Blogging the Emmys

We had a matinee in Sacramento to attend today.  Good show, which is going to take some thought before I can write the review.  I did, however, get both the Les Miserables and Spamalot reviews written in timely manner.  Yay me!

We got home literally 2 minutes before the Emmy broadcast began, so I dived under the padded quilt I keep on my lap to keep Polly from digging her claws into my leg and grabbed the iPad and just started blogging.  In doing so, I found out why the Emmys is a 3 hours broadcast.  For the time periods I was recording it, the show was running 6-8 minutes of actual show time vs. 4-5 minutes of commercials!   I suspect in the last half of the show there was greater show time, but boy, not for about 6 different commercial breaks in the first half!

I thought it was an OK Emmy show.  Nothing that I will think of as I try to get to sleep and think "Wow...that was really terrific."  But it wasn't a bad Emmy.  Just one of the run of the mill years.

I took lots of notes and e-mailed them to myself at each commercial break, so here goes the distillation:

Neil Patrick Harris does such spectacular opening numbers for the Tonys that I was disappointed that there was no splashy dance sequence or a parody of anything, nothing but past Emmy hosts bemoaning the job and offering hints on how to do it better.  I wasn't really getting what he was aiming for until the very end when the camera cuts to Kevin Spacey in the audience turning around and making comments to the camera about how he had orchestrated the action on stage.  Ahhh.  House of Cards.  I get it now.   Fortunately I had watched two episodes of that series before the Emmys or I would still be in the dark.  It was very clever after all.

First award is to supporting actress in a comedy series.  I was pleased that Merritt Wever had been nominated.  She is on Nurse Jackie, which I have never considered a comedy, but her dry wit was the only thing that kept me with the show for 2 seasons (before I finally gave up).  I was even more surprised when she won.  Truth to tell, I had been hoping for a win for Miam Bialik, who is so very funny on Big Bang Theory, but this was not her night.  Wever may have given the shortest speech in Emmy history.  "Thank you.  I gotta go...bye!"

Tina Fey, of course, won for best writing in a comedy series.   What will the Academy do next year when she's not around?

Robin Williams came out to give a tribute to his idol, Jonathan Winters, who died earlier this year.  Willliams looked old, he was wearing a weird shiny tuxedo, and he appeared to be reading his speech off the monitors, which led me to believe that since Williams is such a crazy improvisational guy I can only guess that the Academy made him write it out and read from the telepromptor.

What is it with the shiny tuxedo?  Jon Hamm and Alex Baldwin are next to sport them, Hamm a grey one and Baldwin a white one. They don't look classy; they look cheap.  (Blogger Alexandra Billings said they looked like the top of a fabulous gay wedding cake.)  I saw a headline about "Jon Hamm's Emmy Beard" and thought it meant that he was gay and bringing a girl with him to throw people off.  But no, it was talking about facial hair.

The Deschanel Sisters (Zooey and Emily) were the next presenters and this shows how up to date on new actors and actresses I am.  I recognized the names but thought they were real housewives of somewhere. They presented the award for Actress in a supporting role, which went to Melissa Leo of Louis, another comedy I don't watch.  Leo did, however, send a greeting to Elaine Stritch and hoped she was feeling better.  Of course I wanted to know what happened to Elaine Stritch.  Google says she was scheduled to be there but has been battling "several health issues" this month, including eye surgery, a broken hip and other fun things.

Gail Mancuso won for comedy directing, and pointed out she was only the second woman to win that award (for Modern Family) and in her acceptance speech thanked a special teacher and her family "for letting us watch all the Hitchcock we wanted," which I thought was very cool.

Jim Parsons won for actor in a comedy series (Big Bang Theory), which pleased me very much, though I would love to see some of his co-stars nominated (other than Bialik) because I feel they all do such an exceptional job on that show.

Then Rob Reiner gave a tribute to Jean Stapleton, his mother-in-law for all those years on All in the Family.  I hate to say it, but his tribute was much more heartfelt and believable than Robin Williams'.

