It sounds like they gave every comedy Emmy possible to 30 Rock, which sounds about right. If you don't like 30 Rock, I have no interest in getting to know you (if you've never seen it I will forgive you for the time being, but you should really watch it). The only other shows on TV that I can think of that even make me laugh are How I Met Your Mother and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I guess I'm not surprised that It's Always Sunny...doesn't get much Emmy love. So kudos for whoever votes on the Emmys for getting that right. NBC can't cancel the show if it keeps winning, right? Hopefully.

Actually now that I think about it The Office makes me laugh as well.

On the drama front I don't have much of an opinion. I have never seen The Wire, although I intend to start with the DVDs soon and I was a huge fan of Homicide, so I expect greatness. Most of all I am glad to see Cranston win best actor. I did not even know he was nominated, but he deserved to win. I watched Breaking Bad from the beginning, and he puts on a clinic every single week. I don't even think the show would be special without him.

In conclusion, never go with a hippie to a second location.

I think you can tell by the lack of letters, just how not interested many are when it comes to the award show thing.

I stopped watching years ago and based on what I just read, I am obviously not missing a thing.

I happen to love 30 Rock so kudos to all involved. Fey and Baldwin are geniuses in their own right.

Maybe if Ricky Gervais had hosted, I would have given it an eye or two. He's another comedic genius.

I am sorry I missed Don Rickles...anytime he opens his mouth, he's freakin' hilarious.

I do believe these award shows have way outlived their relevance and usefullness.

And in the face of these horrid economic times for Joe Public, I can't imagine sitting and watching another group of people reward themselves for doing little or nothing.

Ew, that "tribute" to Laugh-In was one of the most painful things I've ever seen, and that's saying something considering the overall quality of this years Emmies. It's hard to believe "Laugh-In" was the #1 show for a long time in the sixties. I used to love Joanne Worley but she sounded like someone's shrieking, psychotic grandmother. Scary! Even Lily Tomlin as Ernestine couldn't save that mess. The whole thing was like exhuming someone's corpse and dumping animal feces on it.

That "reality show host" debacle was a train wreck you could see from outer space. Did no one have even a little bit of sense and say, "Hey guys, we need to reconsider this, it's a huge load of crap." As always the audience is victimized by having to put up with uncontrolled egos and insipid writing.

The awards were such boring, predictable tripe. Totally agree with the observation that super-high quality, edgy shows like "The Shield" and "Battlestar Galactica" were ignored for idiotic drivel like "Boston Legal" and "Two and a half Men". And yeah we all know how wonderful Tiny Fey and "John Adams" is, blah blah blah. Get over them and recognize some other quality shows.

No wonder everyone hates TV.

Never have I seen a few talented and many sub-talented people be forced to perform in such a wasted, amateurish production. I'm done with that stupid event forever ...

"House" always makes me laugh. I just keep picturing Jeeves diagnosing Bertie Wooster's problems with Gussie Fink-nottle. Laurie was a TERRIFIC Bertie. IMHO.

Just curious. Did ANYBODY watch that thing you reviewed? Did it get better numbers than a Vegematic infomercial?

It's "uninterested."

And are you aware you used the word "gaggle" in each of the first three paragraphs??

Good grief.

I'm glad I didn't watch that. Is getting paid for doing so any consolation?

What copelli21 said.

The Emmys seems to nominate and award the same shows year after year, ignoring stellar work done on dozens of other shows.

> After Zeljko Ivanek (who?)

Um, you are a TV columnist, right?

I love Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock, but I don't think that he should have even been nominated for Best Lead Actor. He may have the most lines of the men on that show - I am not sure- but his part is so much smaller than Tina Feys (and than the other men in that category), that it seems silly to call him the lead actor. It is Tina's show, and there are a bunch of good supporting men on it, with two or three men switching off as the biggest male character from episode to episode. There were almost as many Tracy Morgan, as Alec Baldwin episodes.

So while I was glad to see 30 Rock win big last night, I really thought Steve Carrell should have won last night.

Finally, Heather you missed one of Don Rickles best line. When he opened the envelope he said "and the the Emmy goes to ... Hardy Dickman" (or maybe it was "Kirby Dickman"). Yes, it was silly and juvenile. Coming of Rickles mouth though it was perfect. He slipped it past the censor and had me laughing.

I didn't watch the Emmys, and I have no doubt that the show was terrible, but this article got me thinking; has there ever been an awards show, in the past 20 years or so, that's received favorable reviews from critics and cultural commentators?

I'm 42, and growing more curmudgeonly by the hour, unfortunately, but even I found these tributes to past TV shows incredibly lame. Actually, sad. Who, of the dozen or so people under the age of 40 who watched that mess, would now understand the impact of Laugh In or the Mary Tyler Moore show??

Thank God for PVR- I just muted the mess, let it record, did other things, than sped through looking for the good parts.

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and John Adams were all really deserving.

Oh, and thank God for Don Rickles.