The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by Andy Samberg, proved to be a big night for HBO. The premium cable network won 14 Emmys, including Veep unseating Modern Family from its Outstanding Comedy Series throne. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.
“Every year, the Emmys finds a way to infuriate us. Favorite shows get snubbed. Beloved icons get left out of the ‘In Memorium’ tribute. A winner cries too much during an acceptance speech – or fails to cry enough. The host is too tame, or too old, or just a little too Ricky Gervais. We love to complain about the Emmys because it makes us feel like we’re smarter than those out-of-touch Academy voters who rubber-stamp Modern Family onto the ballot whenever nobody’s looking. But this year, that changed. Suddenly, the most infuriating thing about the ceremony was that it didn’t give us anything to be infuriated about."
—Melissa Maerz, Entertainment Weekly
“Andy Samberg may have said he didn't care what the critics thought of his performance as host of this year's Emmys, but he oversaw a telecast that was a critic's dream. Fast-paced and mercifully uncluttered by too much ‘hostiness,’ the telecast mostly stayed out of its own way, with just enough jokes that didn't work to make us appreciate the ones that did.”
—Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times
“Wearing what seemed to be a permanent yet unforced goofy grin, Samberg rolled through the show with a minimum of friction and a great deal of fun — starting with a terrific opening number built around the difficulty facing anyone, even an Emmys host, who hopes to keep up with the current flood of new TV shows. He did, however, let us know why he was the ideal choice: ‘’Cause I done watched every damn show ... and I’m white.’”
—Robert Bianco, USA Today
“As if to make room, this year’s process opened the vote to a broader swath of the membership, on the theory it might balance the more conservative tastes of the past smaller voting panels. Or put more simply: that maybe, finally, Modern Family would not win best comedy again. (It didn’t. HBO’s acid-tongued political satire Veep did.)”
—James Poniewozik, New York Times
“If there could be said to be an upset, it was undoubtedly the triumph of Game of Thrones over the final season of Mad Men in numerous categories. But who could begrudge GoT after seasons of neglect? You could argue that this wasn’t Thrones’s strongest season, and that Mad Men went out excellently, but that’s a familiar characteristic of Emmy history, and, really, I was just glad to see Jon Hamm finally get his acting Emmy.”
—Ken Tucker, Yahoo
“Samberg was a relatively modest part of what is always, by simple construction, a pretty long sit. But for anyone who hoped the guy behind ‘Dick in a Box’ would somehow manage to shake up the Emmys, the host instead found himself pretty well boxed in.”
—Brian Lowry, Variety
“The night featured Tracy Morgan being both heartfelt and funny in his return to the stage after his car accident last year. (Tina Fey and the 30 Rock alums both crying and laughing as he talked was something to witness.)”
—Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter
