The 74th Emmy Awards wasted no time in getting moving in the intro, though who would expect anything less with Saturday Night Live veteran Kenan Thompson at the helm? The “mayor of television” showed up in a top hat and delivered a rousing speech that led to a remixed dance routine of television’s greatest theme songs.
The Emmys' opening subverted the typical award show expectation of a singing musical number and instead featured a medley of revamped iconic television theme songs with a choreographed dance routine. Check out the opening below, which featured dance routines for Friends, The Brady Bunch, Law & Order, Stranger Things, and Game of Thrones:
All of the performances were pretty cool, but I think a special round of applause is due for Law & Order. The remixed dance version is good enough to serve as the actual intro to whatever spinoff for that franchise Dick Wolf is plotting next (though it’s hard to imagine him having any more shows on television). Plus, Kenan Thompson dressed up to do his best Ice-T impression at the end really just was the cherry on top of a great performance.
If there was one low point of the performance, Stranger Things stood out as the weakest entry in my opinion, and the cut to a guitar performance I expected to be Metallica’s “Master of Puppets." Unfortunately, there wasn’t any face-melting guitar solo that followed, so I’ll just have to check out my Netflix subscription to relive Eddie Munson’s big moment (which Metallica is a fan of).
Other standout moments included Kenan Thompson’s Targaryen wig as a Game of Thrones tribute, as well as an appearance by The Brady Bunch cast. As mentioned, the whole sequence was really brief, but better to leave an audience wanting more than less!
Overall, the whole performance felt like a television-themed version of Kenan Thompson’s classic SNL skit “What’s Up With That,” but that’s not a bad thing. Thompson and a litany of costumed dancers did their thing up on stage and managed to make a fun opener for the 74th Emmy Awards. With an opening as smooth as this, surely the rest of the show will go on without a hitch (one can hope).
Kenan Thompson didn’t get time for a bunch of jokes during the performance, but after a few awards and a commercial break, he was back out on stage for a more traditional opening monologue. Thompson took the opportunity to crack a few jokes at Netflix and Leonardo DiCaprio’s expense, and yes, the latter was a reference to the actor dating women of a certain age. Thompson had a killer opening as host.
Be sure to stick with CinemaBlend as the 2022 Emmy Awards rage on, as we continue to update our list of winners of television’s biggest night. With all the iconic moments and speeches, it’s not something anyone will want to miss.
