Emmys? Bad? Maybe. But Worst Ever? Come on.

The Emmys were pretty bad Sunday night. But they weren’t the “Worst. Awards. Show. Ever.” That was a headline in the Dallas Morning News Monday. And it echoed the headlines on lots of other columns and media blogs.

Come on, worst ever? Really?

Sure, the five reality show hosts—Heidi, Tom, Jeff, Howie and Ryan—bombed in the first two minutes and never recovered. And yes, the Laugh-In tribute sketch felt longer than the Punic Wars. And OK, there should be some sort of monetary sanctions against Oprah Winfrey for her bombastic opening speech about the importance of TV, as well as for introducing the world to Josh Groban, whose cruise-ship medley of TV theme songs caused millions of viewers to hit “Mute” simultaneously. (As my grandma would have said, “There’s something not quite right about that boy.”)

But worst awards show ever? Worse even than the 2007 VMAs that featured Britney sleep-lip-synching and stumbling? Worse than Letterman hosting the Oscars? Worse than Nancy O'Dell and Billy Bush (from Access Hollywood) Botoxing the bejeebers out of this year’s Golden Globes?

No, of course not. Because this year’s Emmys, for all the awkward moments by the hosts (come on, just let Bergeron host by himself!) and the pointless tributes to the furniture of series we once loved—Hey, look! It’s the booth from Seinfeld’s fake diner!—the telecast did have Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They were funny and smart. And Fey is now this generation’s Mary Tyler Moore, except Mary never created, wrote AND starred in a sitcom. Fey is a genius and TV’s lucky to have her. Three Emmys aren’t enough. She should get 30, one for each Rock.

There were flashes of brilliance on the Emmys, too. Like the carefully orchestrated lack of close-ups on the Desperate Housewives. They’re being shot with the Doris Day lens these days. And if Eva Longoria doesn’t fess up to carrying a baby in that belly instead of beachball-shaped “fat,” she’s going to miss out on that high-dollar OK! Magazine photo deal.

And who couldn’t love Don Rickles, killing and going flop-sweat bad in the same 2 minutes at the mike?

Over three hours that felt like five, the Emmys had about 45 minutes of really good television. And on a Sunday night that didn’t have a new episode of Mad Men that was pretty nice.

Also Tom Bergeron got to do a bit where he dropped Heidi Klum on her bony ass.