High Points, Low Moments Mark Creative Arts Emmy Awards - Hillary Atkin

They say that some of the best stuff often gets left on the cutting room floor but that won39t be the case when ReelzChannel airs a cutdown version of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards that took place Saturday September 15 at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los AngelesIt should not diminish any of the winners but half of the nearly three and a half hour long ceremony yes it went from 4 pm until 730 pm local time will need to be edited out for the twohour timeslot on Saturday September 22nd beginning at 8 pm ETPTAlthough that39s admittedly a tough editing job there are several moments we witnessed live that should definitely not see air First and foremost comedian Kathy Griffin39s diatribe against heavyweight awards magnet quotThe Kennedy Center Honorsquot which has racked up countless Emmy Awards in its 34year historyWith two new pieces of hardware from the Creative Arts and potentially more to come at Sunday night39s 64th Annual Primetime Emmy awards Kennedy Center may be a punching bag akin to quotThe Amazing Race39squot Emmy dominance in its category but Griffin went too farHer standup special quotTired Hookerquot was up against the program in the category Outstanding Variety Special and whether it was staged or not she quotaccostedquot quotKCHquot producers Michael M Stevens and George Stevens Jr in the aisle of the theater when their show was announced as the winner taking up some of the valuable 45 seconds that all winners are given to make it to the podium and make their acceptance speech before they are played off the stageLater when it was Griffin39s turn for one of the minihosting slots in presenting a group of categories she literally got up on stage and said quotFk the Kennedy Centerquot Not once not twice but three times seemingly mistaking the Emmy ceremony for some sort of raunchy comedy roast where it39s not only acceptable but expected to totally trash others all in the name of laughsamp8212and ratings as in the recent Comedy Central quotRoast of RosannequotThis was not that occasion and the reaction in the audience of working television industryites many of them Emmy winners at that late point in the ceremony was stunned silenceGriffin went on to say if there were attendance awards she would sweep them pretty much admitting she goes to the proverbial opening of the envelopeAnother bit that could well be cut quotHomelandquot actress Monica Baccarin39s copresentation of the category Picture Editing for Shortform Segments and Variety Specials during which she admitted she had no idea what that meant before handing the Emmy to the quot2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction CeremonyquotThe Creative Arts Emmys recognize outstanding achievements in crafts including art direction costume design casting hairstyling makeup children39s programming reality programming picture editing voice over animation visual effects stunt coordination title design main title theme music music direction music composition sound mixing technical direction lighting design directing writing and cinematography in a range of program categories amp8211 77 totalGuest performances on drama and comedy series are also recognized with Emmys awarded to Kathy Bates quotTwo and a Half Menquot Martha Plimpton quotThe Good Wifequot Jeremy Davies quotJustifiedquot and Jimmy Fallon for hosting quotSNLquotTrophies were also given for outstanding creative achievement in interactive mediaoriginal interactive television programming quotDirty Workquot on ridestv and for interactive media enhancement for a television program or series which went to the Team Coco sync app a second screen experience for Conan O39Brien39s eponymous TBS showSpeaking of latenight the nominees for writing for a variety series which typically include staffs of quotSNLquot quotThe Colbert Reportquot and quotThe Daily Show with Jon Stewartquot which won this year adding to the huge cache of quotTDSquot Emmys try to outdo each other comedically with outlandish taped pieces listing off their namesThis year the audience was treated to videos of the nominated writing staffs getting punched in the pants and masquerading as little girls from TLC shows including Honey Boo Boo quotSNL39squot simply showed Lorne MichaelsNow you can see why the show typically goes on for about three and a half hours The format is typically that a performer and a producer from the same program copresent a group of similarly themed awards such as those for casting in a drama series in a miniseries movie or special and a comedy seriesThis also gives them an opportunity to shamelessly plug their own shows for future Emmy consideration Those taking advantage of the opportunity included Lisa Kudrow Emily Deschanel Nigel Lythgoe Chris O39Donnell Bill Prady Padma Lakshmi Greg Garcia and Ryan MurphyThe prewritten bits where was Bruce Vilanch when you really needed him often fell flat or veered off into awkward territory as when Lakshmi said something about sexually harassing Charlize Theron on quotTop Chefquot as her producers flanking her on stage fidgetedquotThis show is longer but there are fewer assholesquot Garcia said in comparing the Creative Arts Emmys to its more glamorous networktelevised sisterquotMad Menquot creator Matt Weiner also had the crowd going with his remarks after relating how he originally wanted a live action opening of a man falling from a skyscraper and then stop action before he hit the ground but AMC said quotnoquot He realized they were right but went to bat for the now iconic animated title sequence that concludes on a man39s hand holding a cigarette to which they objected to the smoking partWeiner also said he initially wanted lyrics and vocals in the opening theme music of the 1960s era drama until he heard an instrumental interstitial on NPR that grabbed himquotI called my assistant Gennifer Hutchison to find that musicquot he said quotDo you know how hard it is to find a tiny bit of music between segments that ran on a certain time of the day on the radio Well she did amp8211 and she39s now a writer on 39Breaking Bad39quotBefore presenting awards for variety series producer Ken Ehrlich and LL Cool J reflected on the tense moments heading into this year39s Grammy Awards when they learned that Whitney Houston had died and pondered how to best acknowledge her on the show By all accounts they succeededFor the first time the CA Emmys presented an quotIn Memoriamquot segment with scores of names that you recognize like Marvin Hamlisch and Ernest Borgnine and many that you wouldn39t know like the cinematographers and art directors who spent long careers in the business and passed away during the past yearTelevision Academy chairman and CEO Bruce Rosenblum presented the Syd Cassyd Founders Award to Dick Askin a former ATAS chairInstead of being awarded to a person the Academy39s Governors Award went to the grassroots video campaign quotIt Gets Better Projectquot Created by Dan Savage and Terry Miller who were ostracized as teenagers for being gay it is aimed at giving hope and inspiration to LGBT teens who are bullied often leading to their becoming suicidalquotYou have saved livesquot said project participant Neil Patrick Harris as he presented them the awardSix envelopes were opened for HBO39s quotGame of Thronesquot making it the most awarded program of the evening and contributing to the pay cabler39s leading 17 Emmys during the ceremony followed by 13 for CBS and 11 for PBS including two for quotDownton AbbeyquotThree shows each took home four trophies quotFrozen Planetquot quotSaturday Night Livequot and quotGreat Expectations Masterpiecequot while quotHatfields ampamp McCoysquot quotBoardwalk Empirequot and quot65th Annual Tony Awardsquot took three Emmys apieceIn addition to the hardware that was handed out the Creative Arts Emmys served as a tech rehearsal of sorts for the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards airing on ABC September 23 with Jimmy Kimmel hosting The staging the lighting and particularly the audio in the venue all seemed to be working smoothly except for all those fbombs that were droppedHillary Atkin is the editor and publisher of The Atkin Report wwwatkinreportcom and has written extensively on media and entertainment for USA Today the Los Angeles Times Daily and Weekly Variety The Hollywood Reporter TelevisionWeek Entertainment Weekly The New York Observer and LA Confidential She is an awardwinning journalist who began her career as a television news writer reporter and producer As a broadcast producer at KCBS in Los Angeles she won numerous Emmy Associated Press and Golden Mike Awards for live coverage and entertainment special events programming and then produced and directed biographies on Robert Duvall Elizabeth Montgomery Linda Darnell and Nicolas Cage for AampampE and E She can be reached at hillaryatkinyahoocom Read all Hillary39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Hillary AtkinCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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