In the last nine years or so of regularly watching award shows, a lot of ceremonies inevitably blend together. When an Emmys ceremony once again has Jimmy Kimmel as host – or any late night comedian, for that matter – it feels like something we’ve seen one too many times. Is it because, even if it’s only happened once before, any late night host at an award show is a safe and familiar prospect? Does our (perhaps daily) habit of watching their interview or viral clips give us the feeling that we’ve seen any and all things a host is capable of?

I found Jimmy Kimmel to be a strong host of Sunday night’s 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. I’ve given up on truly critiquing an award show host simply because, in today’s TV climate, I feel that the same old jokes will be recycled, no matter who is on that stage. This leaves me with no judging system besides equating host success to few cringe-worthy moments.

Maybe this is just my blatant preference of the Tony Awards’ musicality shining through, but my ultimate favorite Emmys moment is still the 2010 opener when host Jimmy Fallon led Tina Fey, Kate Gosselin, and the cast of Glee in a Bruce Springsteen singalong.

Oh, 2010. A simpler time when Glee still made sense and Kate Gosselin was only somewhat relevant.

Even though I hadn’t watched the majority of the nominated shows and performances, I was never bored throughout the show, as can be the case with certain award shows. Kimmel had great segments (I’m still not sure how I feel about the new trend of giving out food during award shows though) and important current events in TV were highlighted in mostly respectful ways.

The night quickly became a series of figuring out who’s who in the world of television. After the ceremony kicked off with Louie Anderson’s win for Baskets and we painfully sat through that grating speech, it came to me: “…wasn’t this guy a Family Feud host?” I had also read something earlier in the day mentioning that Sterling K. Brown was on the new drama This Is Us, and then he won for The People v. O.J. Simpson, as if it was a sign to audiences that this guy was someone we’d be seeing a lot of soon.

My favorite bit of the night had to be the Maggie Smith bit tackling everything that any Downton Abbey fan has thought the last few years – she never shows up, but always wins. Truthfully, I find most of the English stars who get nominated to be of such an eloquent caliber that they’re almost too good to attend the Emmys – sorry, Tom Hiddleston, but Maggie Smith is in a bit of a higher league than you. That and the fact that she’s an older lady living overseas are good reasons not to attend.

Something I’m interested in watching now that I’ve seen the Emmys’ response? Definitely The People v. O.J., and I’ve always been interested in watching Blackish, but I need a forum that will let me watch from the beginning for free. Also, while it is phenomenal that shows from so many different mediums are recognized, I’m still a little sour that amazing shows like Call the Midwife are largely overlooked by mainstream awards. Like a lot of modern programming now, Call the Midwife tackles such important issues – feminism, rape, religion, prostitution, Down syndrome, reproductive history  – and it takes place in the ’50s and ’60s! (Can you tell I’m suffering severe withdrawal from the show?)

So, what did you think? Was this year’s Emmys more interesting than usual to you? Less interesting! Tell me all about it!