Daytime Emmy Awards: 10 Best and Worst Moments

2:50 AM PDT 6/20/2011 by Jethro Nededog

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Here's what what made us smile and cringe during the show.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Daytime Emmys

Sunday’s Daytime Emmys on CBS had a lot on its agenda for a two-hour show. Not only did it have to present the awards, pay homage (a great amount of it) to its sponsors, but it also had to deliver a message of hope to the fans.

Photos: Daytime Emmy Awards 2011: Red Carpet

Daytime TV has recently suffered several losses ranging from the cancelation of a few of its longest-running series to Oprah Winfrey’s talk show retirement. But in the process of repeating the message that daytime is still thriving, it lived up to one of the realities of its host city, Las Vegas: You win some, and you lose some.

Here’s the top 10 moments that made us smile or cringe:

1.) Wayne Brady gets cheesy with the Jabbawockeez: In many ways, Brady’s very strange dance intro with the America’s Best Dance Crew champs was an indication of what we can expect for the show. It was as if it was saying “get ready for some strange moves, dated performances, and lots of confusion.”

2.) Penn & Teller’s knife play: We don’t know why we’re always amused by Penn & Teller’s Vaudeville throwback shtick, but nothing beats talk show host Rachael Ray’s worried look while a blindfolded Teller stabbed a knife into a table of cards and then, ack, into Penn Jillette’s hand!

3.) Elvis is lucky his eyes are closed: As part of the annoying and endless tributes to Vegas and its tourist destinations, the show put on a tribute to Elvis Presley set to his song, “Viva Las Vegas.” From the messy choreography, attempts at throwing b-boy dancing into the mix, and the plastic Elvis pompadour wigs, we were thankful the superstar wasn’t around to see it. Sadly, we weren’t so lucky.

4.) Jillian Michaels’ wardrobe malfunction: In her first award show outing with her new co-hosts from The Doctors, Michaels had what we would call a wardrobe malfunction. Why? The dress was so tight around her legs that she could barely walk. Forgive us for being fashionably challenged, but shouldn’t clothing still allow you to remain mobile?

5.) The answer is Alex Trebek: The Jeopardy host served up some of our favorite moments of the night. First, the moment when the game show won an Emmy and the camera captured him reading the event’s program, unaware that his show had just won. Was he wondering how much longer the ceremony would last? We don’t blame him.

And then later in the show when he was accepting his lifetime achievement award, Trebek ended his speech thanking the hair and makeup people. “Without them,” he said, “I would look like Muammar Gaddafi.” Alex Trebek for the win!

6.) For a good time, call Marie Osmond. That woman’s face may not move very much anymore, but her hips were on constant swivel during her performance of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” She can still get a crowd moving – even one filled with unemployed soap actors.

7.) Ben Bailey is tardy from the potty. When Cash Cab host Ben Bailey heard his name announced for outstanding game show host, he held up the show a bit before running in to accept his award. But, he had a pretty good excuse. “I was backstage urinating and I heard my name,” he T.M.I.’s.

8.) No-prah: Even though the host was able to fly a studio audience and her crew to Australia during her last season, the retired daytime star was unable to make it to Las Vegas to thank the fans and the celebrities who paid tribute to her career, which included performances by Gladys Knight and Celine Dion. All that buildup and no Oprah? You get a pretaped video! You get a pretaped video! That's a fail in our book.

9.) Erica Kane -- eight, no 11 times the charm: One of the best moments of the night was when the show honored the queen of daytime, All My Children’s Susan Lucci. From the wedding montage that could double as “The many hairstyles of Erica Kane” to an awkward kiss on the cheek from Shemar Moore that lasted a bit too long, we loved every moment of the appropriately cheesy tribute. Even the purposely low-tech depiction of weddings nine to 11 featuring cutouts of Regis Philbin, Phil McGraw, and Ellen DeGeneres’ heads on other people’s bodies gave us a few giggles in an otherwise painfully drawn out two hours.

10.) Time's a tickin' and so is our attention span: We do have to thank the producers for keeping the show to its two hour running time. Sure, the last few award speeches were a bit rushed, but obviously we (and Alex Trebek) are very thankful.

Daytime Emmy Awards: Gladys Knight, Celine Dion Pay Tribute to Oprah

Email: Jethro.Nededog@thr.com; Twitter: @TheRealJethro