Michael Douglas and Matt Damon came on to introduce Elton John, the current toast of Las Vegas (of course it was designed to make you think they were talking about Liberace, the focus of the biopic the two of them were in).  John, dressed in a blue sequined jacket looked almost tame around all those shiny tuxedos.

About this time I was starting to say this was a pretty tame Emmy broadcast.  Then Laura Linney won for The Big C, which I loved.  She was not there, unfortunately, to accept the award.

After another interminable commercial break, there was a funny faux advertisement for "EHD" (Excessive Hosting Disease), featuring the cast of How I Met Your Mother and suggesting that Neil Patrick Harris enroll in the Ryan Seacrest Center for Excessive Hosting.

Maybe you hadda been there.

Though there were three nominations for Modern Family, the award went to Tony Hale of Veep, a show I watched when it first started and decided I wasn't interested.  Apparently it has improved a lot since then.

Connie Britton, looking stunning (someone said that her dress was inspired by the Ottoman Empire), came on with...someone...to present the award for drama writer and I was pleased that it went to one of the writers on Homeland.   It was a bittersweet victory, though, since he died earlier this year and it was accepted by his wife, fighting tears.

The supporting actress award went to Anna Gunn from Breaking Bad.   I have now finished season 1 and have 6 to go, but at least I knew who she was is and why she was winning this award.

A new wrinkle in this year's awards is that when the cameras pan the audience you can generally find someone with a camera taking pictures of the stage.  Definiteily something not seen before!

Jane Lynch's tribute to Glee's Corey Monteith, who died a few weeks ago of a drug overdose, was the best of the tributes thus far.

After the next 8 minute commercial break, there was finally a production number with Neil Patrick Harris, which was fun but a little too little to late.

Mindy Kaling of The Mindy Project was up next with someone whose name I didn't catch.  I couldn't tell if their teleprompter really didn't work, or if they were faking it.  In any event it made me realize what good actors all these folks are because they sure have a difficult tie "winging it."  (Poor Shemar Moore of Criminal Minds was back stage with a microphone and didn't seem to have a clue what to say to Bob Newhart.) Of course the whole thing may just have been a set up to introduce the Reality Series award, which this year went to The Voice, knocking out Amazing Race, which wins every year.  I have never watched The Voice.

Diahann Carroll hobbled onto the stage (she's nearly 80, she's allowed!) with the beautiful Kerry Washington (of Scandal).  There didn't seem to be much point to Carroll's being there other than to point to her as the first person of color to ever win an Emmy and how far we have come.  Carroll was there to say how beautiful Washington was and how she can't wait to see her win her much-deserved Emmy later in the evening. (She didn't)

The supporting drama actor went to Bobby Carnavale for Boardwalk Empire, another show I have never watched.  I don't know who Carnavale plays, but he gave such a perfect aceptance speech for an Italian father.

Julianna Margulies was there with someone to present for best actor in a drama series.  I wanted to help her brush the hair out of her eyes.  Can't believe that style was deliberate.  However, I was thrilled when the award went to Jeff Daniels of Newsroom.  That show doesn't seem to get much discussion and I think it's a great show.

Don Cheadle gave a very short history of TV, which seemed to span the years from the Kennedy assassination to the Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan, a good introduction to Carrie Underwood singing Yesterday, which, with unchangeable pronouns, should not be sung by a woman, unless she's a lesbian mourning her lover's departure.

The accountants for the show were announced.  They stood there with Bob Newhart, recent winner for guest appearance on Big Bang Theory, an award not part of the big Emmy presentation. After all these years on television, this was Newhart's very first Emmy.

Claire Daines won for actress in a drama, which I figured was the appropriate reward for all the weeks she spent being chased around a big building by the bad guy in the last weeks of her pregnancy (when I heard she had been pregnant for all that filming, I could not believe it--they hid her pregnancy so well!)

But the award for drama director went to the director of House of Cards.  I was happy I had watched the pilot on the plane from Frankfurt because I could appreciate the appropriateness of this award.

