It’s always a little disconcerting — and even irritating — when stars at awards shows, dripping in Chopard jewelry and self-regard, try to banter about current events. But there is at least one reassuring point to it: if television actors feel free to make light of dark events then things must not yet be that bad. It’s when comedians stay silent that you know things are really dire — think of the frothy escapist Busby Berkeley musicals and screwball comedies that distracted audiences during the Great Depression.
From left, Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel at the opening of an Emmy Awards show that had five hosts. More Photos »
By that standard, then, Sunday night’s 60th Primetime Emmy Awards were not all that reassuring. The funniest stars there — Stephen Colbert, Ricky Gervais and Steve Martin — were very funny but didn’t make any jokes about the looming financial crisis. Even Alec Baldwin, not known for restraint, held back. Tina Fey did, though, thank NBC for sticking with her show despite “the turkey burger economy.”
It was the unamusing Howie Mandel, the host of the NBC game show “Deal or No Deal,” who took it head on.
He and his four fellow reality-show M.C.’s opened the show by telling the audience they had no prepared material. “It’s like we are on Sarah Palin’s Bridge to Nowhere,” Mr. Mandel mugged. The audience laughed less when Mr. Mandel went on to the Treasury Department’s $700 billion bail-out proposal — the ultimate “Deal or No Deal” — saying, “The government can’t even bail us out of this.”
Live award shows always have found it awkward hitting the right note in uncertain times — the contrast between the glitz and celebrity self-celebration and war or hurricane devastation is too acute.
(The Emmys were delayed twice after Sept. 11; they were low-key and mournful when they did take place that November, and included the singing of “America the Beautiful.”)
This year, the awards show tried for a self-deprecating tone, poking fun at television (Josh Groban singing a medley of television theme songs like “Love Boat” and “Happy Days”) while keeping references to the real world solemn and subdued. Oprah Winfrey, who opened the show, was somber about both. “These have not been easy times in the world of television, or in the world generally for that matter,” she said.
Political commentary, and there was quite a bit of it, focused on the presidential elections, and was delicately put. Laura Linney, accepting her award for the HBO mini-series “John Adams,” took a small swipe at the Republican convention for mocking Senator Barack Obama’s résumé. She thanked “the ‘community organizers’ that helped form our country.” Mr. Colbert and Jon Stewart made a more coy reference to the presidential contest. While Mr. Stewart spoke, Mr. Colbert munched on prunes, and deadpanned “Right now America needs a prune.” Lest anyone miss the metaphor for Senator John McCain he added, “This dried-up old prune has the experience we need.”
But mostly, there were earnest footnotes throughout the evening, including a cameo by Tommy Smothers, who said that there was nothing scarier than watching “ignorance in action.” Martin Sheen, from a replica of his old “West Wing” set, implored viewers to vote.
Oddly, there were not many jokes about Governor Palin. Ryan Seacrest, one of the M.C.’s, who also interviewed Ms. Fey for the red-carpet ceremony on E!, didn’t even mention the actress’s recent impersonation of the Alaska governor on “Saturday Night Live.” At the end, Ms. Fey thanked Mr. Seacrest for not mentioning Ms. Palin. “I was told not to,” he replied flatly.
It could be that Hollywood stars are afraid to further inflame the right by being snooty about their gun-toting heroines. Or they worry about their own glass houses. It seems that qualifications aren’t a big deal in show business, either: even Lauren Conrad, a cast member of the reality show “The Hills,” was a presenter.
All genres of reality were on display at the Emmys except, of course, the one keeping the nation — and that includes the entertainment industry — on the verge of an economic breakdown.
.Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/arts/television/22watch.html
