Pop Rocks

Author: Lanford Beard

This weekend when "Everybody Loves Raymond" snatched the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series from shows like "Sex and the City," "Friends" and "Will and Grace," I thought to myself, Where is pop culture going?

Are the stodgy really going to inherit the earth?

What about the overpaid, the quippy and the irreverent?

For me, a certifiable television junkie, Sunday's Emmy Awards were a total wash. When any venture (whether it be the Branson Cowpoke Festival or the nationally televised Emmy Awards) opens a celebration of comedy with Gary Shandling, we know the night is effectively over.

I like my television like I like my men: trashy, dramatic and quick with the one-liners, so an immediate slap-in-the-face came when Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall both lost the Supporting (Comedy) Actress Emmy to Doris Roberts.

The night ultimately played out like a celebration of whitebread, low-brow America. "Raymond" flexed its completely unfunny muscles and won nearly every category for which it was nominated.

The show's executive producer Philip Rosenthal even pointed out how hip it is to be square nowadays, explaining that the network executives had pushed the creators of "Raymond" to make the show hipper and edgier and thanking his "hot, young cast" and "all the hipsters out there who have supported us over the years."

(It goes without saying that I don't know anyone that watches "Raymond" while being hip, young or hot.)

The night played out like an extended inside joke between the geriatrics in the crowd. One after one Tyne Daly, Maggie Smith, Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands and Doris Roberts were tapped as the best in their category.

Notably, most of the aforementioned winners were not there, leaving the losers to bask in the shadows of their defeat without so much as one typical "I can't believe I'm even in a category with the rest of these wonderful actors" speech.

Nope, dame Maggie Smith has better things to do than to dignify the Emmys with her presence, and that, my friends, is precisely the problem.

While non-network shows like "Six Feet Under," "Sex and the City" and "The Sopranos" (and even some network shows like "24" and "Alias") are designated the night's losers for their young, hip, edgy appeal, they still make money and earn respect for the men on top who are handing the trophies back over to their more mainstream ventures.

Of course, there were highlights, such as Tony Shalhoub's and Joe "Joey Pants" Pantoliano's tearful, humble acceptance speeches, Conan O'Brien in a white and silver tuxedo and a beautiful memorial speech for John Ritter by Henry Winkler.

Another highlight of the evening was Bill Cosby's acceptance speech for the annually given Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. The speech was nothing new, a remembrance of Fred Rogers, of his son Ennis and of all things that used to be good.

Cosby's speech, standing in stark opposition to the more sardonic portrayals of today's network news by Dennis Miller and John Stewart, confirmed that the night was not a celebration of the bright future of television (especially with most of the best shows on television ending after this season), but a remembrance of things past.

So where is pop culture going? Apparently back, way back in time.