Emmy Awards have same winners, new jokes

By Ryan Eanes
Old Gold and Black Reviewer

Silicon, sequins and statuettes - it must be another Hollywood awards show. On Sept. 22, the gala in question was the 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. This year's awards, hosted by the always hilarious Conan O'Brien, tended to honor many of the same programs that have won awards in the past, but a few surprises peppered the telecast and made it more bearable this time around.

O'Brien's opening monologue was one of the best in recent memory, and his pre-taped comedy segments and the stand-up style jokes sprinkled throughout the show broke up the typical awards show monotony. The best bits? Definitely Conan declaring that he would shoo those winners whose speeches went too long from the stage by playing and singing "the worst part of Jethro Tull's 'Aqualung.'" His "coincidental" audience aisle brawl with Andy Richter was also hysterical.

The show went off without a hitch. All of the presenters were in fine form, none of them pulling a "senile Elizabeth Taylor" (who, several award shows ago, nearly announced the winner of an award without opening the envelope). Although I'm no fashion expert, everyone was dressed extremely well, including Oprah Winfrey, recipient of the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. Winfrey's low-cut dress prompted David Letterman to ask, "Are you sure the award she won wasn't a 'mammatarian' award?"

As for the awards themselves, there were relatively few surprises. NBC, as usual, gathered the most statuettes with nine awards; HBO followed with seven; and CBS lagged behind with four. NBC's The West Wing again seized the award for Outstanding Drama, but surprisingly, and probably deservingly, Friends finally snatched the award for Outstanding Comedy after four previous losses.

Indeed, The West Wing was the judges' favorite: it also won awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama (Allison Janney), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama (John Spencer) and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama (Stockard Channing). Also popular was CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond, which garnered trophies for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy (Ray Romano) and both Outstanding Supporting Actor (Brad Garrett) and Supporting Actress (Doris Roberts) in a Comedy.

There were a few questionable awards given, especially for Outstanding Writing in a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program, which the writers of Saturday Night Live grabbed. Many, myself included, pooh-poohed this past year of SNL as one of the worst since it began, and considering the formidable opponents the program was facing, my guess is that the deciding vote was probably very small.

Also unusual was the new Governor's Award, given to ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX for their "show of unity" when airing the America: A Tribute to Heroes special a week after the events of Sept. 11. I'm uncertain what the rules are concerning this award, as it is new, but it seems odd that it was bestowed upon four gigantic networks. There weren't even any statuettes awarded on stage; rather, there was a montage of the program, and a rather vague speech given. There doesn't seem to be any tasteful way for a network to acknowledge this award, so it's probably not something we'll see a repeat of.

The ceremony only ran 20 minutes over its cutoff time, although the proliferation of commercials at the end of the broadcast became annoying. The conclusion left much to be desired - with the entire cast and crew of Friends on stage, moments after accepting their award, Conan leapt in front of a camera, bid us goodnight and the credits rolled É hardly a very exciting conclusion to what was doubtless a very big night for a lot of people.

The Emmys seem to be improving, on the whole, with the awards becoming more balanced as the years progress. Let's hope that Conan hosts next year - but get some new blood into the list of winners. It's time for some new faces on stage.