Emmy award winner Jim Parsons entered with Newhart (who received a moving standing ovation). They were there to present the winner of writing for a variety show.  Each show had a brief clip introducing the writers.  I loved that The Daily Show writers were representated by Muppets.  The Daily Show has won this award for many years, but it went to The Colbert Report  this time (Colbert thanked Stewart).   In fact, The Daily Show won nothing this time around.  I loved that as the Colbert writers took to the stage, one of them had a camera and was taking pictures of the audience.

Award for directing a variety show went to the guy who directs Saturday Night Live, his fourth consecutive win.  I loved his speech, where he talked about his daughter in the audience.  She was tickled.

Michael J. Fox did a tribute to Gary David Goldburg, who gave him his start on Family Ties.

Neil Patrick Harris introduced the nominated choreographers, with whom he met a week ago to announce that they would be collaborating to choreograph a big production number for the show.  The number was a lot of fun and at its conclusion, it was announced that the winner of the award for choreography went to Dancing with the Stars' Derrick Hough, who is such a terrific choreographer week after week.

The final live tribute went to Edie Falco, who remembered her co-star James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and talked about him as a man, as an actor, and as her friend.   She became emotional and the ever-ready camera was there for the quick zoom in, hoping to catch an errant tear.

Alison Janney and her co-presenter came on to give the award for writing in a mini series, but all I could concentrate on was the clashing bright yellow and bright fuschia dresses.  The award went to The Hour, a show about which I know nothing.

James Cromwell (whom I first saw in Babe, the story of that barnyard pig and whom I now seem to see everywhere) won for best actor in a mini series, American Horror Story, which, after this show, I think I'm going to have to check out, since it seems to have crazed nuns in it and I like me a nun story.

The rest of the people who died this past year were memorialized to a nice cello piece.  I felt it was sacreligious to be eating chow mein while it was going on, but it was long enough for me to take my fingers off the iPad keyboard and eat.

Et tu, Mark Harmon?  Such a handsome man and he, too, is in one of those shiny tuxedos, though his looks like it might actually light up.  I hated it!  He was there with someone else to present for best directing of a mini series, which went to the director of Behind the Candelabra, the story of Liberace.   However, I would really like to know -- if NCIS is the #1 program on television today, as all the polls seem to indicate, why is it NEVER up for any awards for the show or for any of its actors?  Did the powers that be decide to deliberately leave it out of the running for potential awards?

The award for actress in a mini series went to Ellen Burstyn for Political Animals, who thanked "the writer who had the wisdom to write a woman over 65 who still has a lot of juice."  Loved it.

Brian Cranston (Breaking Bad) presented with Claire Danes (Homeland) and congratulated her on her win and said that he was waiting for his own category. Had he been using some of his own product?  Bobby Carnavale already won that award. They presented the award for best directing in a mini series, which went to the director of Behind the Candelabra, who didn't thank anybody but Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.

The lead actor in a mini series went to Douglas, who offered to give half of it to Damon.  His comment, "This was a two hand-er. And you’re only as good as your other hand. Thank you, Matt Damon.” was a beautiful double entendre that brought down the house.

Best mini series also went to Behind the Candelabra.  I had never heard of it when I stumbled across it on OnDemand one night.  I thought it a great show and was happy to see the groundswell developing for it.

With the end of the show in sight, Will Farrell came on stage wearing beach wear (aloha shirt, shorts, flip flops) and with his kids along.  Said he had been contacted at the last minute to be a presenter when Helen Mirren backed out and couldn't find a sitter.  Loved his irreverence.  He presented the award for best comedy series (Modern Family) and best drama (Breaking Bad). I'm glad that I started watching the latter yesterday and have already made it through Season One.

Like I said, it wasn't a great Emmy show, but it was an OK Emmy show.   It was so low key that I fell asleep writing this journal entry, took a 2-1/2 hour nap and got up at midnight to finish it.

My Emmy Party

One of my three favorite nights: The Oscars, the Tonys and ...The Emmys. Tonight it was the Emmy. I always feel sad that I don't have an Emmy party to go to. I went to an Oscar party once and it was great fun. Walt sits and watches the Emmys with me, but he doesn't know most of the shows, even the ones he watches, and it's no fun when you have to explain why you're cheering for this or that person, or identify people in the audience.

