Usually, the Academy of Television Arts
& Sciences demonstrates a certain amount of contempt for
television by awarding Emmys to people and shows that died
creatively years ago, former favorites that the public no longer
even knows are on.
The Academy mostly avoided that this year;
statues were awarded, for example, to America Ferrara for the campy
ABC dramedy “Ugly Betty,” and to Ricky Gervais for his droll HBO
series “Extras.” But its members also awarded James Spader his
third consecutive win for “Boston Legal,” last season’s
48th-most-popular series, and gave a quasi-honorary
final-season win to “The Sopranos” as best drama.
However, the 59th annual
primetime Emmys were not really about honoring great television,
opening instead with a musical number that set a tone for the
evening and communicated a message that built off of last year’s
orgy of self-deprecation.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20813020/
