NPH is a very talented performer who was saddled with carrying what (to me, at least) was a horribly conceived and executed Emmycast. An even more unfortunate slight for him was that his opening bit also reminded viewers of three of the more recently successful hosts: Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien and Tina Fey/Amy Poehler. All of their telecasts were excellently catered to their styles, and they executed them to the best of their abilities (as NPH has in the past as well, when shows are best tailored to his tone; this was not, to say the least.)
The producers may have had the best intentions in the world with the personalized eulogies, but the overall effect of them as pre-commercial bumpers was to wash the entire broadcast in a soapy film of imminent death for all involved. Even as I felt admiration and humility seeing Michael J. Fox (a man who is singlehandedly putting a dignified face on what could have been a tragically silent end to his career and is instead heroically forging a working life in spite of his physical condition) give a personal tribute, I couldn't help but hate myself imagining the rapturous outpouring of love he will receive at a future Emmy Awards after he passes (which hopefully is many long years from now.) This hanging cloud of doom that was present throughout I place squarely on the shoulders of the producers.
That there also were bombing jokes and also a few offensively poor-taste ones (better suited for a Seth MacFarlane, or anyone else equally tasteless) doesn't help his case. NPH may have had input, but in my judgment he likely didn't have enough. I don't blame him as I've seen him excel at this in the past. He's not the variable at fault to me; the producers are.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
