The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, in opulent glory, was center stage for the classless acts of the Sore Loser Autumn Formal attendees. The Los Angeles-based event, hosted by Stephen Colbert, became another platform for the Hollywood elites to creatively demonstrate their displeasure with President Trump while receiving validation from peers and powerful benefactors.
Colbert opened the evening with a dorky song and dance number, highlighting his comedic genius with lyrics such as, “imagine if your president was not beloved by Nazis,” and, “even treason’s better on TV.”
Did Anyone See That Coming?
Seriously. Did anyone actually watch? Because the Atlanta Falcons stomped the Green Bay Packers on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, and Netflix is always open offering binge-worthy anything from boring documentaries to chick flicks, so why tune into the Emmys? A few diehard fans with sycophantic tendencies apparently did, but the ratings were an epic fail:
“The Stephen Colbert-hosted ceremony drew 9.6 million total viewers and a 2.2 rating in the fast nationals, dropping a handful of eyeballs and down 12 percent in the demo from what ABC and Jimmy Kimmel woke up to a year ago.”
Mrs. Clinton’s people must’ve been too busy to watch the small screen stars poke and make jokes at the big man on campus. C’mon, Hillary, the 68.5 million voters you tout so much must not have television sets or care anymore. Or, maybe they were at Bernie’s beach house plotting war on Wall Street. Who knows?
I can still hear Meryl Streep, the paragon of political correctness (when it suits), warn us all last year that a Trump rise to the White House would end the world. She proclaimed (on another awards show), “So Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick ’em all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”
You called that one, Meryl. If 18.5 million viewers are any indication, football it is!
Spicier Sean
During the glitz and glamour of crowning the winners, a cold fear seeped into the room. The Autumn Formal attendees gasped and attempted to look away as Sean Spicer wheeled a presidential seal decked out podium to the stage. Nervous twitter, darting eyes, and beads of sweat pimpled on brows as the former Trumpeter peered over the gathered crowd. His task; report on the audience numbers viewing the Emmy Awards. In his words: “the biggest audience to ever view an Emmy Awards,” created a Déjà vu of sorts and until Keven Spacey cracked up, no one got the unscripted joke. Jeez, people, roll with it. Anyway, you can watch his entire shtick here and shake your head at the numbness within that collective social clique.
For those who did not see the humor in Spicer’s first Emmy appearance, maybe the Atlantic dives a bit deeper for analysis using big words:
“The Hollywood establishment, in overwhelming part, likes to present itself as in opposition to the Trump administration. But turning the PR guy for that administration into just another character in the entertainment landscape, a lovable provider of quips and shticks, flattens the moral dimensions of the national debate. It says that, deep down, politics is just sport, just drama. Which then undercuts the anti-Trump stands made on the Emmys stage.”
Whatever. Still just a joke, but maybe the joke was on Colbert, the mastermind behind that segment.
The Politics of Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS)
The Emmy’s are a chance for the regular Joes’ and Jills’ of the world to see their favorite TV stars in their natural habitat. But make no mistake. However the ATAS choose to promote themselves, they are a brutal, and sometimes ruthless political system; just with prettier people.
Their scheme begins with a primary where candidates for awards launch public relations campaigns. Sound familiar? The ATAS chooses who they deem to have pandered enough, or used the correct narrative, and then let a small panel of judges (not unlike the Electoral College) pick the winner. Heck, even they don’t trust their own celebrities.
Colbert missed the mark on his joke about the 2016 election, stating, “Unlike the election, the Emmy goes to the popular vote.” Wrong. That would be the People’s Choice Awards and democracy; the United States is a republic. Duh. But I don’t expect Colbert to understand the difference. He will, however, understand this: the 2017 Emmy Awards is in the books as a lackluster event hitting an all-time low in ratings. Could it be that America also votes with a click of their remote control? You decide and let me know.