The 2021 Emmy Awards were distributed pretty much as expected.
Programs such as HBO’s “Mare of Easttown,” Netflix’s “The Crown,” and Apple+’s “Ted Lasso” tended to dominate even though Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” beat out Delco’s pride “Mare” in the Best Limited Series or Movie category.
Perusing a list I made of expected recipients when Emmy nominations were announced in July, I saw few, if any, surprises. Some may be disappointed, especially those who would have liked Michael K. Williams to earn a posthumous award for “Lovecraft Country,” but in general, the voters chose well and gave the Emmy to the right show, performer, writer, or director. That includes the award for the Best Competition Program to “Ru Paul’s Drag Race.” (You’re hearing this from a big fan of both “The Amazing Race” and “The Voice.”)
A popular show like Netflix’s “Bridgerton” may have scored multiple nominations, but the overall quality of the show was not as great as its ability to amuse. It never evolved past being fun. The least consequential performer or writer connected with “The Crown,” “Mare,” “Gambit,” or even Hulu’s overlooked “The Handmaid’s Tale” did a better job than his or her counterpart on “Bridgerton.”
That said, “Bridgerton” star Regé-Jean Page did stand out on Emmy night as the best-dressed man in the house and, frankly, I look forward to Season 2 early in 2022, perhaps as early as February.
While the Emmys did themselves proud in terms of the recipients – Jason Sudeikis for “Ted Lasso,” Jean Smart for “Hacks, Brett Goldstein for “Ted Lasso,” and Hannah Waddingham for “Ted Lasso” in the Comedy categories; Josh O’Connor, Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies, and Gillian Anderson, all for “The Crown” in the Drama categories; and Ewan McGregor for “Halston” and Kate Winslet, Evan Peters, and Julianne Nicholson of “Mare of Easttown” in the Limited Series categories – the presentation ceremony on CBS was abysmal, easily one of the worst Award broadcasts I’ve ever seen.
Given how dreadful some of the recent Award programs have been, that dubious distinction is a hard one to earn. The show floundered from the get-go.
The opening number pinballed between being lame and stupid, especially if compared to some of Neil Patrick Harris’s gems for the Tony Awards.
Seth Rogen didn’t help matters with his obvious and badly-pointed monologue about a room full of Hollywood stars sitting together in a small room unmasked.
It’s not so much that Rogen failed to find a source of humor as that he was ham-handed with it. Rogen told jokes, but he didn’t display much wit. He also muffed the pronunciation of Hannah Waddingham’s name, calling her to the podium as Hannah Waddington.
Rogen set a low bar with his dull routine, so low no one could have guessed that the evening’s emcee, Cedric the Entertainer, would never be able to reach it.
Cedric stuck with the easy and the obvious. His first monologue, and every one after it followed Rogen’s lead of lacking wit. It was pitched more to an undemanding Las Vegas audience than to the savvy television viewer.
Skits involving Cedric also tended to bomb. One involving the fly that plagued Mike Pence during the 2020 Vice Presidential debate was the only bit that came close to working.
The only clever moment seemed to be when Eugene Levy and his castmates from “Schitt’s Creek” complained there was no dialogue on the TelePromTer, and they didn’t know what they were supposed to say or whom the nominees for the Emmy they were presenting, Best Writing for a Comedy Series (“Hacks”). Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Annie Murphy, and Levy’s son, Daniel Levy were so hilarious ad libbing about their dilemma, one wonders if it was all planned.
Wit, for once, soared as the “Creek” cast went through its bit in the style of the Roses, their characters on the series, for which all received a 2020 Emmy. The bit got even better when the TelePromTer came on, causing O’Hara to say, “Oh, thank God!,” while the troupe was about to talk about the Best Director of a Comedy. Though they finally had lines, none were written for Levy.
The episode was the single truly funny thing that happened all night.
Unless you count Aidy Bryant’s pathetic dress that looked like a cross between a Little Bo Peep costume and something for a ‘60s flower child who had no taste. I half thought she came to the Emmys direct from an audition to be the peasant-like runner-up to the talent contest in “The Sound of Music.”
Stranger than Bryant’s outfit was the bathing cap “Crown” contender Emma Corrin wore. She looked as if she was trying to say she preferred to have been in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
In general, the dresses presenters and recipients wore were superior to those seen at most recent award shows. Among the best-dressed were Kerry Washington, Hannah Waddingham, Jean Smart, Micaela Cole, Julianne Nicholson, Michaela J. Rodriguez, Yara Shadidi, Vanessa Lachey, and Catherine O’Hara.
