59th Primetime Emmy Awards:
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on FOX and CTV at 8:00 p.m. EDT (00:00 UTC) for the first time in high definition (on tape delay three hours later on the West Coast of the United States at 8:00 p.m. PDT/3:00 UTC). It was also broadcast live to Australia on the Bio. channel. The ceremonies were hosted by Ryan Seacrest.[1]
The ceremonies were supposed to be produced by Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick, executive producers of American Idol, but because of their heavy work load with Idol, Ken Ehrlich, last year's producer, resumed the producer's role for the fourth time.[2] Ratings plunged further down to a near an all-time low as an estimate 12.87 million, 19% lower than the past year,[3] making it the second smallest television audience in Emmy history, behind the 1990 telecast.
Nominations[4] were announced Thursday, July 19 at 5:40 a.m. PDT (12:40 UTC) by nominees Jon Cryer and Kyra Sedgwick.
Meanwhile, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, hosted by comedian-actor Carlos Mencia, were presented eight days earlier on September 9.[5]
[edit] Nominations and winners
[edit] Primetime Telecast Winners
- Winners are listed first, in bold. Other nominees are in alphabetical order.
| Outstanding Drama Series |
Outstanding Comedy Series |
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| Outstanding Miniseries |
Outstanding Made for Television Movie |
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| Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series |
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program |
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| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series |
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series |
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| Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series |
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series |
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| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie |
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie |
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| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series |
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series |
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| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series |
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series |
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| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie |
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie |
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| Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special |
Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Special |
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| Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series |
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series |
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| Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series |
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series |
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| Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special |
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special |
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| Outstanding Directing for a Variety or Music Program |
Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program |
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[edit] Creative Arts winners
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Creative Arts Awards winners who were recognized at the Primetime telecast.
| Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series |
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series |
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| Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series |
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series |
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[edit] Interactive TV
Al Gore's Current TV was presented with the Interactive TV Emmy by Masi Oka of Heroes with the help of MySpace's president Tom Anderson. This was the first year the Emmy was presented during the Primetime awards ceremony.[6]
[edit] Memorable Moments
For the first time in the ceremony's history, the stage design for the ceremony was created with seating surrounding platform creating a theater in the round with a "catwalk" style walkway for winners and presenters to exit the stage to. A trap door was placed in the center of the main stage. Some TV critics viewed this as FOX's show placement for American Idol. [7]
[edit] Opening Number
As part of the opening number of the ceremony, Stewie and Brian Griffin, two characters of the FOX animated series Family Guy sang a song: recapping memorable moments of the past television season while noting the variety of programming that will come to the future in the song "You Can Find It On TV" a non-FCC version of the song "The Freakin' FCC" from the show's Emmy-nominated episode "PTV". Here are the complete lyrics to the song as well as notes commenting about the lyrics.
| Lyrics |
Notes |
- You've got mega hits like Idol, where Sanjaya took his bow
- Just a little boy from India who made us all say "wow"
- With a voice that makes you wanna just go out and kill a cow
- Here's the plain situation
- A simple declaration
- If you want it, you can find it on TV
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The opening stanza refers to the phenomenon created in response to Malakar's obnoxious singing accompanied by his outrageous and strange-looking hairstyles that were often the butt of jokes. Note: Despite Malakar's Indian ethnicity, he was born in Federal Way, Washington.
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- You've got Scrubs on NBC in season seven and a half
- With the antics of the lovable and talented Zach Braff
- Who reminds us that a sitcom doesn't have to make you laugh
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Referring to the fact that Scrubs, which aspires to contain some serious dramatic content, does not always produce the belly laughs which one tends to look for in a sit-com.
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- You can try to deny it
- But we can certify it
- If you want it, you can find it on TV
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- And if you start to crave a brand new TV thrill
- They're always brewing up some brand new primetime swill
- Like the GEICO Cavemen
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In reference to the short-lived ABC sitcom "Cavemen," a series based on the GEICO Caveman commercials, which ran for six episodes in Fall 2007 before being cancelled.
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- CBS was once a network that was reverent and clean
- But today they've got some shows that are remarkably obscene
- Like the show about a little boy who lives with Charlie Sheen
- Oh there ain't nothin' to it
- You click it on and view it
- If you want it, you can find it on TV
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Refers to the days when CBS had family-friendly sitcoms such as I Love Lucy and All in the Family while critiquing their recent peccadilloes in indecency such as the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction incident during the network's telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII. Additionally the last line about the show Two and a Half Men refers to the series’ growing controversy over its use of profanity and sexually suggestive humor.
