Emmy Wrap-Up: One Out of Ten Ain't Bad...

by Kevin Crossman

The 61st Annual Emmy Awards were held in Los Angeles last night and The Office came home a winner!  Well, in one category at least. Congrats to Jeffrey Blitz who won the Emmy for Comedy Directing for the post-Super Bowl episode, "Stress Relief."  However, once again, the Office did not win in any of the major categories.

The Office received ten nominations total this year, including Best Comedy Series, Best Actor (Steve Carell), Best Supporting Actor (Rainn Wilson), and other categories including Editing and Casting. 30 Rock received four of the five Comedy Writing nominations, and won the Best Comedy Series and Best Comedy Actor (Alec Baldwin) Emmys. Rainn Wilson lost to Jon Cryer of Two and a Half Men.

Blitz's award is ironic, since "Stress Relief" is not universally loved by all Office fans. Our own Matt Sommer in particular was not a fan of the episode that featured a forced story-within-a-story featuring name guest stars Jack Black, Jessica Alba, and Cloris Leachman. I'll just say for my part that the extended cold open featuring a Dwight-induced fire was one of the best moments in the series' history and perhaps the funniest four minutes on television this year. I also liked the emotional JAM storyline featuring Pam's father.

Blitz is pictured receiving congratulations from Office nominees Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson.