Now that we’ve all vented about who won and who got shafted in the awards department, let’s take a look at the best and worst parts of last night’s Emmys telecast.

Overall, it wasn’t too miserable to watch, but that may have something to do with me constantly flipping over to Sunday Night Football to get updates on Michael Vick throwing up blood. But Jane Lynch was sharp without going into Gervais “people get offended because he’s mean” territory, and there were enough little pieces I enjoyed before the show grinded to a halt during the awards for miniseries and TV movies. Let’s take a closer look at what did (and didn’t) work.

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The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards (Fox, Sunday) — Jane Lynch hosts. I suppose, as a TV blogger, I should give more coverage to TV’s most prestigious awards show. On the other hand, I’ll take the Emmys seriously when they give me a reason to take them seriously.

Breaking Bad (AMC, Sunday) — I’ve said this before in other outlets, but even though I watch “Breaking Bad” and appreciate how good it is, I don’t particularly like watching it. For me, it’s like a Cormac McCarthy novel: I can acknowledge its brilliance while not necessarily enjoying its dark, bleak portrayal of humanity.

Sweet Karma (Showtime, Friday) — From the LA Times: “This gritty 2009 Canadian-made crime drama stars model-turned-actress Shera Bechard (inset) as a mute young Russian woman who infiltrates the underground sex trade in Toronto to avenge her sister’s death.” Model? Mute? Sex trade? SOLD! FYI, a cursory Google will reveal that Shera is exceptionally adept at showering.

2011 NCLR ALMA Awards (NBC, Friday) — George Lopez and Eva Longoria co-host this awards show honoring Latino performs. Just give everything to Sofia Vergara.

Karaoke Battle USA (ABC, Friday) — Hosted by Joey Fatone! Carnie Wilson’s on the judges panel! Oh, what did we do to please the television gods?

Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, Friday) — Season premiere. Frankly, I find this just as distasteful and grating as the crap on Fox News, because Maher embodies the haughty condescension the political right always accuses the left of possessing.

Last year, CBS enjoyed a bump in Emmy ratings when it picked Neil Patrick Harris, a charismatic star from one of its sitcoms, to host the awards show. This year, Fox looks to do the same with “Glee” star Jane Lynch, who may be approved by TV’s board of governors as soon as tomorrow.

Lynch already did a good job for Fox hosting the network’s upfront presentations for the past two years as her Glee character Sue Sylvester. With her background as an actress/comedian and singer, Lynch had emerged as a top choice for the hosting gig. [Fox also] considered Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, who has hosted roasts and can sing too, but he would’ve probably kept network censors with their fingers ready on the mute button every time he speaks. [Deadline]

I think Lynch is a great choice, and not just because I like all my awards shows hosted by gays. In fact, she’s probably my favorite lesbian performer (after perhaps Amber Heard). Lynch has a great skill set for hosting the Emmys, most notably her withering sarcasm and the way she isn’t Ellen Degeneres.

From time to time, it’s good to get a different opinion on television. Here’s Josh Kurp, a freelance writer whose work has appeared on Nerve and Splitsider.

Sunday marked the season five finale of “Dexter,” and while it hasn’t been as consistent as the Trinity arc last year, it’s been a relatively strong season—except for one character, one character so bad that she has inspired a list of the worst characters on the best shows. These are the people who ruin otherwise great television, the ones that you immediately make you want to kill yourself when you see them on screen.

These rankings are first based off how great the show is, then ordered by how crappy the character is. And, with all due respect to Alex Krycek (“The X-Files”), Janice Soprano (“The Sopranos”), Tara Maclay (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), and Ziggy Sobotka (“The Wire”), we’re only including shows that are still on the air. But don’t worry, those four are all as equally awful as the choices below, if not more so in the case of Ziggy. F*ckin’ Ziggy.

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Jane Lynch’s hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live” was okay but unremarkable. Lynch certainly did well with the material she was given, but I would have liked her to have more and better material to work with. Anyway, since the episode didn’t elicit enough of a positive or negative reaction from me, I’m going with bullet point reactions. Relevant videos are embedded below.

• The Sunday Night Football sketch was okay. Bill Hader’s Cris Collinsworth made me chuckle. (See? I told you the episode didn’t elicit much from me.)
• The digital short (banner image) was enjoyably weird, but I thought the execution was lacking.
• I haven’t seen video online, but the Mom-on-Facebook ad (inset) was good.
• Jay Paroah’s Denzel Washington impression was terrific, and I enjoyed that it was worked sensibly into the sketch.
• Kristen Wiig’s AWFUL Gilly character was shoehorned into a promising “Glee” sketch. In typical “SNL” fashion, instead of maximizing Jane Lynch’s role, they made a tiresome recurring character the focal point. I would have much rather seen Wiig as a track-suited rival to Lynch’s Sue Sylvester and watched the two trade barbs for three minutes.
• I’m ready for anyone on the planet besides Seth Myers to be the anchor for Weekend Update.

As always, I welcome your thoughts. Especially the commenter who says “People still watch SNL?” every time I write a recap. That’s funny every week. You should definitely quit your job and write for SNL.

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