(CNN) There were two near-takeovers at the Emmys on Monday, as streaming services expanded their impact on the awards, while "Saturday Night Live" permeated the ceremony. The former likely magnified the issue of viewers watching a parade of winners from relatively little-seen programs -- with "Game of Thrones" a notable exception -- and the latter yielded a flawed, haphazard show, which badly overplayed some of its bits.

Commemorating the 70th Emmy Awards presented opportunities for nostalgia, and the show had one of those spontaneous moments that producers live for, as Glenn Weiss -- honored for directing the Oscars -- proposed to his girlfriend from the stage.

All told, though, there was simply too much "SNL," past and present, as if producer Lorne Michaels -- overseeing the telecast for host network NBC -- could scarcely be bothered to reach beyond his comfort zone.

As a consequence, the breezy tone and ebullient moments -- which began with a promising song-and-dance number about strides in diversity within the TV industry, cheekily titled "We solved it" -- gave way to lethargy and clunky ones. Foremost among the misfires was a recurring gag featuring Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph that fell woefully flat -- like one of those sketches that "SNL" reserves for the last 15 minutes.

Hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost filled their opening and indeed much of what followed with a surplus of insider-ish jokes, about everything from sexual harassment to recent low ratings for the Emmys.

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