But I decided to "blog the Emmys" as I have done in the past and set my laptop on the kitchen table so I could watch on the big TV. During the first commercial break, I decided to check in with Facebook and lo and behold my friend Jennifer, in Colorado, had posted a comment about the first award. I couldn't get the chat function of Facebook to load, but we kept writing notes back and forth through the entire show and it was so much fun! The next best thing to having an Emmy party. Looking at the whole thread of conversation I see that we wrote nearly 200 messages!

So here are my (edited) notes on the show. I was looking forward to Jane Lynch hosting. I have liked her even before Christopher Guest discovered her. She's beautiful, she's funny and she's clever and I thought she would do a great job. Sadly, I think it was only ho-hum. I don't know how much control she has over things, but I didn't think the opening segment was a home run (though bits of it were nice, like having Leonard Nimoy as head of Television, and the business with Mad Men). I thought the musical group, the Emmytones were a bust throughout the show.

COMEDY AWARDS
So nice to see Julie Bowen (Modern Family) win an award, even tho she beat out both Lynch and Betty White. I thought for a minute that her boobs were going to fall out of her dress, but her acceptance speech sounded just like her Modern Family character.

And it was nice that her co-star Ty Burrel also won, which set off so many wins for that show that Lynch started calling it the Modern Family awards show.

By 30 minutes into the show, I was texting to Jennifer that it was seeming tired. Much more low key than the Ricky Gervaise of last year (which is maybe a good thing!)

Charlie Sheen as a presenter?? Whoda thunk. He did give a nice speech eating humble pie. He looked almost sincere.

I loved that Jim Parsons of Big Bang Theory won. He has one of the quirkiest characters on TV and he does it so well.

The announcement of the women nominees for best actress in a comedy was great. Sophia Vergara, the presenter, was not funny at all, but when Amy Poehler jumped up and went onto the stage when her name was announced, and then all the other nominees did too, even though some looked a little unnsure of whether they should or not. It was such a great moment that the audience gave them a standing ovation. And then best of all, Melissa McCarthy of Mike and Molly (a show I have not seen) won the award. Jennifer, her wife, and I, all of whom are people of size, said simultaneously "The fat girl won!" We were very happy about it.

The same thought occurred to me that has before...these are all actors, used to speaking into microphones. The mics are positioned so that almost everyone can be heard from where they stand (the only exception being Peter Dinklage, winning for supporting actor for Game of Thrones, who is a "little person.") Why does everybody feel the need to lean over or lean in to speak into the mics?

Thrilled, of course, that The Daily Show won for best writing and best comedy show, though not surprised when Saturday Night Live took the award for best directing--I suspect there is more directing in that show than on The Daily Show.

REALITY SHOW
Amazing Race won again. No surprise. I would have been happy with that, Project Runway or Top Chef, but I don't see where American Idol fits in the category.

DRAMA
It was only at the end of the show that I realized something odd. NO cop show was even nominated in the drama group and Mariska Hargitay was the only actor in a crime drama nominated and she didn't win. Very strange, after all the clips of the two NCIS shows and pre-show publicity showing Mark Harmon. But no NCIS, Criminal Minds, Bones, CSI, Law & Order, White Collar, The Closer or any other crime drama. Not one nomination.

However, I was just thrilled that awards went to Friday Night Lights for best writing and to Kyle Chandler for best actor. His acceptance speech was just as uncomfortable as Coach Eric Taylor, his character in the show.

I had never heard of the show Justified, but I have seen character actress Margo Martindale in many shows over the years and am just so happy she won (another "fat girl") She gave a lovely emotional speech and trembled noticeably through the whole thing.

Most of the rest of the awards didn't interest me because I hadn't watched most of the shows. I was happy for Julianna Margulies' Good Wife win, though I would have preferred Connie Britton, who played the wife on Friday Night Lights.

I think it was Mildred Pierce for which Kate Winslet won. I didn't see the mini series (I think we were in China), but I just loved how sweet and effusive her acceptance speech was. I especially loved her thank you to her mom. Paul was supposed to thank his mom when he won his Emmy, but had to go and die before he had a chance.

