by Tina Fey and Tracey Wigfield did not win the Emmy this year for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, but the 30 Rock finale episode they wrote (“Last Lunch”) that included the “Rural Juror” song did win for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, so that’s got to count for something. Even if the woman delivering voiceovers during the live Emmy Awards telecast on Sunday night did call it “Rural Janitor.”
To be fair, though, the whole point of the joke behind “Rural Juror” throughout 30 Rock was in the difficulty in understanding those two words when spoken together — so the very fact that we heard the misspeak represented an added Solid Gold moment of pure comedy to an otherwise odd night at the Emmys that seemed to make more sense for a funeral or the Grammys, or a funeral of the Emmys. We come to bury television, not to praise it.
And yet, praise it we continue to do.
There were even odder moments. In the middle of the show, host Neil Patrick Harris stopped the show to perform a musical number about the middle of the show, with singing/dancing cameos from Sarah Silverman and Nathan Fillion.
Emmy voters continue their effort to persuade us that Nurse Jackie is a comedy.
And think we’d rather watch all of this than the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad. All while making us wait through the extension of the Jets-Bills NFL game, first? C’mon.
You don’t have to sit through any of that. Just whatever words of these you just read to get to the next set of words listing the major winners in comedy for Emmy Awards in 2013.
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Merritt Weaver, Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Tony Hale, Veep (HBO)
- Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: Tina Fey and Tracey Wigfield, 30 Rock (NBC)
- Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series; Gail Mancuso, Modern Family (ABC)
- Outstanding Comedy Series: Modern Family (ABC)
- Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series: The Colbert Report (Comedy Central), with Opus Moreschi, Head Writer, and Stephen Colbert, Tom Purcell, Rich Dahm, Barry Julien, Michael Brumm, Rob Dubbin, Jay Katsir, Frank Lesser, Glenn Eichler, Meredith Scardino, Max Werner, Eric Drysdale, Dan Guterman, Paul Dinello, Nate Charny and Bobby Mort
- Outstanding Variety Series: The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)
- Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series: Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Here were the other comedy Emmys handed out a week earlier at the Creative Arts ceremony.
