Let’s Just Say a Dr. Phil Cameo Did Not Make This Emmys Skit Better, Per Se

The 2021 Emmy Awards might as well be called “CBS’s Wacky Night of Skits n’ Bits,� because that’s made up a real hefty chunk of what’s gone down. Perhaps the most notable of the pre-taped segments was the “Emmy Losers Support Group� sketch, which was a real cute (albeit long) treat for fans of TV trivia. Cedric the Entertainer leads the circle of longtime entertainers, zero-time winners, beginning with Scott Bakula, who laments that he’s been in the business since 1976 without an Emmy to his name. Jason Alexander may have been nominated seven years in a row for George Costanza, but it never led to a win. Alyson Hannigan is confused about whether or not she was the mother on How I Met Your Mother, and Zooey Deschanel is there too, cursing up the storm about her lack of an Emmy. The funniest beat of the sketch is when Fred Savage pops his head out from behind a camera; starring in a show when you’re 12 and going on to direct 20 episodes of 2 Broke Girls is a thankless job, apparently.

So did we need the Dr. Phil cameo? We get that it fits with the vaguely psychiatric vibe of the “support group� bit, and yeah, he doesn’t have an Emmy, but we’re not feeling it in this otherwise sweet and innocuous bit. Go back to your house of horrors.