Emmys 2012: Our critics assess the awards and how Jimmy Kimmel did
The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards have come and gone, with Showtime’s political thriller “Homeland” delivering Showtime’s first dramatic series Emmy, HBO’s controversial “Game Change” winning for best miniseries or movie and ABC’s “Modern Family” taking the top comedy series honors for the third straight year.
On the flip side, “Mad Men” failed to earn a single Emmy on Sunday night. That was among the biggest surprises of the evening.
As Times television critic Mary McNamara wrote: “Despite overwhelming consensus that the dramatic portion of the 64th Primetime Emmys would be an intra-AMC face-off between ‘Breaking Bad’ and perennial favorite ‘Mad Men,’ Showtime’s politically and narratively ambitious ‘Homeland’ dominated the competition, winning for drama, actress, actor and writing. The wins were not just well-deserved, they saved the broadcast from being a complete and utter bore.
”... The first half of Sunday night’s show was surprisingly snoozy, filled with repeat winners who seemed chosen off some collective ‘We Predict the Emmys’ sheet and only occasionally enlivened by host Jimmy Kimmel‘s deadpan wit.”
EMMYS: Full coverage | Winners | Reactions | Red carpet arrivals | Timeline | Highlights | Best & worst
And then there’s Times television critic Robert Lloyd’s succinct assessment of the show: “The Emmys -- three hours of television that might otherwise be spent watching television,” he tweeted Sunday.
As he wrote ahead of the broadcast: “I understand that they’re popular and fun and give newspaper writers something to write about; but they seem to me irrelevant to the art and crafts they celebrate. Like most every other similar award — Oscars and Grammy and Tonys and on and on — they assume an impossible task and then do it poorly. They compare apples and oranges, even as they neglect the less obvious or talked-about fruits — the rhubarb and loganberries and exotic Asian pears that also make up the market, but which fewer people might have tasted. I am being metaphorical.”
So what’s McNamara’s and Lloyd’s take the morning after the Emmys? Find out in a Google+ Hangout at 11 a.m. Monday morning.
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