Did you laugh? Or cringe? It might depend on where you live. Either way, Conan’s opening Emmy sketch — in which his L.A.-bound flight crash-lands on a Lost-like island — is kicking up dust. In Kentucky, where, earlier Sunday, a Comair regional jet had crashed, killing all but one aboard, the skit read as ghoulish, albeit circumstantial irony. The local broadcaster wants an apology from NBC.
Do they owe him one? Yes, NBC could have responded to the news unfolding in real time and axed the sketch — but not without throwing the live Emmycast into significant confusion and perhaps necessitating a statement from the host. (This isn’t SNL, where the format is designed for last-minute omissions and substitutions.)
Of course, none of that matters in an urgent situation requiring the heroic utmost in taste and sensitivity: Conan could simply have come on stage and called for a moment of silence, I suppose. My question is… was this such a situation? For the families of the victims, the answer is an unequivocal yes. But the same could be said of those involved in a fatal car pileup — do networks watch the wires for news of an automobile tragedy, and adjust their programming accordingly? No. There’d be nothing left on television.
Life gives us many grim juxtapositions, many cruel ironies, on screen and off. This is one of them. But I wouldn’t assign blame to the network. My guess is, anyone intimately involved in the Kentucky air tragedy wasn’t watching the Emmycast anyway. Viewers troubled by the images they saw had every right to be troubled and, of course, every right not to watch. But I don’t think there’s any wrongdoing here — only rotten, ugly chance.
Feel free to correct me below.
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The Real tragedy was that Julia Louis Dreyfus won an emmy for that piece of crap show “The New Adventures of Old Christine” while “The Comeback” and Arrested Development got totally dissed. Seriously, WTF is up with that?
No offense to fans of “old Christine”, but dude, that show TOTALLY SUCKS. The only good post-Seinfeld show to feature a Seinfeld cast member that is even worth watching is Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. Old Christine feels like an old shoe. Cheesy laugh track, awful plot that makes little to no sense, and one dimensional characters not worth exploring in any way (New christine, the ex husband, the annoying kid, and Old Christine, as examples), and you’ve got every sitcom from 1980-1995. Why is such an outdated concept winning? Poor choices this year, but I am happy that The Office and My Name is Earl got some wins.
It’s a terrible thing about the plane crash, but watching the wires until showtime is a little much.
Ep Sato- How much voting is done based on the actual quality of the show and how much is name recognition. How many Emmy academy voters thought it would be great for Elaine to break the Seinfeld curse? A lot of well known stars won Emmys last night. (Barry Manilow over Stephen Colbert? I know what next weeks #1 Threatdown will be.) How many deserved them this year?
Mike, your point is solid. I am just bummed out that my underdogs stayed underdogs.
And Barry Manilow? He’s officially on notice
Scott, I totally agree.
I also totally agree that it’s just a sad coincidence. Being a New Englander, it was very strange a few years ago when CSI: Miami had an episode centered around a fire due pyrotechnics display in a nightclub which caused many deaths, which IS what happened at the Station Nightclub. It was eire, but I wasn’t offended: the episode had obviously been written and shot before the fire. The similarity hurts, but, Scott, like you say, it’s not as if networks can or should have to reprogram tv similar to events that are, at the time, sensitive.
In other recetnt events, I was kind of surprised that they didn’t mention Bruno Kirby in the tribute part of the show. Or did I miss it?
“Old Christine” is hilarious, and she totally deserves that Emmy.
Anyway, I think the sketch was fine. A very small number of people, most of whom probably didn’t even watch the show, would have been affected by the plane crash. It was obviously making fun of the first episode of “Lost”, not the crash in Kentucky or any of the other real-life airplane crashes that have happened.
I’m sure nobody wanted to disrespect the families of the Kentucky plane crash. The tragedy is just that, a tragedy and no one was trying to make fun of it.
If you watch lost……….you would have gotten the joke.
I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, however, they could have avoided this unfortunate coincidence by starting the sketch as Conan walked onto the shore. ( This is how the “Today” show replayed it on Monday). That sketch was brilliant, my favorite part was the “Chris Hanson sting”.
Unfortunately I’m not the least bit surprised that that manager of WLEX has overreacted about this issue. This is the same man who chose to pre-empt an episode of “The Office” last year because its “graphic nature.” Anyone with eyes could see that the Emmy skit was a take on “Lost.”
I’m sure the families of the victims of the crash gathered around the TV to watch the Emmys last night. Puh-leez! Let’s grow a pair here people, my Mom was killed by a drunk driver, but every car crash scene doesn’t put me over the deep end.
