No Big Musical Number as Neil Patrick Harris Opens Emmys

If you were expecting Neil Patrick Harris to open tonight's Emmy Awards with one of his typical big song-and-dance numbers, you were probably disappointed: Instead, he started with a sketch involving him attempting to watch an entire season of television that was not very well-received on Twitter (sample tweet from @mattymcd: "That there is the kind of fresh TV writing that comes from the people who give awards to Modern Family ever year.") NPH arrived onstage to deliver some bad jokes (hey, kids: TV is "that thing you watch on your phone"), and then he was joined by a bunch of past Emmys hosts who insisted on giving him advice.

Fortunately, one of those past hosts was Conan O'Brien, whose bit was much better received ("So clearly Conan has won the annual 'maybe he should have hosted' insta-poll," tweeted Huffington Post Media). Also helping to save the opener: Kevin Spacey delivered an aside to the camera, House of Cards style, which Twitter also agreed was brilliant. Then it was time for the best advice for Harris of the night, brought to us by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler: "Twerk it! I come to awards shows for the twerking." Click for the night's big winners. (More Emmy Awards stories.)