ABC aired the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night, hosted by late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel. While his hosting — and the telecast itself — received mixed reviews, Showtime’s Homeland putting an end to Mad Men’s reign topped the night of “best” moments. The following are reviews from TV critics around the Web, compiled by B&C.
“In all, though, it was at least a fun, nicely paced, competent Emmycast-sort of the Modern Family of awards shows. (That is, not interested in changing much of what it had done in the past few years, not the most breathtaking TV you’ll watch this season, but still capable of delivering a laugh.)”
–James Poniewozik, TIME
“Anyone who watches his show no doubt entered the Emmys with high enough hopes to carry them through a good but not great opening monologue. But with each odd dismissive introduction of a presenter, with each strained bit, hope sank.”
–Robert Bianco, USA Today
“The late night host wasn’t nervous or mean to the talent during his first Emmy Awards hosting stint, but boy was he a bore…It also didn’t help that previous award show hosts Ellen DeGeneres, Ricky Gervais and Jon Stewart were funnier in their small bits than Kimmel was during the entire show.”
–Gregory Ellwood, HitFix
“[T]he Emmys telecast, generally speaking, went about as well these things can…Overall, for the first two-thirds of the broadcast, the pace was brisk and there were enough silly or funny things happening to keep me from reaching for a bottle.”
–Maureen Ryan, Huffington Post
“It was hideous. Television had a very good year, and this was not the show it deserved. But hey: If the television academy truly thinks Cryer is funnier on Two and a Half Men than any of his competitors (who included Don Cheadle, Alec Baldwin and Jim Parsons), then this was exactly the kind of show they deserved.”
–Tim Molloy, The Wrap