I too think everyone is overreacting about the skit. It’s very unfortunate timing, but it’s not like they knew there would be a real-life plane crash that day. The thing was filmed probably weeks ago. And everyone’s comments are right on: one, I doubt many people who were personally affected by the Kentucky tragedy were even watching the Emmys in the first place, and two, what are networks going to do, check news reports to make sure nothing bad happened that day so they don’t air something that might offend someone? And you know, apart from all that, the crash happened the same day as the Emmys, literally hours before. I think if there had been a little more time, if the Kentucky crash had happened a week ago, then they would have edited it out. Take 9/1, for example. I remember that Fox had originally scheduled for their Sunday night movie, on Sept. 16, the movie “Independence Day” which as we know features many buildings and landmarks being attacked and destroyed. In light of the WTC attacks, they obviously changed the schedule. But then, they had five days’ notice. This plane crash happened earlier the same day, complaining people. Stop making a big deal out of it.
Edit: That’s supposed to say “9/11,” obviously. Stupid keyboard.
Although the opening was hilarious and I knew that it was a skit about Lost, I still cringed at the beginning plane crash and I wondered why NBC wasn’t sensitive enough to start it at the beach. When did it become acceptable to be indifferent to other people’s pain? I have seen so many comments today about this issue and Dick Clark’s condition from people trying to be funny and cool that it sickens me a bit. What is wrong with Conan that this didn’t occur to him?
1st of all I don’t think Conan O’Brien is in charge of the entire Emmys so I don’t see him as being the final say in if that part of the Lost parody aired. As far as the sketch airing, I laughed through the whole skit, I knew it was a Lost ripoff, but I remembered when they pondered the Lost crash two seasons ago because of 9/11. Then doesn’t the CSIs, Law & Orders & Without a Trace play up similar tragedies in hour long episodes “with a twist” so it’s not exactly like the original case. That portion of the opening act lasted about a minute b4 it moved on in the Lost parody. If it was all about in good taste, only thing left on tv would be….well nothing.
Ep Sato, Julia Louis-Dreyfus winning an Emmy isn’t THAT bad. Just imagine an alternate universe where According to Jim wins Best Comedy, Beverly Mitchell (7th Heaven) wins Best Supporting Actress in a Drama, and America’s Funniest Home Videos wins Best Reality Show. I just finished watching Old Christine, and I agree, it’s not great, but Julia -Louis Dreyfus is a talented actor and when this show ends, she’ll go on to do something better.
As for the plane crash, c’mon, people. Of course that plane crash in Kentucky was tragic. My heart truly goes out to the families of the victims. But it was so obvious that the opening skit was a reference to Lost. Let’s not turn every unfortunate coincidence into a controversy.
I am SO sick of having to listen to stupid people so often. It was an unfortunate coincidence, nothing more. No apology is necessary. Someone should smack this affiliate upside the head and knock some sense into him.
Everybody is falling all over each other to prove that they’re more sensitive than the next person, and in doing so they never think of just how ridiculous their demands are.
We need less stupid people breathing our air.
Agreed, so much overreaction.
oh, and Old Christine is one of the funniest shows on the air– julia louis dreyfuss is absolutely hilarious and it is guaranteed to give you at least one belly laugh.
I live in the town where the plane crash happened yesterday. I was eagerly looking forward to the airing of the Emmy’s (as I do every year) and was actually worried it was going to get pre-empted locally for continuing coverage of the crash. The local affiliate had a half-hour recap leading up to the beginning of the show (they didn’t show all the red carpet stuff here). So I went directly from images and stories of lives cut tragically short to scenes of comedy and people (on tv) laughing at a plane crash. I was a bit taken aback that this wasn’t edited out. It definitely put a damper on the telecast for me.
I know many are saying that it was a parody and that we can’t be too overly sensitive, but had this happened in or near L.A., I don’t doubt changes would have been made prior to its airing. How many jokes about wildfires do we see on tv?
I have never in my life seen an episode of Lost. Before the Emmy’s aired I was on CNN.com. When the Emmy’s started, I instantly knew a parody of Lost was in progress and I did not even think of the Kentucky air crash until reading about the outrage today. Planes crash all the time in other countries. Just a few days ago over a hundred people, many of them children, died in a crash in Russia. Frankly, only 49 people parished in this accident which was tremendously lucky. Hundreds of people in Europe die every year in air crashes. Stop being such PC ninnies!
