It’s not the credential a comedian craves, but with Sunday’s 57th annual Emmy Awards, Ellen DeGeneres cemented her title as the go-to host in the aftermath of national trauma. “Look for me next at the North Korean People’s Choice Awards,” she joked.
Suitably subdued when she served as emcee/national grief counselor following Sept. 11, 2001, the New Orleans native opted for silly fun in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, acknowledging the disaster at the outset, then giving viewers permission to move on to mirth. Gentle, apolitical humor is her specialty, so zings at authorities who fumbled after the storm were withheld. Until Jon Stewart took the stage.
His taped rant, artfully bleeped to near annihilation, summed up the nation’s anger at local, state and federal officials’ incompetence. He fumed with eloquent simplicity – and obscene, obscured hand gestures. Obviously, the elephant in the room, the issue plaguing Americans even as they tried to unwind with an awards show, needed to be addressed. The “Daily Show” fake news anchor and multiple Emmy winner was the man for the job. Someone had to keep it real.
A tribute to the careers of Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and the late Peter Jennings elicited a prolonged ovation and invoked the recent hurricane.
Elder statesmen Rather and Brokaw appeared, two-thirds of the triumvirate who delivered the evening news over three decades, and mourned the loss of their fellow anchor. Rather underscored the importance of broadcast journalism, demonstrated in the coverage of Hurricane Katrina, which specifically debunked government claims by showing live footage of suffering. In a way, his was the polite way of saying what Stewart had blurted earlier.
A nod to Johnny Carson, who died in January of emphysema, was affecting, straightforward and, one sensed, deeply felt as delivered by David Letterman. The earlier titan of late night “gave me, and countless others, validation,” Letterman said, saluting Carson’s wit, charm and grace. That appreciation for the man who virtually invented the next-morning water-cooler moment seemed among the most honest of the emotions expressed.
Wartime politics did sneak into the proceedings when Blythe Danner closed her acceptance speech by imploring the country to get out of Iraq. Mostly, though, DeGeneres knocked the egomania and insincerity that are hallmarks of the industry.
On the most bizarre note, and proving that cynicism apparently still works as a mode of humor, we endured “Emmy Idol.” Clearly nothing is too self-referential or self-reverential at television’s self-congratulatory party.
Donald Trump and Megan Mullally (“Will & Grace”) in a duet on the “Green Acres” theme: ridiculous but mercifully brief. Kirsten Bell (“Veronica Mars”) singing “Fame”: not the musical talent’s best showcase, but she pulled it off. “CSI’s” Gary Dourdan and R&B star Macy Gray rocking to The Jeffersons’ “Movin’ On Up”: the most spirited pair. William Shatner and opera star Frederica von Stade together on “Star Trek”: a magnificent oddity for the TV-nerd time capsule. His self-parody and her pipes deserved to win.
The “Emmy Idol” bit was a stretch, a bid to spark curiosity among dwindling viewers. The 2004 Emmy telecast got the worst ratings since 1990. But video clips from actual shows are more earnest, less ironic tributes.
Favorite moments: Ellen visiting the unnominated Eva Longoria of “Desperate Housewives,” seated high in the rafters; winner S. Epatha Merkerson groping herself to find her lost notes; the Blue Man Group’s dancing TV-screen presentation, awarding the reality-show Emmy to “The Amazing Race.”
Oh, the big winners? The Academy continues to confound. Sentimentality triumphed, drowning out more reasoned and widely predicted decisions. How else to explain the nostalgic vote for “Raymond” over the heavily favored “Housewives”? Brad Garrett, Doris Roberts, James Spader, Patricia Arquette and Tony Shalhoub? There’s no accounting for Emmy voters’ taste.
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-820-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
