NPH Was Robbed, but Awesome

After the nightmare that was last year's reality show host experiment, the Emmys needed someone to chase away those painful memories. But Neil Patrick Harris did far more than that tonight, officially becoming the best awards show host out there.

Indeed, the Emmys were at their best whenever he was onstage. Unlike the Tonys which kept us waiting for it, the Emmys gave us NPH singing right off the bat, and his opening song was actually funny in addition to starting things off right. He not only kept the night running smoothly, but had enough well-chosen quips to keep even those long miniseries/TV movie sections from getting too dry. And his Dr. Horrible bit was easily the highlight of the night. If only it could have been a musical number. The fact that many winners felt the need to thank him for doing such a great job shows just how much he stood out from all the rest.

So how was it possible that he lost Best Supporting Actor? And to Jon Cryer, of all people! What were the Emmy voters smoking to reward Two and a Half Men over someone who not only plays the funniest character on TV, but has also proven himself in Dr. Horrible and the Tonys as well. Shame on you Emmy voters. Unforgivable.

Outside of that one egregious mistake, I was otherwise pretty pleased with the awards. If you look back at my picks and predictions, far more of my "should wins" won than my "will wins." I told you that you shouldn't listen to my predictions. So yay to the unexpected wins for Michael Emerson, Kristin Chenowith, and Cherry Jones, the first supporting actor on 24 to be recognized.

And while there were a lot of repeats from last year, the fact is that Mad Men, Alec Baldwin, and The Daily Show all deserved it, and 30 Rock and Glenn Close also did for the most part (both strong #2s in who I rooted for). I would have preferred to see Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall, or Hugh Laurie win their first Best Actor award, though I understand Breaking Bad needs the attention more. And while I love Tina Fey, Toni Collette was the only winner in the top categories who didn't win last year (and she plays four characters).

However, none of that makes up for picking Jon Cryer over Neil Patrick Harris. The Emmys are just lucky that NPH was able to handle it like a pro, milking the loss for comedy. And they may have trouble finding excuses to ignore him next year. Since if the category hadn't been eliminated, he'd be winning an Emmy next year just for tonight. Oscars, here he comes.