Jeff Probst Said it Best

The Neil Patrick Harris-hosted Emmys sped by at an entertaining clip last night. Harris, who had already proved adept at hosting this year's Tony and TV Land awards, struck just the right balance of affable emcee, self-deprecating loser (after inexplicably losing the Supporting Actor Comedy award to Two and a Half Men's Jon Cryer) and Hollywood enthusiast.

It was also a wise move to tighten up the proceedings and group the awards together by category. Separating the presentation of awards by genre (comedy, reality, TV movie, variety and drama), the night seemed more focused and cohesive. It was still too long, but if that's the worst complaint, it's still vastly improved over years past.

The "In Memoriam" montage, accompanied by a live performance by Sarah McLachlan of "I Will Remember You," was particularly moving. The other clips were well-chosen, and it seemed appropriate that non-nominated shows were also highlighted.

The questions asked of nominees, such as writers and directors, were genius. It was great to see the drama writing nominees be so hilarious. The producers (also including Harris) also wisely presented two awards in a row with the same presenters, limiting on-stage banter and keeping the show moving.

In terms of the winners and losers, it was no surprise there were many repeats, including Mad Men, 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin, Glenn Close and Bryan Cranston.

The newbie winners were a bit more surprising, among them Kristen Chenoweth, Jon Cryer, Cherry Jones and Michael Emerson.

To sum up:

WHY, OH WHY?

Jon Cryer

REALLY? WELL, OKAY...

Kristen Chenoweth

SURPRISING BUT DESERVING

Michael Emerson and Toni Collette

BEST SPEECH

Ken Howard, who thanked a woman for donating him a kidney

MOST ELEGANT AND SUBDUED WINNER

Michael Emerson

LONG OVERDUE, ESPECIALLY FOR AN OSCAR WINNER

Jessica Lange

MOST GENUINELY HAPPY FOR HER CO-STARS

Drew Barrymore

FUNNIEST VETERAN PRESENTER

Bob Newhart

MOST INTERESTING PRESENTING PAIR

Drama Guest Acting Winners Ellen Burstyn and Michael J. Fox

COOLEST SALUTE TO A LATE GREAT

Justin Timberlake's shout-out to Bea Arthur

BEST COMIC BIT

Jimmy Fallon's Cher-echo fall-on-his-ass-cry-for help

Same time next year, folks!

Absolutely (Not) Accurate Emmy Predictions

The Emmys are on Sunday. Gulp.

Yes, Hollywood's most unpredictable (yet boring) awards show will commence before weekend's end. Thank God Neil Patrick Harris is hosting instead of last year's (awful) collection of "reality" show hosts.

Predicting the Emmys is like taking an advanced Calculus test while studying pre-Algebra. You're not likely to do well. Why? Who knows? The voting system is peculiar and ever-changing.

That said, here are my predictions, highlighted in bold:

COMEDY SERIES

Entourage

Family Guy

Flight of the Conchords

How I Met Your Mother

The Office

30 Rock

Weeds

What else?

DRAMA SERIES

Big Love

Breaking Bad

Damages

Dexter

House

Lost

Mad Men

Competitive category, but a safe bet.

ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Steve Carell, The Office

Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Tony Shalhoub, Monk

Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

Could go to Jim Parsons, but Emmy voters like to repeat.

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?

Toni Collette, United States of Tara

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine

Tina Fey, 30 Rock

Mary Louise Parker, Weeds

Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program

Ditto. Number 7 for Fey?

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men

Kevin Dillon, Entourage

Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother

Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock

Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock

Rainn Wilson, The Office

How great would it be if the night's emcee nabbed the gold now that Jeremy Piven is out of the way?

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies

Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock

Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds

Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live

Kristin Wiig, Saturday Night Live

Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty

A total guess. I wouldn't be surprised if Amy Poehler pulled off an upset. Or maybe Jane Krakowski.

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Simon Baker, The Mentalist

Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Michael C. Hall, Dexter

Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Hugh Laurie, House

Also wouldn't surprise me if Hamm, Byrne or Laurie prevailed.

ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Glenn Close, Damages

Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters

Mariska Hargitay: Law & Order: SVU

Holly Hunter, Saving Grace

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men

Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Duh. How respected is she?

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal

Michael Emerson, Lost

William Hurt, Damages

Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad

William Shatner, Boston Legal

John Slattery, Mad Men

Tough call. But voters may want to reward Lost somewhere.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Rose Byrne, Damages

Hope Davis, In Treatment

Cherry Jones, 24

Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy

Dianne Wiest, In Treatment

Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy

She was nominated twice this year - and she's overdue.

Patrick Swayze dies at 57

Of pancreatic cancer, in case you've been living in a cave.

Insanity is just a state of mind

Larry Gelbart, the brain behind TV's M*A*S*H, the 1950s sketch comedy series Your Show of Shows and the Dustin Hoffman Oscar winner Tootsie, died of cancer on Friday, Sept. 11. He was 81.

Already an established comedy writer by the time M*A*S*H was adapted for television in 1972, Gelbart also boasted credits as an accomplished screenwriter and playwright (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum).

With M*A*S*H, Gelbart did almost the impossible: he turned a successful film into an even more successful TV series. He also made an international star out of Alan Alda, who over the show's 11 seasons became an Emmy-winning actor, writer and director.

The show, which detailed surgeons' struggles during the Korean War, debuted three years before the Vietnam War ended. Even after that conflict was over, viewers stuck with the show, which clearly resonated with the public's anti-war attitudes. He himself said, "We gave the audience permisson to feel bad. Because America was feeling pretty rotten then, we were at war with Vietnam. And once the war stopped we didn't start feeling really terrific right away, if we ever will again about that situation."

Gelbart himself left as the program's showrunner in 1976 after four seasons, having written dozens of episodes and directed a handful of others.

Gelbart stayed on as on occasional consultant through the show's finale in 1983, and created the briefly successful spinoff AfterMASH.

He was Oscar-nominated for his screenplays for the wildly successful Tootsie and Oh God! and later crafted such telefilms as Barbarians at the Gate.

Fellow Your Show of Shows writer and performer Carl Reiner called his friend's passing a great loss and said, "The mores of our time were never more dissected and discussed. He had an ability to make an elborate joke given nothing but one line."