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- ABC has got a lineup that's refreshing and alive
- With its hits like Desperate Housewives just continuing to thrive
- And those women look sensational for being 65
- No, we won't oversell ya
- We merely wanna tell ya
- If you want it, you can find it on TV
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- Now the peacock's having trouble simply staying in the race
- So I hear they're bringing Seinfeld back to save a little face
- And I hear Isaiah Washington is taking Kramer's place
- Oh you may not adore it,''
- But boy you can't ignore it
- If you want it, you can find it on TV
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Refers to NBC decline in the rating's race since the demise of beloved comedies such as Friends and Frasier. Bringing back Seinfield was an allusion to Jerry Seinfeld's guest appearance on the 30 Rock episode "SeinfeldVision". Stewie's announcement of Isaiah Washington and Kramer pokes fun at the controversies both Washington and Michael Richards (the actor who portrayed Cosmo Kramer) got themselves into. Stewie makes an additional jab at Washington's forthcoming guest appearance on Bionic Woman as a result of his firing from Grey's Anatomy.
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- Now The Sopranos is a show I'd recommend
- Because you never know just how it's gonna--
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After Stewie sings his line "Because you never know just how it's gonna--", the screen cuts to black, preventing him from finishing his sentence which would have concluded with the word "end" (in rhyme with the previous line). This is a reference to the infamous Sopranos series finale "Made in America" which ended with a black screen leaving many viewers clueless upon the fate of major characters (mainly Tony Soprano). |
- So to sum up the philosophy on which we've both agreed
- All the garbage on the airways is a vital thing indeed
- Cause without it then Americans would have to learn to read
- And so uplift the curtain
- It's absolutely certain
- If you want it, you can find it on TV
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[edit] The Don't Forget the Lyrics mock-contest
Another memorable segment occurred during the presentation of the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program award. There was a competition between singer Kanye West (who attended the ceremony in retaliation for his loss at MTV's Video Music Awards earlier that month) and The Office actor Rainn Wilson similar to Don't Forget the Lyrics (which, like the 2007 Emmys, airs on FOX) with host Wayne Brady presiding. West sang the last line of the chorus in the song "Stronger" as "That how long I've been on you" which was supposed to be "That how long I've been on ya", losing to Wilson. West jokingly retorted "I never win", poking fun at his losses at award ceremonies and presented the award alongside Wilson.[8]
[edit] Steppin' Out With My Baby
Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera sang "Steppin' Out With My Baby" from Bennett's award-winning special
[edit] Censorship controversy
The LCD display ball that FOX cut away to during moments of "vulgarity".
During the FOX telecast, some of the presenters and award winners were censored while making statements. When Ray Romano delivered a comic monologue about the change of television in the years since he left his own show, he mentioned that "for one, from what I hear, Frasier is screwing my wife?". On FOX, all that was heard was "for one, from what I hear, Frasier is-" before FOX cut the audio and replaced the feed with pre-recorded material from before the show of an LCD display ball (which lit up and had words scrolling around it during portions of the ceremony), which, when seen through a high enough camera angle, covered the entire stage. This lasted approximately 10 seconds before FOX returned to Romano. The reason for the censorship of this comment has been debated between vulgar language or revealing an important plotline to the show.
When Katherine Heigl accepted her award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, she mouthed a swear word, causing FOX to cut the audio and once again replaced its feed with the pre-recorded shot of the display ball, only to return a moment later.
Though the biggest censorship controversy came when actress Sally Field accepted her Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. After giving an acceptance speech which included anti-war statements, partially as a tribute to her Brothers & Sisters character Nora Walker, the audience applauded before she was finished and Field, finding herself lost for words, couldn't remember what she was going to say; when she finally regained her words, she concluded her speech with "If mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamn wars in the first place." FOX had cut to the display ball as she began to say "goddamn". This remark, and FOX's censorship of the remark, caused controversy in the days following the ceremony, leading critics to wonder if FOX had censored "Goddamn" or "Goddamn wars".
Field's remarks caused FOX to implement a four-second delay for the remainder of the telecast. All of these comments were left uncensored on CTV in Canada, and other international simulacasts.
Also, at the Creative Arts Awards ceremony eight days earlier, Kathy Griffin, who won for Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List caused controversy in her acceptance speech after she denounced celebrities who thank Jesus for their awards. She later concluded her speech with an off-color joke that included "Suck it, Jesus! This award is my God now!" The Catholic League condemned her comments and successfully convinced E! to censor her speech during the telecast the following Saturday.[9]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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