of course, she always looks amazeballs at award shows, but this year, I really liked the red look. She looked really nice, and I like how she always goes with something relatively simple, but awesome. How could you go wrong in Vera Wang? So yeah, definitely a winner in my books.
Kiernan Shipka
I think that the 13 year old 'Mad Men' actress looked really pretty at the Emmys. With the overload of flowers, some may think that it is kind of sickly sweet, but I thought it was cute. Also, she's thirteen. I'm personally just happy to see 13 year olds dressing like 13 year olds (the same cannot be said for Miley's little sister Noah Cyrus). Overall, a definite favourite. Plus, I have never even seen an episode of 'Mad Men', so you know this one isn't biased!
Allison Williams
After some googling, I am now aware of who this person actually is. But I have to say, I think the 24 year old 'Girls' actress looked pretty darn good. It was simple and sophisticated, but really young and nice. I am quite a fan of blocks of colour, so this is most certainly a winner. Also, it's Ralph Lauren, so it pretty much sells itself.
And now, on the opposite end of the spectrum . . .
Worst Dressed
Lena Dunham
Ugh. I can't actually find a word awful enough to describe this dress. I honestly cannot pinpoint what makes it so terrible- whether it's the pattern, the colour, or just the whole package. 27 year old 'Girls' star has really failed massively with this one. The dress isn't flattering, the make-up isn't nice and the hair looks scruffy. Overall, it sucks majorly.
Zosia Mamet
Yet again, another 'Girls' star who's Emmy outfit has gone drastically wrong. I don't even know what this is to be honest. It's got some kind of weird paint swirl, tie dye effect going on at the bottom, with some weird black mask thing going on at the top. I cannot decipher it at all, and even though there is a whole lot of pink, nothing can salvage this dress. Nothing at all. My advice is that she takes Lena with her to ask co-star Allison for some fashion advice.
Lily Rabe
No, just no. The 'American Horror Story' actress looked like a horror story at the Emmys (yes, this is an overused and really lame joke, but it had to be said). It's like some weird cross between a shawl and a gown. Also, what's with the different colours? It basically just looks like a dress that can't make up its mind.
Amy Poehler
America's funny girl certainly made us laugh, just not in a good way. What kind of dress is this? First off, this style just isn't flattering on anybody, ever. Secondly, why are there embroidered dragons on her hips? I don't understand! This dress is just a big no-no for me. But there is a bright side, just watch 'Parks and Recreation' and remember her as a comedy star, and not a strange dragon enthusiast.
Julianne Hough
You know that expression 'you'd look good in a sack of potatoes'? I personally would've opted for that rather than this . . . whatever this is. It's like some weird strapless leotard with a sheer covering. The colour isn't even flattering on her skin tone. It also bulges in weird places to create what looks like layers of flab (which obviously aren't there). And who wants to look fat? My guess is no female ever. This is definitely an epic fail.
The Actual Award Show
Now that the pleasantries are over and done with, here's what went down during the actual award show.
The Emmys began with their usual video introduction, where this year's host Neil Patrick Harris (whoo) is in a mock television editing room, having a conversation with various tv characters. I thought it was pretty clever, as they used clips from heaps of popular television shows and spliced them together so they could not only communicate with Neil, but communicate with each other. For instance, you could have Jack Donaghy from '30 Rock' in the middle of a casual conversation with Sheldon Cooper from 'The Big Bang Theory'.
After the little montage, we were brought to actual Neil Patrick Harris on stage in front of the whole audience. He began normally, introducing the show and kicking the night off with a couple of crowd pleasing yet painfully obvious jokes. However, things really got started when the previous hosts of the Emmys began to fill the stage and give Neil some 'helpful' advice on hosting, before fading into the background as Kevin Spacey did a piece to camera. He stated that he was in the running for hosting the Emmys, and that now with the feud between all the previous hosts, 'everything is going according to plan', doing this as a parody of his character Frank Underwood on the show 'House of Cards'.
After this short intro, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler yelled from their spot in the second row, for Neil to 'take his pants off and twerk'. It was all really entertaining, and just made everyone love Neil Patrick Harris even more (if that's even possible).
With the introduction down, it was time for the winners to be announced. Of course, a bunch of stuff happened during this time, and intertwined with other performances and stuff, so from this point on, I'll be going a bit out of order (because no one really wants to read a detailed description of people's acceptance speeches when they can just watch the award show).
And the winners are . . .
- Drama Series: 'Breaking Bad', AMC
- Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Anna Gunn, 'Breaking Bad', AMC
- Actor, Drama Series: Jeff Daniels, 'The Newsroom', HBO
- Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Bobby Cannavale, 'Boardwalk Empire', HBO
- Directing, Drama Series: David Fincher, 'House of Cards', Netflix
- Actress, Drama Series: Claire Dances, 'Homeland', Showtime
- Writing, Drama Series: Henry Bromell, 'Homeland', Showtime
- Comedy Series: 'Modern Family', ABC
- Directing, Comedy Series: Gail Mancuso, 'Modern Family', ABC
- Actor, Comedy Series: Jim Parsons, 'The Big Bang Theory', CBS
- Actress, Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 'Veep', HBO
- Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Tony Hale, 'Veep', HBO
- Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Merritt Wever, 'Nurse Jackie', Showtime
- Writing, Comedy Series: Tina Fey, Tracey Wigfield, '30 Rock', NBC
- Miniseries or Movie: 'Behind the Candelabra', HBO
- Actor, Miniseries or Movie: 'Behind the Candelabra', HBO
- Directing, Miniseries or Movie: Steven Soderbergh, 'Behind the Candelabra', HBO
- Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Laura Linney, 'The Big C: Hereafter', Showtime
- Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie: James Cromwell, 'American Horror Story: Asylum', FX Networks
- Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Ellen Burstyn, 'Political Animals', USA
- Writing, Miniseries or Movie: Abi Morgan, 'The Hour', BBC America
- Reality-Competition Program: 'The Voice', NBC
- Variety Series: 'The Colbert Report', Comedy Central
- Writing, Variety Series: 'The Colbert Report', Comedy Central
- Directing, Variety Series: Don Roy King, 'Saturday Night Live', NBC
- Choreography: Derek Hough, 'Dancing With the Stars', ABC
Of course, I think that 'Glee' should've won the 3 categories they were nominated for, not to mention countless others that they weren't, but still. Overall, it seemed pretty fair. Anyway, everyone knows that you don't watch these award shows to see who wins, that's just a bonus. So let's keep moving on . . .
