The Most Memorable Moments of the 2011 Emmy Awards
Just like the weekend, the 63rd Primetime Emmys are history. This year's telecast was hosted by Glee's Jane Lynch and aired live on Fox from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Despite Alec Baldwin's last-minute pullout, pretty much every small screen star showed up to celebrate television's biggest night.
But did star power translate to entertainment value? Check out the show's most memorable moments—presented here in chronological order and with accompanying video—and then sound off in the comments.
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The Opening Musical Number
Host Jane Lynch opened the show with a musical number incorporating many of the night's nominated programs. But except for a decent Mad Men spoof, it fell flat.
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The Emmytones
For some reason, a bunch of current (Joel McHale) and former (Wilmer Valderrama) TV stars introduced each of the night's categories with pointless, unfunny songs. At least they were short.
The Shot at Ricky Gervais
After Ricky Gervais poked fun at his controversial turn as Golden Globes host in a pre-recorded bit, Lynch decided to play armchair psychologist. View »
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The Charlie Sheen Blessing
Before presenting the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Charlie Sheen took a minute to wish his former Two and a Half Men coworker well. Nice? Yes. Exciting? Sorry, Charlie.
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The Best Actress Beauty Pageant
Rob Lowe and Sofia Vergara turned the presentation for Best Actress in a Comedy Series into a beauty pageant, with all six nominees on stage, hand-in-hand, for the big reveal. There was even a tiara. And roses! When the dust settled, Melissa McCarthy accepted the Emmy for her role in Bridesmaids, er, I mean Mork & Mindy.
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The Star-Studded Office Spoof
Imagine a good episode of The Office, except with all of your other favorite TV stars (and Kim Kardashian). That was basically the gist of this sketch—and one of the night's few standout bits.
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The Comedy Writers Credits Sequence
The clever introductions of nominees for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series are a highlight of each year's telecast. And even though a 15-second time limit made tonight's efforts less funny, they were still better than most everything else.
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The Lonely Island Medley
Michael Bolton joined The Lonely Island for an Emmys-themed medley of their recent hits, which would be great if we hadn't already seen them all on SNL.
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The Requisite Jon Stewart Win
While accepting the Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series for the ninth year in a row, Daily Show host Jon Stewart made sure to give a shout-out to Stephen Colbert (who should have beat him this year).
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The Kyle Chandler Fangirls
The new Charlie's Angels joined Drew Barrymore on stage to present the award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, which—to both their and the voiceover guy's delight—was won by Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler.
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The Paula Abdul Moment of Self-Awareness
Presented without comment.
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The Movie Star Upstaging of Television's Biggest Night
Because there's no better way to remind all those TV stars that movie stars are superior than the image of Kate Winslet gleefully accepting one of their measly Emmys to display alongside her Academy Award. Speaking of which, how long until the Oscars?