Updated 8/28/2006 1:37 AM ET E-mail | Print |
Conan: A sharp tongue on a pretty dull evening
Good as he was, Conan wasn't enough.

As host of Sunday's Emmy Awards, Conan O'Brien invigorated his portions of the three-hour NBC broadcast with the same inventive flair and loopy, self-lacerating wit that powers his Emmy-nominated late-night show. Unfortunately, the show he hosted was as unwieldy as its whoppingly ugly set and as bizarre as the awards themselves, which too often made the worst of a bad nomination situation.

Recovering quickly from an ill-timed plane crash joke that opened his introductory clip package, O'Brien bounced through an amusing salute to the TV year — from a stop on the Lost island to a reprise of South Park's Tom-Cruise-in-the-closet joke. By the end, he had built up so much goodwill, you were willing to cut him some slack over his clumsy musical spoof of NBC's ratings — a bit that was far too NBC-centric for an evening that is supposed to belong to the entire industry.

The host of the Emmys does tend to drop away after that opening burst. But those bits set the tone, and O'Brien was able to ride them all night — aided by a great running gag that put a game Bob Newhart in a "life-threatening" speech-shortening plexiglass tube.

If only the Emmy voters were half as consistent or a quarter as sharp as O'Brien. This was a night when Barry Manilow could come out, do an indifferent version of the American Bandstand theme and then win an Emmy for the PBS pledge version of his Las Vegas act. The only upside was that it inspired one of the show's standout moments: presenter Stephen Colbert's outburst over losing.

Manilow's performance was attached to a salute to a frail Dick Clark, whose brave efforts to recover from his stroke should remind a youth-obsessed nation that no one gets to be a teenager forever. The night's other salute was to the late Aaron Spelling, an indifferent collection of clips that did boast a rare reunion of Charlie's original three Angels.

Still, the night belongs to the awards, and many of them were baffling. How can My Name Is Earl be the best written and directed sitcom and yet not get a best-show honor? Why give an Emmy to Alan Alda's candidate, when Gregory Itzin's president was so much more memorable?

Yes, among the old-school repeat wins, there were welcome victories: Jeremy Piven, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kiefer Sutherland and 24 chief among them. But the best moments came awfully late — and overall, I can't remember a year when the list of winners was less exciting.

No wonder the broadcast had no sense of occasion. These days, the occasion itself is hardly worth celebrating.

O'Brien, by the way, didn't win an Emmy. This year, he was in very good company.

Posted 8/28/2006 1:35 AM ET
A bright spot: But affable host O'Brien didn't win the Emmyfor his talk show.
By Chris Carlson, AP