By: Alison Wisyanski ~Staff Writer~
NBC hosted the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards this past Monday, Aug. 25 Reports state that almost 16 million people watched the awards show, but it didn’t score as many social media points as the Video Music Awards.
There were only 215,000 tweets sent over a 24-hour period compared to the VMA’s 8,000 tweets per minute. The show had its second largest crowd in eight years, and it is the second most-watched Emmys in seven years with a 4.2 rating. Despite many new shows, two familiar shows, “Breaking Bad” and “Modern Family,” took home a plethora of awards. “Breaking Bad” won its second consecutive award for drama series and “Modern Family”
won its fifth comedy series award. “Breaking Bad,” took home four other major prizes for Lead Actor (Bryan Cranston), Supporting Actor (Aaron Paul), Supporting Actress (Anna Gunn) and Writing. “Modern Family” took home an additional two for Supporting Actor (Ty Burrell) and Directing. The series was even compared to “Frasier” for most awards ever won by a series and most won consecutively.
Aside from the awards, the show had many great speeches throughout, including Jim Parson’s tribute to his father and Billy Crystal’s tribute to the recently deceased Robin Williams. Top moments range from Seth Meyer’s introduction of Amy Poehler as Beyoncé to Weird Al Yankovic’s entertaining performance.
The show went over well but sparked some negative commentary in the social media sphere regarding Sofia Vergara’s stunt on a spinning pedestal. As Bruce Rosenblum, the president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, gave his speech, he had Sofia Vergara stand on a pedestal in her flattering white gown.
Twitter blew up and questioned where the line between irony and sexism may exist in awards shows, if at all. The point of the act was to ironically display the sexism of the presentation of women on television, but it failed at achieving this satire. It appalled viewers and urged them to say that she was literally being treated as an object.
The act was sexist and demeaning to many viewers, but Sofia struck back against the critics. She saw it as the opposite and claimed that it meant somebody could be good looking, funny and able to make fun of themselves.
She saw nothing wrong, but many are still troubled by the act. Aside from the failed attempt at a joke about sexism and the repetition of multiple awards, the show brought in tons of viewers and will continue to be one ofthe most watched programs each year.
Excellent article Seth was a great host and Billy’s tribute was moving keep up the good work hope to see more.