Skit happens

I fear the good people of Television may be becoming a little thin-skinned.

Some were offended by the opening sketch at Sunday evening's Emmy telecast, in which host Conan O'Brien crash-landed on "Lost's" island. NBC has even apologized for the pre-taped bit, which also featured O'Brien crashing through the ceiling at "The Office," phoning Chloe and Jack of "24," being diagnosed by "House" and even becoming a cheesy animated character on "South Park."

Clearly, the skit was referencing "Lost" (oddly enough, given that it wasn't a factor at this year's awards) and not the tragedy in Kentucky earlier in the day, yet some people watching the ceremony -- and here's guessing it wasn't the families of the victims, who no doubt had more pressing agendas to attend to -- took umbrage. I suppose if a paper company had burned to the ground that morning, people would've been offended by "The Office's" portion of the sketch, since it made light of the incompetence of paper-company employees. Is it possible for two wholly unrelated events to co-exist on this planet without someone getting all huffy?

Just keep telling yourself: It's only an awards show; it's only an awards show...

Last night's big winner, of course, was "24," which also featured a plane exploding in its first episode and had people wondering if a show about terrorism demonstrated the requisite sensitivity so soon after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.