Lots of nominations and awards for shows I never saw, so I ended up cooking dinner toward the end of the show.

The In Memoriam montage was nice and I guess that was the 4 Canadian Tenors who sang "Halleluia." The song always reminds me of The West Wing because the first time I heard it was in that show.

Jennifer missed some of the "Emmyage" (as she called it) because she had to take her dog for a walk, but I kept up a running commentary on the awards she missed so she could catch up when she got back.

So it was a fun night and it was fun chatting with Jennifer throughout and, all things considered, I enjoyed the show, even if it was a little low key for my tastes.

Late Night Emmys Again

I was already sorry before the opening number ended, but I was really sorry when Kyra Sedgwick got up to accept her best lead actress award, that I hadn't gotten out the laptop and blogged the Emmys, as I have done in some previous years.

But it was 10 p.m., I was under Polly, and just too lazy to get up to do it.

It would have been easy. I was watching a recording of the show anyway. I was so into it that I sat up until midnight, when the last award had been given out, before I would let myself turn on the computer. I didn't want any accidental spoilers.

Actually, Kyra Sedgwick's win was sort of an unintentional accidental spoiler. I was fast forwarding through the commercials and went too far, stopping as she was getting up to go to the stage, but I did back up and see the whole thing as it happened.

God, I'm such a TV geek.

So I don't have a long blogging retrospective of the show, but I will mention a few stand out moments for me. First, the opening was brilliant. I suggest to people who like television, if you didn't see the show, try to find a video of it on YouTube. I can't imagine it's NOT going to be posted. Oh...I was right. Here it is right here. And when I checked it (midnight) it had already had >300 views.

Next, I was thrilled beyond belief at Jane Lynch's win for supporting actress in a comedy. I have been a fan of Jane Lynch since before anybody had ever heard of her. I've enjoyed watching her get bigger and bigger roles and tonight's win was well deserved. I loved it that she mentioned her wife and their daughter. Yay, California! (at least when they had that window to marry).

Great to hear that at the "other" nighttime Emmy award show, Betty White won an award for her hosting of Saturday Night Live. I swear that lady is more popular now than she was during The Golden Girls years! I love it. (Also loved that Neil Patrick Harris won for his guest spot on Glee...best guest appearances of the lot IMO)

I noticed that about 3 actresses in a row, either winners or presenters, were wearing black dresses with one shoulder strap. I was beginning to wonder if there was a dress code and that all actresses were supposed to wear black.

I really kinda miss the good old days when you could trash what people wore. Now they all look glamorous. The only dress I had a quarrel with was on January Jones, who looked like she either couldn't decide if she wanted to wear something long or something short--or that she had been attacked by a scissors-wielding terrorist on her way into the show. Didn't have a bit of the style of Betty, Don Draper's now ex-wife.

Oh yes and there was the director or writer or something that almost had a wardrobe malfunction. I was more drawn to the precariously perched bodice than to what she was saying. All I can say is that dress must have had incredible architecture to keep it up, 'cause you just knew those golden globes were about to pop out at any moment.

But then Kyra Sedgwick won for best actress in a drama series. Each year that The Closer has been on, I've been sure she was going to take home the Emmy, and disappointed that she never did. Her win tonight brought a temporary end to the parade of black, as she wore a subdued, but purple colored dress.

And even tho I wasn't a fan of Conan O'Brien and adore Jon Stewart, I'm kind of sorry that The Daily Show got the award and not O'Brien for late night talk shows. O'Brien deserved something for what he went through with the Tonight Show. But I suppose the prolonged ovation when his name was called was nice recognition (that and the apparent snubbing of Jay Leno).

For most of the rest of the awards, I was kind of neutral. I watch so many of those shows and like so many of the shows and the actors that I would have been happy with any of them winning. I'm sorry I have never watched Breaking Bad and don't even know what it's about. But I was very happy with all the attention given to Modern Family. It was a toss-up for me whether I wanted that show or Glee to get best comedy. I think Glee won it last year, so I'm happy for Modern Family's win this year.