And wildfires are aired on TV Drama’s because like every Drama on TV takes place in an urban setting (usually New York). Though I remember episodes of CSI and CSI Miami that had wildfires in their storylines for an episode. Anyway, wildfires aren’t as dramatic because the death toll isn’t high, usually there is no death toll, it’s just property damage, and that isn’t drama
I have never in my life seen an episode of Lost. Before the Emmy’s aired I was on CNN.com. When the Emmy’s started, I instantly knew a parody of Lost was in progress and I did not even think of the Kentucky air crash until reading about the outrage today. Planes crash all the time in other countries. Just a few days ago over a hundred people, many of them children, died in a crash in Russia. Frankly, only 49 people parished in this accident which was tremendously lucky. Hundreds of people in Europe die every year in air crashes. Stop being such PC ninnies!
And wildfires are aired on TV Drama’s because like every Drama on TV takes place in an urban setting (usually New York). Though I remember episodes of CSI and CSI Miami that had wildfires in their storylines for an episode. Anyway, wildfires aren’t as dramatic because the death toll isn’t high, usually there is no death toll, it’s just property damage, and that isn’t drama.
* wildfires areN’T
also I know my post comes off very cold hearted and I am sorry. I do feel for the victims, and think the district attorney’s in the area should consider charges of negligence against the airport. Honestly, what morons were working at that airport! Things like this should not happen if people did their jobs properly!!!
It seems to me that NBC, of all networks, would have been more sensitive to the inappropriateness of airing a plane crash spoof on the same day so many lives were lost in one. After all, it was not that long ago that exec Dick Ebersol lost his own son in a similar tragic air crash.
Personally, I find the comment that ONLY 49 people died in this crash to be more insensitive than Nbc’s airing of the LOST spoof.
I don’t watch Lost but I knew what the spoof was about. I am from the area of the crash and was actually pretty good friends with the newlywed couple who parished in this accident. I thought it was a bit distasteful not to edit the skit out of the Kentucky region, but I also see the difference in bad timing so I didn’t take it to heart.
To compare this catastrophe to a car pile-up or a drunk driver’s accident which happens everyday is ludicrous. 49 people aren’t usually incinerated seconds after your typical car crash. But I also realize, its easy for you all to say it’s not a big deal. I’ve been in your shoes before. In many tragedies around the nation, I’ve wondered when people would quit whining like babies. But I see it clearly now. People around here are hurt about losing loved ones. It’s taken 5 years for the 9/11 tragedy to come out in the movies, and America wasn’t sure before the release it was time for it. People in Kentucky weren’t ready. Just terrible timing.
On August 24th 170 Russians died in an air plane crash. In July, 124 Russians died in an air plane crash. In May, 123 people were killed when a plane flying from Armenia to Russia crashed. I find it insensitive that we value 49 American lives so much more than 417 Russian lives.
No one here is saying that American lives are valued more than Russian lives, or any other nationality for that matter. How many satires of plane crashes were aired on the same day the Russian tragedies happened? You missed the point,CA
Where y’at Dawlin, you took my quote of “only” completely out of context. I said:
“Frankly, only 49 people parished in this accident which was tremendously lucky. Hundreds of people in Europe die every year in air crashes. Stop being such PC ninnies!”
In other words, we should stop whining about something that already aired on TV and offended a small percentage of the overall viewing community, and focus on: 1. fixing the problem so this doesn’t happen again, 2. investigating the issue to determine who was derelict in their duties and punish them, and most importantly 3. thank our lucky stars that it was not an even bigger plane with even more people on board that crashed, and that we live in America where these things are extremely rare.
CA, you’re correct that it is fortunate more lives were not lost in the KY air tragedy, and your points of focus are well taken. The fact remains, however, that for the families and friends of the 49 vicitms, this tragedy is all too fresh and the wounds too raw to have it replayed in any form on televison. One year ago today, I lost everything I ever owned in Hurricane Katrina. I cannot YET watch a documentary about that disaster much less endure a comic treatment of the subject. It is STILL too soon.
Where y’at Dawlin, you are also correct. In this particular situation, due to the fact that the crash was so close to the emmy’s being aired, I am inclined to give NBC the benefit of the doubt and forgive. However, I must admit to you that if the emmy’s had aired 24 hours or longer after the crash and they aired that segment, I would have been disturbed in all likelihoods. I cannot sit through a movie about Sept 11, and I try to stay away from films about massive earthquakes because it hits too close to home, so I do understand how people who are upset are feeling. I know I come off cold all the time in my life, but I do really have feelings and I want everyone to know that I do think the Kentucky crash is a huge tragedy and never should have happened in the first place. I personally do not ride in airplanes for this exact reason.
Interesting…NBC owned “Bravo” network repeated the Emmy telecast 3 x’s on Monday, and left the plane crash scene in. Maybe it was edited out in the Kentucky market, anyone know?