Twinsies For Keepsies

The Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held last night, a week before the higher-profile Primetime Emmys. Kathy Griffin calls these awards the Shmemmys, and she's allowed to, having won two. She lost her award last night to something called Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Isn't that the show when the Brit goes to the fattest town in America (you mean there's only one?) and gets them all to lose weight?

Jane Lynch, currently red hot for her role on Glee (and star of the Dance Party here), was nominated for a guest shot on Two and a Half Men, a performance which lasted about two and a half minutes. She lost her award to Betty White. Betty's hosting turn on Saturday Night Live gave her a seventh Emmy, which still does not give her the record (Cloris Leachman still holds the record for performers, at nine). Did you know White won the very first Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series (Life With Elizabeth, in 1952)? She is also the only woman to win an Emmy as Best Game Show Host (in 1983, for something called Just Men! Does anybody remember that one?). Everybody knows White is on a surging winning streak lately, but she was derailed a bit last night. Yes, she won for SNL, but her commercial for Snickers lost the Emmy to the Old Spice guy on the horse. Yes, even commercials win Emmys.

John Lithgow, one of my favorite actors who always gives a reliable performance, picked up another award (he used to win big time for 3rd Rock From the Sun) for a guest arc on Dexter, a show I have never seen. It's on Showtime, which I don't get, and apparently, neither does Lithgow. He pulled a Denzel during his acceptance speech and thanked HBO, who has nothing to do with his program. At this year's Tony Awards, Denzel Washington won for Fences, and could not come up with the name of the organization who was giving him the prize.

And speaking of the Tonys, my protege Neil Patrick Harris was probably the big winner last night. He's been nominated for Emmys numerous times for his role on How I Met Your Mother, but he's never won. This year, in addition to being nominated again for that performance, he also got a nod (and last night, won) for his guest appearance on Glee. But here's the kicker. A while back I lamented that Neil was not able to be recognized for his superior hosting skills on the Tony and Emmy Awards shows of 2009. The TV academy eliminated the category which comprises those kinds of performances. Instead, they clump the host of such shows with the producers, so when, say, the Oscar broadcast wins an Emmy, the host(s) pick up a trophy, too. So, the host is inexorably linked to the show; if the host's performance is better than the broadcast in which it appears (as often happens), he's shit outta luck. This is the only instance in which this happens at the Emmys: hosts of game shows, talk shows, and reality shows are all judged independantly from the programs in which they appear. Jeff Probst wins the Emmy in his category repeatedly, though the show he hosts, Survivor, never does.

The 2009 Tony Awards broadcast was indeed nominated this year, for Best Special Class Program, but the nominators goofed and left Harris off the paperwork. If the error had not been spotted by an eagle eye at the LA Times, our Neil would never have known that he should have won his second Emmy last night, as in fact, the Tony Awards won that category. The error was corrected a couple of weeks ago, so NPH (as he's affectionately known around here) picked up a twin trophy. Just in time to decorate his new nursery, as he and his partner are having twins, by surrogate, due in the fall.

That's two wins out of three nominations in a single year, we'll find out next week if he wins his third Emmy. That will be doubtful, as his category includes the little gay boy from Glee (whose episode is double the length of everyone else's, and includes some dramatical moments) and all those terrific actors from Modern Family.

But I'll bet NPH is pretty satisfied with his twin Emmys won last night, further proof that an openly gay star can continue a career after revealing his sexual orientation.