In Memoriam . . .
Scattered throughout the show, there were five main eulogies hosted by a variety of people close to the actor or actress who had passed away (the controversy surrounding Cory Monteith's having been covered in one of my previous posts). These five talents were Cory Monteith, James Gandolfini, Jean Stapleton, Jonathan Winters and Gary David Goldberg. They were all very emotional (despite my only having heard of 2 out of the 5 being commemorated), and I thought it was a smart move to scatter them rather then have a massive block focussing on kind of a morbid subject. Of course, they had their usual 'in memoriam' slideshow, accompanied by a cellist (because who doesn't love them some classical instruments?), that continued to commemorate the remaining people who had passed away throughout the year.
Showtime
A bunch of other stuff happened throughout the night, including some really awesome performances. Of course, triple-threat host NPH performed a musical number. It took place in the middle of the show, and was basically about just that- entitled 'The Number in the Middle of the Show'. It included guest appearances from Nathan Fillion and Sarah Silverman, and just made everyone happy (because let's face it, who doesn't secretly love them a good musical theatre number?).
There was also another musical number performed by Sir Elton John himself, honouring the late Liberace (which kinda seemed like some more shameless promotion for 'Behind the Candelabra', but whatever). He gave a little intro and managed to slip in some jokes about his own fashion sense and his realisation that he was gay later in life, before jumping into a new song he co-wrote with Bernie Taupin called 'Home Again'. To be completely honest, I may or may not have skipped through his song, but I'm sure it was great (if you're into that).
There was also some kind of special tribute that celebrated the 50th anniversary of television moments in history that made an impact (for instance there was a speech about J.F.K's assassination). But what really caught my attention was the Beatles tribute, recognising when they performed on the Ed Sullivan Show (perhaps a promo for the upcoming 'Glee' episodes?), where Carrie Underwood sung a (flawed) rendition of 'Yesterday'. It kind of sounded like she was screaming for life or something, and it looked as if she was suffering from some painful stomach cramps because she just kept hovering her hand over her midriff. If you're looking for covers, I'd stick with the 'Glee' version if I were you.
One of the last performances started off with a video of Neil Patrick Harris visiting the people who were nominated for the outstanding choreography category, and offered them 'reality tv style' a chance to choreograph a massive dance number about television in return for him (for the first time), announcing the choreography award during the actual award show, rather than before hand (on the condition that he was apart of it). And that they did. We were then taken to the actual stage, where NPH began to sing yet another musical number, before disappearing and letting the dancers take over. What happened next was super awesome. There were these various boxes gliding across the stage (with wheels on them of course) with dancers in them representing different television shows. The parodies included 'Mad Men', 'Game of Thrones', 'American Horror Story- Asylum', 'Boardwalk Empire', 'Breaking Bad' and 'The Big Bang Theory'. It's one of these things that you just have to watch (because it's really really awesome).
My Awards
In the spirit of the Emmys, I felt that it was only fair to hand out my own awards. So without further ado . . .Best Acceptance Speech: Merritt Wever. 8 words in length, this speech was short, simple, and didn't make us want to throw knives at the television. In fact, it read 'Thank you so much. I gotta go. Bye'. Watch it now.
Best PSA: How I Met Your Mother cross promotion for EHD (excessive hosting disorder). It was super funny, and I'm sure it will bring more viewers for next season. It basically had all of the cast talking about how EHD had affected Neil, and the filming on the show. They also managed to involve the purely HIMYM reference, having an 'intervention' (sign and all). But what really topped it off for me was the fact that you could sign up for the 'Ryan Seacrest Centre for Excessive Hosting in Malibu'.
Best Bromance: Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. I'm not going to give you too many spoiler alerts, but I'm just going to say that Michael Douglas' acceptance speech was legen-wait for it-dary (HIMYM reference). Enough said. Watch it here now.
Best 'in character' Moment: Julia Louis-Dreyfus' acceptance speech. Taking on her role as Vice President in the television show 'Veep', she accepted her award in character, with Tony Hale (who plays her personal aide on the show) by her side, whispering prompts throughout. You can click here to watch it now.
So there you go. That's my really long, super confusing 2013 Emmys Recap. I think I covered absolutely everything ever. But let's just take a minute to celebrate how much media I've managed to cram into one post.
Seriously though, I'm pretty sure I broke blogspot. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope I sufficiently entertained and/or informed you about the 2013 Emmy Awards. Til' next time . . .
Annabel xx
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