73rd Emmy Award Winners

How was the show?

I enjoyed the show. It certainly put the Oscars to shame. I liked the 'Just A Friend' parody with Cedric the Entertainer, LL Cool J, and then more surprises, then all 100-ish join in. Like a fun high-school reunion. (Still weird to think Biz Markie is dead.) I liked Seth Rogen calling out the crowd for not social-distancing (then Cedric letting everyone at home know everyone in attendance is vaxxed). Cedric showed why comedians should always be hosts of shows like this. There was some #EmmysSoWhite hanging over it when we were halfway through the awards and I realized the only non-white people who'd won so far were members of writing teams. But then you had RuPaul, Michaela Cole...

Favorite moments:

Seeing in general how tight the Ted Lasso cast and crew are.

- Juno Temple bawling through Hannah Waddington's speech

- Hannah squeeeezing Brett Goldstein before he could get to the stage

- Brendan Hunt's old-school gent outfit

Kerry Washington's moment for Michael K. Williams.

Lorne Michaels' nod to Norm MacDonald.

The support circle for non-Emmy winners (Scott Bakula, Jason Alexander, etc).

Jean Smart's tribute to her husband who died six months ago.

DEBBIE ALLEN.

Anything Conan O'Brien did.

In Memoriam.

Low-point:

Old white man Scott Frank (director of The Queen's Gambit) refusing to get played off three times, acting like his reading of his windy two-page speech deserved more air-time than Debbie Allen.

==COMEDY SERIES==

BEST TV COMEDY - Ted Lasso

BEST ACTOR - Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

BEST ACTRESS - Jean Smart, Hacks

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Hannah Waddington, Ted Lasso

BEST WRITING - Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs & Jen Statsky, Hacks

BEST DIRECTING - Lucia Aniello, Hacks

==DRAMA SERIES==

BEST TV DRAMA - The Crown

BEST ACTOR - Josh O'Connor, The Crown

BEST ACTRESS - Olivia Colman, The Crown

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Tobias Menzies, The Crown

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Gillian Anderson, The Crown

BEST WRITING - Peter Morgan, The Crown

BEST DIRECTING - Jessica Hobbs, The Crown

==LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE==

BEST LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE - The Queen's Gambit

BEST ACTOR - Ewan McGregor, Halston

BEST ACTRESS - Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Evan Peters, Mare of Easttown

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Julianne Nicholson, Mare of Easttown

BEST WRITING - Michaela Cole, I May Destroy You

BEST DIRECTING - Scott Frank, The Queen's Gambit

==VARIETY==

BEST VARIETY TALK SHOW - Last Week with John Oliver

BEST VARIETY SKETCH SERIES - Saturday Night Live

BEST COMPETITION PROGRAM - RuPaul's Drag Race

BEST VARIETY SPECIAL LIVE - Stephen Colbert's Election Night 2020

BEST VARIETY SPECIAL PRE-RECORDED - Hamilton

BEST VARIETY WRITING - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

GOVERNOR'S LIFETIME AWARD - Debbie Allen

A Haunted House - DVD Review

Starring Marlon Wayans, Essence Atkins, Cedric the Entertainer, Nick Swardson, David Koechner, Dave Sheridan and JB Smoove.
Directed by Michael Tiddes.

★½

Yet another parody movie, I know. This one sends up Paranormal Activity mainly, but gets in some jabs at other franchises.

There are two main problems with this film.

1. Nick Swardson. I rarely find him funny anyway but here he plays a gay psychic coming on to Marlon Wayans the whole movie.  Maybe some gay panic/misunderstanding at the beginning can be funny, but it gets rapey after a while and by the end, it's virulently homophobic.

2. Low-brow humor. The first night of recorded paranormal activity features... farting. *sigh*

Director Michael Tiddes (who got his big break serving as producer Rick Alvarez's assistant on the set of White Chicks) is able to get a lot of the Paranormal angles down. That's about all I can say.