Frazier Moore of the Associated Press may have put it best when he asked, “Are the TV writers still on strike?” Sunday night’s 60th annual Emmy Awards, broadcast on ABC, were not well received by critics or the record-breaking small audience that bothered to tune in. Preliminary ratings for the 2008 broadcast were down 13 percent from last year’s record low, with a mere 12.2 million viewers watching the show—that’s more than 5 million fewer people than what ABC brings in for a particularly poor showing of Desperate Housewives, which is a part of the network's regular Sunday schedule.
So what was the biggest problem? The consensus blames the five co-hosts, the nominees in the newly introduced best reality show host category. USA Today, New York magazine, and Variety all sounded off this morning on the dismal performance of Ryan Seacrest, Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Jeff Probst, and Howie Mandel. The five kicked off the ceremony with a stunted, unforgivably unscripted bit that fielded its first criticism 15 minutes into the show when Jeremy Piven accepted his award by chiding the night’s labored beginning.
That slow start put the proceedings in danger of running over the allotted three-hour time slot, and kept the Emmys from ever really taking off. The Hollywood Reporter pointed out the many ways in which the show seemed frantic: “Presentations were curtailed, speeches were cut off, and the shots of the nominees flew by with such rapidity that there was a danger of inducing seizures."
Not everything about the Emmys was cause for condemnation, though. Comedians Steve Martin, Jimmy Kimmel, and Ricky Gervais in particular made appearances as presenters that have critics like The Los Angeles Times’ Mary McNamara all aflutter. “Someone at ABC should just cut Ricky Gervais a check,” she wrote. "Up until the moment Gervais showed up to present the award for outstanding directing for variety, music or comedy program, the highlight of the broadcast was a clip from an old Seinfeld."
Still, there may be a few more significant conclusions to draw from the 2008 Emmys than who was funny and who wasn’t. One particularly sobering analysis comes from New York Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley, who acknowledged the surprising lack of political commentary amidst the current financial crisis. “If television actors feel free to make light of dark events then things must not yet be that bad,” she wrote. “It’s when comedians stay silent that you know things are really dire.”
