So, the verdicts are and the statuettes have been doled out. For those who hadn’t heard, the 60th Emmy Award ceremony took place in all it’s glitz and glory last night. And, as usual, the TV industry folk who vote for the awards made some good and some, shall we say, less good calls.
First up, kudos to Mad Men for making Emmy history as the first ever basic cable series to win Best Drama. Not bad for a show that only pulls in around 2 million viewers on a good night. Although does beg the question of why The Wire, another series similarly loved by critics but little-viewed by the public, never earnt so much as a nod from old Em’. But don’t let me rain on your parade, Matthew Weiner, I'm a massive big fan of your slow burn show. The in-progress gradual crack up of Betty Draper alone merits that statuette.
It’s the panel’s decision in the comedy category that I find no laughing matter. More specifically, what the hell is so brilliant about 30 Rock? The NBC show loomed over the comedy category like a kill-joy collusus. Let’s survey the damage: Best Comedy Series; Best Actor in a Comedy Series (for Alec Baldwin); Best Actress in a Comedy Series (for Tina Fey) and Best Guest Appearance in a Comedy Series (for Tim Conway). Okay, I’ll warrant that the guest star-happy show had the odds stacked in its favour for that last one. And Alec Baldwin was by no means unworthy of his statuette – his performance as ruthless yet cuddly TV Exec Jack Donaghy is the funniest thing in 30 Rock.
The show itself isn’t awful. But there’s just something so unbearably smug about it, and about it’s creator and star herself. Yes, it’s confession time: I don’t love Tina Fey. In fact, I think I may be beginning to hate her. Sorry, Tina, I loved Mean Girls, but I just can’t quite warm to you. Maybe it’s your faux geekiness, maybe it’s the fact you appear on the cover of obnoxious women’s magazines dressed like Sex & the City’s Charlotte, or maybe it’s your blatant self-love, but, we just don’t click. There’s something just a little too slick about 30 Rock. It lacks both the heart of an Ugly Betty (not even nominated for Best Comedy this year), and the bite of a Curb Your Enthusiasm. Quite frankly, Emmy, that’s two year’s running that you’ve named 30 Rock top of the funnies. Your display of affection for the bespectacled one and her overrated show is getting a little embarassing now. Keep this up in 2009 and we’ll have to have serious words...
Sarah O'Reilly
