Sept. 21--Perpetual manchild comedian Andy Samberg aimed to give uberhost Neil Patrick Harris a run for his money with his first turn hosting the Emmy Awards: He opened with a hilarious song-and-dance sendup of the overwhelming number of TV shows competing for eyeballs these days.
"I'm just one man, how can I possibly keep up?," he crooned.
But the show quickly turned potty mouthed as Samberg joked that tomes had no place at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, saying: "Suck it, books." From there Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Kim Davis were the butt of jokes in Samberg's stand-up-routine-meets-opening monologue, but some punchlines seemed to fall ... flat.
EMMY AWARDS: Live updates -- Complete list
Samberg is just one reason to watch tonight's ceremony, broadcast live from the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Here are four more reasons to tune in as the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards got under way at 5 p.m. on Fox:
2. The most closely scrutinized matchup is lead actress in a drama series, where Viola Davis ("How To Get Away With Murder") and Taraji P. Henson ("Empire") are vying. Why is that such a big deal? No African-American actress has won in that category. Like, ever. Will diversity win out? No matter which way it goes, expect the Twitterverse to explode.
3. Will Jon Hamm go down as the Susan Lucci of prime time? He's been nominated for 14 Emmys in three categories, including seven for lead actor in a drama series for "Mad Men." Tonight's ceremony marks his last chance to hoist the trophy for playing tormented advertising executive Don Draper in the acclaimed series, which ended its run in May. (Factoid: No one from the cast has ever received an acting trophy for the show. Also nominated tonight are Christina Hendricks and Elisabeth Moss.)
4. "Game of Thrones," HBO's fantasy-based epic, goes into the ceremony with the most nominations for any program -- 24. Last week, it picked up eight wins at the Emmy Awards' sister ceremony, the Creative Arts Emmys. Despite four consecutive nominations for the top prize -- drama series -- it has gone home empty-handed in that category, a snub that has been blamed on a bias against genre TV. Will it win tonight? Perhaps only Jon Snow knows.
5. What, if anything, will be done to bid farewell to three comedic game changers? Tonight's ceremony is also a last opportunity to honor three shows that changed the landscape of late night: "Late Show With David Letterman," which signed off after nearly 22 years on CBS, "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." All are competing for variety talk show. (Or will upstarts "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" take the trophy?)
We will, of course, be live blogging all this and more at latimes.com/emmys. We'll also be tweeting @latimesent and Snapchatting; find us by searching the username LosAngelesTimes.
