Jimmy Fallon: Praise for the host in Emmy review round-up

"Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon won praise from most critics after his biggest hosting gig yet (Fallon helmed both the video and movie awards shows on MTV), though perhaps his army of Twitter followers is not yet ready for prime time. 

HitFix.com's Daniel Fienberg called Fallon one of the evening's "winners." "In his biggest hosting gig to date, Jimmy Fallon acquitted himself well... Fallon seemed at least somewhat aware of when he was wanted and when he was supposed to just get out of the way. Very few hosts can say the same."

The Los Angeles Times' Mary McNamara was also a Fallon fan: "He played to his own strengths... the art of the wide-eyed amiable jab, some wicked guitar-accompanied transitions and a surprisingly good Green Day." (I thought his Elton John was even better.)

"As a white-tuxedoed, wandering minstrel," McNamara continued, "Fallon played perfect host in the traditional sense of the compliment—he did not dominate so much as facilitate, making the category transitions lightly and cleanly, introducing presenters with humor and an insider's ease, and remaining infectiously happy to be there without drawing too much attention to himself."

Time.com's James Poniewozik wrote that the "welcoming, eager-to-please Fallon was a success." The Hollywood Reporter's Andrew Wallenstein disagreed, stating that while Fallon started strong, the host "lost the freshness as he relied too much on recurring bits that just weren't funny, including reciting Twitter suggestions to introduce award presenters and toting an acoustic guitar into the audience."

The Washington Post's Hank Steuver wrote that Fallon "put his nervous, insouciant glee to work, and for once, it worked as well as it does on his late-night talk show. Armed with his acoustic guitar, a big bag of shtick, some obligatory Conan/Jay/10 p.m. jabs at his employers at NBC ('NBC asking a host of "Late Night" to come to Los Angeles and host a different show -- what could possibly go wrong?'). Fallon made it look easier than expected." 

Steuver added, "An attempt to involve viewers' Twitter tweets to Fallon as a way of introducing celebrity presenters fell flat, and should be a reminder to us all: The people who write television should be the ones writing it."