Emmy Awards Hit New Low

Emmy sank to a brutal new low last night. No, not just in the execution of hosting duties, although the painfully awkward opener featuring the five reality show hosts vamping without a TelePrompTer was so half-assed and boring, it sent the Emmy Awards down to its lowest-ratings ever.
An estimated 12.2 million tuned in to the three hour broadcast last night on ABC, down 12% from last year’s previous low mark of 13 million.
Jeremy Piven, the Entourage star who early in the evening picked up his third supporting actor statue, summed up the feeling of most viewers by saying, “For the love of God, what if I just kept talking for 12 minutes? What would happen? That was the opening.”
He said it even better later backstage, as captured by The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd: “”I thought we were being punk’d,” he said. “I was confused. [In the room] it was like in The Producers when they do ‘Springtime for Hitler.’ There’s a, ‘What was actually happening right now?'”
As Piven pointed out, the 60th Annual Emmy Awards was supposed to be a celebration of entertaining television, from Lucille Ball on.” Instead, “this was a celebration of nothingness so it was confusing.”
Funnier was Jimmy Kimmel’s presentation of the reality show hosting Emmy later–making the five finalists wait on stage throughout the commercial break for the result–but by then the dreary show was almost over. Let Piven host next year.