James Spader? Really?

I was resigned to James Gandolfini getting the award over Hugh Laurie, but I can't resign myself to Spader getting it over both of them. Give the guy credit, though, for a funny and humble acceptance speech. It's not his fault the Emmy voters keep voting for him.

I refuse to rant. I didn't think this was Laurie's year, what with Gandolfini being a lock, so I'm not as outraged as I might otherwise have been. And if House had won over The Sopranos, I might have felt almost like House was the James Spader of Outstanding Dramas. Almost, I said. Come on, it was the final season of a hugely influential, critically acclaimed, audience beloved series.

Other random Emmy thoughts:

Ryan Seacrest is no Hugh Laurie, but I admit, he charmed me with his low-key, self-deprecating performance (confession: I've always thought he was likable, just overexposed – on the other hand, I don't watch American Idol so I've had limited exposure to him). I liked the theatre-in-the-round approach at first, until it became apparent that the Academy needs to liquor up those people in the backdrop so they look like they're not comatose. The Family Guy intro would have been a lot funnier if they'd had the guts to skewer their own network, too.

There are about 10 hours of award ceremonies sandwiched between the categories I care about, but in there somewhere I swear I saw Frankie Valli songs somehow acting as a tribute to The Sopranos. And Tony Bennett shilling for Target.

My Emmy prediction success rate:

The benefit of doing the head, heart, and random number generator thing is that I can claim an astounding success ratio since I had 2-3 picks for each category.

1. Drama Series: The Sopranos – my head picked that one.
2. Comedy Series: 30 Rock – love it, but didn't pick it. Tina Fey gets bonus comedy points for thanking their dozens and dozens of viewers.
3. Lead Actor in a Drama: James Spader. Are you frickin' kidding me?
4. Lead Actress in a Comedy: America Ferrera – my head and heart agreed on this one.
5. Lead Actress in a Drama: Sally Field – nope.
6. Lead Actor in a Comedy: Ricky Gervais – Random Number Generator picked him.
   
7. Supporting Actress in a Drama: Katherine Heigl – my head picked her.
8. Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Jaime Pressly – my head was torn, but went with Jenna Fischer instead.
9. Supporting Actor in a Drama: Terry O'Quinn – my head picked him.
10. Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Jeremy Piven – Random Number Generator got this one.
11. Writing for a Comedy: Greg Daniels of The Office – my heart picked it.
12. Writing for a Drama: David Chase of The Sopranos - my head picked it.

So to tabulate, that's 8/12 right. Sure it's cheating to combine all the guesses, but who cares? For you sticklers, though, it's 5/12 for my head, 2/12 for the heart, and 2/12 for Random Number Generator. Yay head. You are nearly 50-50 in predicting the asinine voting habits of the Emmys.

I bet you expected more rage, given the House shut-out, right? Nope. I'm all cried out from last year.