It was also nice that Top Chef took best reality show. I love Amazing Race and have been happy to see it win year after year, but it was good to see some other show taking the prize this year.

Cooking shows are becoming so popular these days that I wonder how long it's going to take the academy to add an award for best cooking show.

The lyrics to Jewel's song about her friend who died of cancer made a nice background for the yearly "who died this year" bit, but I hated her rendition of it.

But all in all, this was a good program, I thought, as such things go. There are always good and bad moments, but I enjoyed it and was happy for (most of) the winners.

As for why I was watching the awards on DVR instead of live, we went to Ned & Marta's for dinner. It was Jeri and Phil's last night here. We thought of doing our traditional "family movie night" but everyone was still tired from yesterday, so we just all kind of lazed around our respective houses all day (I watched the last 3 episodes of Persons Unknown so I could see the season finale before I read about it somewhere) and then Walt and I went over to Ned & Marta's to visit a bit, order some food from a take-out place, and have dinner.

Then we drove Jeri and Phil to the airport to catch their 10:45 flight back to Boston.

Tomorrow life gets back to normal, sort of, though my schedule for the week is going to be a little skewed too.

Meat Pies

Peggy and I stopped by a bakery a day or two before the big Australian Football League finals when I was in Australia. Sports is a Very Big Deal in Australia and you have to be prepared. Meat pies are The Thing To Eat when you're watching a footy tournament.

Her cable went out that afternoon, so we packed up our meat pies and went to her friends' house. They were going to some other footy party, but let us use the house, the kitchen, (and the cable). We sat there watching the footy tournament, and eating our meat pies.

It was Brisbane against Collingwood. Brisbane was Peggy's team, Collingwood is Sue's team...

(Sue was thrilled when we found this street
when I was giving them a tour of San Francisco!)

Brisbane clobbered Collingwood, 134-84, which tickled Peggy and snide e-mails were sent to Sue in Melbourne to acknowledge that fact.

Well, it's no secret that sports are not real big in my life. I enjoy a game, when I'm with a group of people, but when I'm alone, it would not be my first choice of what to watch on television.

However, my sporting events come around a couple of times a year -- the Oscars and the Emmys. Tonight was the broadcast of the 60th annual Emmys and I decided that the event called for meat pies. I was right in the middle of making meat pies when Walt discovered that Chico, the new dog, had disappeared. We can't find him anywhere. Ashley walked the neighborhood, Walt biked the neighborhood, I made signs. There is still no sign of him.

But in the meantime, I'm bloggin' the Emmys. My comments, written as I watch the Emmys, follow:

The opening bit with the reality show hosts...dumb...dumb...dumb. The bit with Heidi's suit was predictable from the moment she walked out on stage. Not predictable: Bill Shatner joining the group. But basically the whole opening was just stupid.

Supporting Actor in a Comedy - I should start watching Entourage. Jeremy Piven wins every year and I've never seen the show. My preference would have been Neil Patrick Harris. (Interestingly, I didn't care WHO won for Supporting Actress. 2-1/2 Men is the only one of those shows I watch.)

Heidi Klum's dress introducing the Desperate Housewives women...I don't get it. Must be "high fashion." Does nothing for me...but Terri Hatcher looks gorgeous.

Who the heck is Zelco Ivanek? Is Damages going to ease Mad Men out of all the awards it's expected to win?.

LOVED the montage of acceptance speeches...Ricky Gervais and Steve Corell were very funny.

It's very weird that the Emmys for directing usually go to the Oscars telecast...and often to the same director who has directed both.

I knew Diane Wiest would win the Emmy for supporting actress in a drama series because her show was the only one I'd never heard of. Damn...all those great women whose performances I enjoy and none of them won.

Howie Mandel is the Joe Biden of comedy. He doesn't know when to shut up.

Tommy Smothers hasn't lost his edge. Good ol' Tommy. Bless the Academy for letting him speak without trying to stop him.

I don't like Heidi's second dress any better than her first one.

