TV Review - 63rd Primetime Emmys

Jane Lynch, Emmy winner for Glee, hosted. The opening, taped package was very well-produced and like with Jimmy Fallon last year was a round robin of the host walking through the various nominated shows. Lynch was a better presence here. Like with Fallon and many other hosts on many other award shows, Lynch moved into a song-and-dance number with Lynch belting out, "TV is a vast wonderland."

Her sentiments were more in praise of TV and consequently Hollywood. Lynch didn't deliver much in the way of a monologue, but if she did, I'm sure it would have been in a similar tone. In a promo prior to the start of the show, she made her own comparisons to Ellen Degeneres, a lesbian comedian who doesn't do insult or offensive comedy.

Lynch did introduce someone who did. Ricky Gervais appeared in another taped bit. Gervais made mention of his monologue at the Golden Globes earlier this year. That monologue was probably one of the funniest monologues ever at any award show. It was also considered highly offensive, very sharp in its attacks. Gervais' piece mocked the fact that he and many other hosts, instead of being highly offensive, are going to be highly edited from now on, so that Gervais' Golden Globes-style jokes never happen again, much to my chagrin.

Speaking of people who are highly edited now, Charlie Sheen presented the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He noted that this was a category for which he used to be nominated. Sheen was fired off his series Two and a Half Men this spring and he had a bitter reaction. Yet, on stage presenting, Sheen did nothing but wish everyone well. His sentiments though didn't seem all that sincere.

I'm sure they were, but, even though it wouldn't have been inappropriate, I almost wish he had done something, anything other than just be nice and very well behaved. I suppose the Emmys are about whom gets the awards, but there weren't many surprises in the wins.

Modern Family made a good sweep. Downton Abbey was the second, most-winning program. It won six Emmys overall. Oscar-winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) was honored for his writing on Downton Abbey. Fellow Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese (The Departed) also picked up an Emmy award for directing Boardwalk Empire. Newest Oscar winner Kate Winslet (The Reader) earned an Emmy for acting in Mildred Pierce.

Dave Karger, the writer for Entertainment Weekly, posted on Twitter that this win puts Winslet even closer to having an EGOT. An EGOT is a person who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, the four most prestigious entertainment awards. The only one of the four that Winslet doesn't have is a Tony. I was just happy that Winslet thanked the two little girls who played her daughters in Mildred Pierce. One of the little girls was Delaware resident Quinn McColgan on whom WBOC's Kayla Ayres did a story.

Non-surprising, Mad Men won for Outstanding Drama Series. The Amazing Race won for Outstanding Reality-Competition program, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart won for Outstanding Variety Series. Some surprising wins did happen. Guy Pearce won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a miniseries for Mildred Pierce. It was his very first Emmy nomination. Peter Dinklage also won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Game of Thrones. It was Dinklage's first nomination as well.

The most surprising and probably best win was Melissa McCarthy. She won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Mike & Molly. Despite having put in seven great years on Gilmore Girls and two great years on Samantha Who?, this was McCarthy's first nomination and first win. It was punctuated with the fact that as the names of the nominees were being read, each nominee came up on stage and locked hands in sisterhood. Then, when McCarthy's name was announced, the others gave her a bouquet of roses and a tiara as if she'd won a beauty pageant. It was funny yet awesome and deserving.

There were some other funny acceptance speech moments. Ty Burrell who won for Modern Family told a funny story about his father being dumbstruck at his son wearing makeup. Guy Pearce got some laughs in conjunction with his comments about having sex with Kate Winslet, but that was about it. The laughs were at a minimum. Julianna Marguiles got a delayed laugh break when she described one of the nominees as that kid from Pretty in Pink.

The Lonely Island melody didn't really work. They should have just played the original Saturday Night Live digital short. The color commentary was amusing sometimes but lame more often. The lamest was the announcer saying Guy Pearce was in no way related to "Mildred Pierce."

Lynch had to segue from one presenter to another and offered little than the announcer. Her best line was when she said, "A lot of people are very curious why I'm a lesbian ... Ladies and gentlemen, the cast of 'Entourage.'" Then, the cast of Entourage appeared.

Three Stars out of Five.
Rated TV-PG.
Running Time: 3 hrs.
Aired on FOX on September 18, 2011.