One doesn’t expect much from an awards show. Give me some small feeling of being friends with these people who make movies and TV. Let at least some of the jokes not be lame, maybe have a few entertaining moments, tell me whether my favorites are the favorites of others. I’ll trade you a few hours. But even with the bar set so low, the 60^th Annual failed miserably to clear minimum expectations.

Of course, from the moment producers made the call to give hosting responsibilities to the five nominees in the new category of reality show host, failure was written on the wall. Those personalities promptly proved how unworthy they are of the responsibility (and of having a category) by intentionally opening the show unprepared. Really? Following a major writers’ strike, you’ve chosen to slap that portion of the industry in the face? Their plan tanked, of course. Thanks, at least, for proving that there is a REASON that performers have chosen for centuries to have something prepared before stepping onto stage or screen.

There was a time when awards shows ran long, partly out of too many thank-yous to agents and moms. Somewhere in the last decade or so, someone implemented the orchestra cut-off technique. But let’s ask ourselves: Has this been an improvement? Certainly not in the case of this year’s Emmys, at least. Certainly not when conversations of free speech are truncated, yet skits from the reality crowd are allowed to run forever.

Other thoughts.

• Jeremy Piven is good on Entourage. But three years in a row?

• Amy Smart? Samantha Who? is decent, but her selection above Amy Poehler or Kristin Chenoweth?

• Steve Carrell managed to be the best part of the Emmys again, again without winning anything.

• Thank goodness the 30 Rock crowd is starting to get their due. Here’s hoping some viewer numbers follow.

• The Josh Groban theme song medley was lame. Obviously he’s this amazing singer, and he pulled of some pretty excellent vocal acrobatics in his attempt at comedy. But several years back, when Jason Alexander did the same damn thing, only funny, there was a wink. No wink, no funny. Nostalgia and recognition don’t equal entertainment. That’s why the whole Epic Movie franchise fails to offer a bit of substance. What can we expect, I guess, from show producers who OK-ed an opening with no script?

• Tommy Smothers was sharp. The Laugh In reunion, however, was cringe-worthy. Both were presentation by personalities 40 years past their heyday. So perhaps there’s something to be learned about the aspect of comedy that will allow one to survive a generational shift. It’s not about jokes, but about timing.

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