Hollywood celebrated the end of summer at the Emmy Awards on Sunday night.
You could tell it was the end of summer because everybody looked very tan and very tired.
Yes, Red Bull was the big winner at the shindig honoring the best of TV in Los Angeles.
They all needed wings in the Peacock Theater, from first-time champs to small-screen legends to hosts Dan and Eugene Levy.
OK, I’ll grant that an even temperament worked for the father-and-son emcees from “Schitt’s Creek.” They’re Canadian, ehhh, and wrung out a few good laughs from their Ontario deadpan.
“Some of you are expecting us to make a joke about whether ‘The Bear’ is really a comedy,” said Eugene about the Best Comedy Series nominee.
“But in the true spirit of ‘The Bear,’ we will not be making any jokes.”
Speaking of the FX show, often the Emmys can feel like an Employee of the Month ceremony.
Chad won … again?!
Not this time. Max’s brilliant “Hacks” shooed away previous winner “The Bear” and took Best Comedy Series.
FX’s fine-dining dramedy did bag Actor (Jeremy Allen White), Supporting Actor (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Supporting Actress (Liza Colón-Zayas) and for directing.
OK, our Chad was Jean Smart, who snatched her third Best Actress in a Comedy Emmy for her fabulous work as comic Deborah Vance on “Hacks.”
The Best Drama success of FX’s Japanese-and-English series “Shōgun” was more predictable, even if took its sweet time gaining momentum.
Although “Shōgun” won 14 Creative Arts Emmys last week, it didn’t notch a victory for nearly two and a half hours on Sunday, until it finally went up to the podium for Best Director of a Drama Series.
After that historical epic’s Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai won Best Actor and Actress, the top award was a lock.
And Netflix’s hugely popular “Baby Reindeer” stalked the stage, grabbing Best Limited or Anthology Series, Actor (Richard Gadd), Supporting Actress (Jessica Gunning) and for writing.
As a broadcast, there were more technical glitches than in an elementary school production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
A loud mechanical screech kept blaring during acceptance speeches, and the microphone couldn’t reach a presenter’s mouth more than once.
One can safely assume the 2024 Emmys won’t be nominated next year at the Emmys.
And, while January’s strike-delayed event featured wonderful nostalgic reunions of favorite shows like “All in the Family” and “Cheers,” this time most of them were forced into awkward groupings: TV moms, dads, coaches, cops, lawyers and doctors, with actors including Viola Davis, George Lopez, Jimmy Smits, Zach Braff and Connie Britton.
Different though their roles may be, all of them were united in appearing to be held hostage.
Even gatherings of the casts of “Happy Days” and “The West Wing” were oddly joyless alumni continental breakfasts.
A country music singer named Jelly Roll crooned his song “I Am Not Okay” during the In Memoriam that paid tribute to lost talents such as Bob Newhart, Donald Sutherland and Gena Rowlands.
How odd it was for an In Memoriam to begin, “And now… Jelly Roll.”
And, in an annual award show tradition, a trio of presenters made you wish they were the hosts instead. They were “Only Murders in the Building” stars Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short.
“When I see an actor I don’t know, I say, ‘I loved your scene with Nicole Kidman!’” Martin said. “And nine times out of 10, I’m right!”
Martin had another zinger that he delivered right to Short.
“It’s an honor to be working with someone who looks like a former women’s tennis champion,” he quipped.
Too bad the best jokes arrived inside the first 10 minutes.
Here’s hoping we never have to sit through two Emmy Award telecasts in a single year again.
After all, these days Hollywood regularly makes us wait two or more years for our favorite shows to come back.