Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Emmys 2013: Get ready for the water cooler

  • "Nurse Jackie's" Merritt Wever keeps it brief but to the point
  • "Behind the Candelabra" winner Michael Douglas teases Matt Damon
  • Will Ferrell and his three sons steal the show as presenters

(CNN) -- If you missed Sunday night's 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, don't worry -- we can bring you up to speed.

Here are five things that will help you contribute to the morning buzz about television's biggest night:

1) Get ready to hear a lot about Merritt Wever.

You're forgiven if you said, "Who?" when the "Nurse Jackie" actress was announced as the Emmy winner for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy. Unless you're a fan of the show, you may not have been aware of Wever or her smart turn as nurse Zoey Barkow on the Showtime series.

But thanks to what host Neil Patrick Harris called the "best speech ever," plenty of people are now talking about Wever. After receiving the first award of the evening, Wever took to the stage and hastily said, "Thank you so very much. Um, I gotta go, bye."

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Take note future winners of any awards show: Sometimes less is more.

2013 Emmys: And the award for best acceptance speech goes to ...

2) Neil Patrick Harris, we wanted to love you more.

It was his second go-round as Emmys host, and yet it just didn't feel like the NPH we were expecting.

From the lackluster opening -- which featured the actor "binge watching" some of the past year's television shows -- to his song-and-dance numbers, it felt less than overwhelming.

"He didn't tarnish the winners' evening, but he did nothing to burnish it, either," USA Today said of Harris.

Amy Poehler and Tina Fey heckled him from the audience during the opening monologue, making us yet again sound the alarm for that pair to host every awards show, always.

Past Emmys hosts show up to help Neil Patrick Harris

3) Michael Douglas loves innuendo.

The actor scored a best actor in a movie or miniseries Emmy for his role as Liberace in the HBO movie "Behind the Candelabra," and he used the moment as an opportunity to tease co-star Matt Damon, who played Liberace's lover.

Calling his Emmy statue a "two-hander," Douglas quipped, "And Matt, you're only as good as your other hand. ... You were magnificent, and the only reason I'm standing here is because of you. So you really deserve half of this. Do you want the bottom or the top?"

Cue Damon laughing.

4) The show was kind of sad -- and it made some mad.

Yes, we lost some stars this year, and the decision to pay homage to some of them -- including James Gandolfini and Cory Monteith -- seemed like a lovely idea.

But the personal tributes from their friends and co-stars definitely brought the energy way down for some viewers and also led to the issue of some stars being left out.

"I really felt like Larry Hagman should have been honored in that group of five actors that passed this year that were honored in a very heartfelt and moving way," Hagman's "Dallas" co-star Jesse Metcalfe told CNN. "I thought he deserved to be singled out as well."

5) Will Ferrell and his kids are way funnier than most of Hollywood.

Ferrell presented the last two awards of the evening -- best comedy and best drama -- with an assist from his three sons: Magnus, 9, Mattias, 6, and Axel, 3.

Dressed more like they were headed to a sporting match than the Emmy stage, the four had the audience rolling.

"Unfortunately Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith dropped out at the last second, and they called me literally 45 minutes ago and I couldn't find child care, OK," Ferrell explained. "We had a soccer game; there was a neighbor's birthday party, a nut allergy, I didn't have time to do my hair. It doesn't matter, it's great to be here."

CNN's Nischelle Turner contributed to this report.

Source : http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_entertainment/~3/spHj-HUI5OY/index.html