New ‘Wonder Years’ worth a look
As of last Wednesday, the title for Best Revival of a Classic TV Series goes from “The Conners,” with or without Roseanne, goes to ABC’s current production of “The Wonder Years.”
The show is less a takeoff on the successful series from the late ‘80s than a continuation of it.
There is a difference. The 12-year-old and his family in the new rendition are black. To the show’s credit, it was able to weave race-related situations and issues into its script without being overly sentimental or heavy-handed in its message.
This is particularly impressive given that one of the events that occurs during this inaugural episode is the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Everything about the way this horror of history is depicted rings true and provokes more thought and feeling than if the writers and producers tried to manipulate their audience rather than letting a fact and the way it affects people take human shape.
That’s the overriding trait of the new “Wonder Years.” It’s so thoroughly human.
Everything about it has the right touch. It’s witty and smart in its humor instead of being smug or slapstick the way most 21st century sitcoms are. The humor comes from situation, observation, and perspective. It registers as funny because it registers as real.
The same goes for the more serious moments in the opening script. They have weight, but they don’t seem preachy or overdone, another fault of most network television in recent years.
Another result of the intelligent handling of the situations and the sharp writing is “The Wonder Years” has much to say about adolescence, coming into one’s own, and families that transcends anything racial.
Race provides a context for matters, but in general, “The Wonder Years” speaks to common aspects of growing up that can be identified by anyone to have evolved from teenage years to adulthood.
You recognize the situations Dean Williams, the character played by Elisha Williams, is faced with and appreciate both his understanding of them and confusion about them. Also fine are Dulé Hill and Saycon Sengbloh as Dean’s parents, Laura Kariuki as his sister, and Amari O’Neil and Julian Lerner as his best friends. Don Cheadle adds to the wit as the narrator, the grown-up Dean.
There’s a lot of subtlety worth noting as well. Dean is transferred from his neighborhood’s longtime elementary school and sent in 1968, for integration purposes, to a school named for Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy and one of the most ardent racists in history. When a white couple sees Dean’s father and coach arguing over which should influence Dean’s baseball skills, they interpret it as the men being upset over Dr. King being shot, thus becoming the ones who spread the news while misunderstanding the immediate situation in front of them
In a time when so much is smug for smug’s sake, simplistic beyond belief, and formulaic in comic format, it is heartening to see a new entry like this “The Wonder Years” that gets everything right, knows how to mix comedy with pathos, and finds authenticity from several perspectives, juvenile and adult.
Too much for Monday
Alas, an experiment on which I’d pinned great hopes failed miserably.
Monday night primetime has become a bit of a dilemma for me because I enjoy watching both NBC’s “The Voice” and ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” and they air simultaneously (locally on Channel 10 for the “The Voice” and Channel 6 for “Stars.”)
I thought I might be able to keep track of both at once if I was quick with my remote and caught actual performances on each show while skipping judges’ commentary and, more importantly, the back stories about the contestants.
To paraphrase The Rolling Stones, time wouldn’t let me.
Only once in the 45 minutes before I gave up trying for some kind of synchronization did I manage to arrive at the moment a dance began on “Stars” while “The Voice” was being interrupted by a commercial.
Most of the time, all I saw on either station when I switched were commercials.
Finally, I made a separate peace with my dueling desires by sticking to “The Voice” and leaving “Dancing with the Stars” to be viewed later on On Demand or Hulu.
“The Voice” won out because my curiosity about whether one of the judges/captains – Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Ariana Grande, or Blake Shelton – will turn their chairs to recruit an act for their teams. I also find the entertainment on “The Voice” more polished.
So far, I’ve heard some marvelous singers whereas the times I turned to “Dancing” and didn’t find commercials, the judges – Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioni, and Derek Hough – were in the throes of casting their votes. The only time I kept watching was when they were talking to Amanda Kloots, a Broadway gypsy who is the widow of the sadly departed Nick Cordero, who I got to know when he was in “The Pirates of Penzance” at the Bristol Riverside Theatre and kept in touch with. (I also sat next to Kloots’s parents during a show she was in at New York’s City Center.)
For the remainder of the season, I’ll stick with “The Voice” at airtime and catch up with “Dancing” mid-week.
This way, I can fast forward through most of the rehearsal stories, as well as Tyra Banks’s overdone hosting. “The Voice” gives me more time to find things to do in the house -washing a dish, swiffering a floor – while its contestants talk about their dreams.
I can also edit out parts featuring “Voice” emcee Carson Daly, whose sloppy, ill-chosen clothes appall me. One day I hope Daly goes the way of “America’s Got Talent’s” Simon Cowell and exchanges his ugly, baggy T-shirts for a suit and tie.
Neal Zoren’s television column appears every Monday.
Source: Berkshire mont
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