A quick scan of Google headlines for “Emmys” tells the story: “The Emmys Wimp Out,” “The Ineptitude of Emmy Voters,” “Did They Get Them Right?” Oh yeah, and the requisite “Emmys Go Mad for Mad Men!” Give that guy a Pulitzer. Sure, the detail-obsessive AMC show deserves its 16 nominations (including Best Drama), and you gotta love 30 Rock, whose 17 nods include Best Comedy (and seven for guest actors, is that cheating?). But in that category alone, you also have the increasingly-irrelevant Entourage, the past-its-prime Office, the suitable-for-torture Two and a Half Men, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, which, with all due respect, I didn’t even know was still on the air. Flight of the Conchords, Family Guy, Monk, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, South Park, Weeds?
Over in the Best Drama category, the elephant in the room is of course The Wire, hailed by many as the greatest thing ever made by humans, but apparently not visible to Emmy voters. Plus wasn’t there some show called Battlestar Galactica that might have deserved some acknowledgment? But, you know, gotta have House, that doctor guy is so kooky! And ah, the eternal appeal of Boston Legal, whose insufferable star James Spader only seems to pop into existence once a year on Emmy night.
It’s nice to see little shows like Project Runway (5 nominations), Colbert (4) and Weeds (3) get some attention, and at least Conchords got two nods for Original Music (as did Jimmy Kimmel’s now-bittersweet “I’m F***ing Matt Damon”). But wrap your head around the Outstanding Music Direction category: The Grammys, the Oscars, Christmas in Washington, Movies Rock, and Barry Manilow: Songs from the Seventies. If there was ever a sign Hollywood has lost its moral compass, this is it.
