LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION
The broadcast was packed with technical difficulties and countless moments that just fell flat. But that’s not to say that the winners weren’t deserving. Any award show that recognizes “Mad Men” as the best television drama must be doing something right. It was everything that led up to each award that was atrocious.
The broadcast began with the show’s five reality show star-hosts bantering endlessly in an incredibly boring and unfunny fashion. Having people who represent the worst in television host something that supposedly celebrates its best just doesn’t make sense. It would be like if Uwe Boll hosted the Oscars.
But the real low point was when crooner Josh Groban sang a medley of famous TV theme songs, and butchered nearly all of them. The world never needed to hear the theme song from “Baywatch” ever again, let alone be reminded it had words, and the addition of dancing show girls during “M.A.S.H’s” theme “Suicide Is Painless” just seemed tasteless.
But the Emmys are not the only award show to have had problems like this. Glaring flaws constantly bring down nearly every major one. And it’s all made worse by the fact that results appear online almost immediately, giving audiences almost no reason to watch.
Award show producers need to think long and hard about the way they do things and make some serious changes. The point of award shows is to showcase and celebrate excellence, yet producers seem intent on doing so with complete mediocrity.
If award shows continue this downhill slide, we’ll all just be turning to Google the next morning in lieu of watching the broadcast.
