MILD EMMY SHOW LEAVES SPONTANEITY BEHIND.Byline: Kinney Littlefield Orange County Register Geez geez interj. Used to express mild surprise, delight, dissatisfaction, or annoyance. [Shortening and alteration of Jesus1.] Emmy - our attention spans haven't gotten that short yet. On Sunday as the 48th annual Prime-time Emmy Awards for television excellence slid to an on-time, keep-the-affiliate-stations-happy conclusion on ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , the telecast traded any pretense of spontaneity or suspense for speed. Even Emmy's glittery set at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium was built for speed - lots of metallic, aerodynamic angles surrounding a spinning, sharp-winged giant Emmy statuette. Yet Emmy's wings couldn't lift the telecast above draggy drag·gy adj. drag·gi·er, drag·gi·est 1. Dull and listless. 2. Slang Very tiresome. dullness - three full hours of it seen live on the East Coast and tape-delayed here. This year's Emmy bash undoubtedly looked clever on paper to producer Dick Clark, mixing light patter pat·ter 1 v. pat·tered, pat·ter·ing, pat·ters v.intr. 1. To make a quick succession of light soft tapping sounds: Rain pattered steadily against the glass. by host Paul Reiser (``Mad About You'') with rapid-fire video montages celebrating television history in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Emmy-awarding Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. On air, however, all this fell flat. Reiser was too mild and self-deprecating a presence to do justice to his political and industry jokes - including riffs about his own network, NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. , and NBC's ``Friends'' - much justice. Indeed, Reiser was easily outgunned by Garry Shandling (``The Larry Sanders Show''), who presented the Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special to HBO's ``Dennis Miller Live'' with a wicked dig at Miller. As to Emmy's homage to TV history - hey, what was that speeding video bullet that just shot by? Montages of famous series finales and a segment on classic TV door-opening scenes were edited so tightly that all intrigue, joy, or thrill of remembrance was simply sucked away. It was also Play It Safe Night in Pasadena, from the time assistant host Oprah Winfrey invoked the memory of ``(I Love) Lucy in our living rooms'' at the show's opening to remarks by ATAS ATAS Academy of Television Arts & Sciences ATAS Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme ATAS Air-to-Air Stinger ATAS Advanced Tank Armament System ATAS Active Towed Array Sonar ATAS Australian Tsunami Alert System ATAS Association of Turkish American Scientists president Frank Rich about ``responsible, quality programming'' as he gave the President's Award for general excellence to American Movie Classics' ``Blacklist (1) A list of e-mail addresses of known spammers. See spam, spam filter, Blacklist of Internet Advertisers, greylisting and blackholing. Contrast with white list. (2) A list of Web sites that are considered off limits or dangerous. : Hollywood on Trial.'' The award was established to deflect claims of industry irresponsibility in a year of intense public fire over program content. There were also Emmy faux pas aplenty a·plen·ty adj. In plentiful supply; abundant: "There were warning signs aplenty for their candidates as well" Michael Gelb. , including having David Hyde Pierce David Hyde Pierce (born April 3, 1959) is a Screen Actors Guild, Tony and Emmy Award-winning American actor, best known for his co-starring role as psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier alongside Kelsey Grammer. (``Frasier'') present the evening's second award for best supporting comedic actress immediately following his loss in the supporting comedic actor category. Not that anyone knew this in advance, but why take the chance? Plus trusting viewers were led to believe that nominees in writing categories had written a whole season of a show. In fact, they were nominated for single episodes. And it sure seemed like there were a whole lot of ABC stars who were presenters on this ABC telecast. But hey - that's show biz synergy for ya. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Host Paul Reiser's self-deprecating humor didn't giv e his political and industry jokes their required bite on Sunday's Emmy telecast. Phil McCarten/Daily News |
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