Whose idea was it for Josh Groban to sing all these theme songs? Sounds weird--and who knew that the Andy Griffith theme music had actual words? (I admit I do like his rendition of South Park), OK. The longer this goes on, the more I like it, weird tho it may be. I like the dancers to the M*A*S*H theme...and nice to see Ed McMahon as part of it.

Oh fun...a "sock it to me" prelude to the Laugh-in guys. Gary Owens and Alan Sues haven't aged well and aren't quite as funny as they used to be; the women have worn better and look as good as when Laugh-in was on.

YES! The Daily Show wins. Always my favorite of the nominees. Now I don't mind so much that Colbert won the writing words,. Nice comment by Stewart to the Laugh-in guys.

Heidi's next dress looks like a dressing gown with too many jewels. I thought she was a super model!

Not sure why they don't give the awards for guest stars on the regular program. But I'm thrilled Kathryn Joosten won. I've liked her ever since she was Pres. Bartlett's secretary on West Wing. Speaking of which, so nice to see my favorite president back in the Oval Office again, however briefly. I was surprised that when the Academy president said that Bartlett had his vote, there was zero audience reaction. I'd have clapped. Maybe non-actors aren't supposed to have good ad libs.

Finally! A made-for-TV movie that I've actually seen wins the award. Recount was a fascinating movie. Hope lots of folks saw it.

Colbert is brilliant. Loved his bit on prunes.`See? Stan Freberg knew years ago that prunes could be topical.

Wow--what a moment from M*A*S*H, when the shooting stops and the war ends. I'd forgotten...Sandra Oh is very cute. And a nice tribute for Don Rickles. And Rickles is great, giving the proper degree of "seriousness" to the show.

The Amazing Race wins again. Sixth win and well deserved--I love that show. Can't wait till it comes back on again.

It's nice to see Sally Field with her bones looking so strong.

Well, FINALLY they give Heidi a nice looking blue dress,,,just before Tom Bergeron dropped her on the floor. Not funny. Again, predictable. Kristin Chenowith looks gorgeous. As always.

Rickles seems actually moved to win an award...and not his usual ascerbic self. Kind of nice.

And Walt gives me a hard time for watching so much House--now it's an Emmy winner. Harumph. So there!

OK--here we go. First award for Mad Men. Is this the first of many? Or is it too late in the evening for "many"?

Now I wish I'd watched John Adams. I wish ComCast had it OnDemand.

Nice to see Alec Baldwin win. I guess all is forgiven. Of course Monk is always my pick, but this is a nice one.

I'm also sorry I never followed Damages. Wouldn't you know that as soon as I stopped following it, it turned into a terrific show. Glen Close looks glamorous; Candace Bergen is starting to show her age.

The "Memories" montage is touching as always...nice touch to start and end with Carlin. Nice parentheses. Always a little pang to see the "favorites" like Harvey Korman and Tim Russert.

OK. I've changed my mind about adding more awards to this show. My legs are falling asleep from holding the laptop on them.

Well, what a surprise. Everybody expected John Hamm to take the Emmy for Mad Men. I don't even know who Cranston is. I've never heard of Breaking Bad.

Damn...do i have to hope Sarah Palin makes it into the White House (or Blair House) so Tina Fey has a great role to play for the next four years?

I don't get how Deal or No Deal is a "reality show," but I'm not going to start watching it to find out. I thought it was a game show. Good choice for Reality Show Host winner, though. For me it was between Jeff Probst and Tom Bergeron (Bergeron is the only star we've ever sat in front of at an event, so he has a special place in my heart).

MTM doesn't look so bad for an old broad. Not nearly as emaciated as she usually looks. Nope...I take that back. When she spreads her arms she looks like our chihuahua's skinny, bony legs. But Betty White is just...terrific.

Well...there is is, finally. Mad Men wins best drama. Now I know I didn't waste those two days I watched the entire first season on ComCast. Even if it did give me lung cancer from watching so much cigarette smoke on the television screen.

OK--that's the end of the Emmys and the dog is still lost. I hope he has a warm place to sleep tonight. I will miss him. Lizzie and Sheila seem to know something is up. The two of them haven't left me and are sleeping at my side in my office. They haven't done that in months.

But the meat pies were delicious!