Rants and Raves from the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards
On Sunday, September 19th, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced their picks for the best television and streaming had to offer this past year in a ceremony on CBS and Paramount+. Here, I recap the winners and review the show.
Reflections on the Winners
The Crown Pulls Off the First-Ever Full Sweep of the Drama Categories. I expected Netflix’s The Crown to do well this year. Even though its third season (eligible last year) did not win reap any major wins, its first two seasons scored Emmys for stars Claire Foy and John Lithgow, as well as Outstanding Directing. And its fourth season, which aired last fall, was its best yet. Not only was it the most nuanced and compelling, but it expertly pulled off the introduction of the remarkably iconic Princess Diana (played by Emma Corrin) and Margaret Thatcher (played by Gillian Anderson). Even though I expected it to dominate, I did not expect it to a clean sweep of the category. It won Outstanding Drama Series, all four acting trophies (Olivia Colman for Lead Actress, Josh O’Connor for Lead Actor, Anderson for Supporting Actress, and Tobias Menzies for Supporting Actor), and writing and directing for the riveting season finale. No drama series had ever won more than 5 of the 7 top awards before tonight and only two other series have ever done it — Schitt’s Creek in Comedy last year and Angels in America in Limited Series in 2004. Although I personally would have gone a different way in a couple of the drama categories (specifically Billy Porter in Lead Actor, Elisabeth Moss in Lead Actress, and Michael K. Williams in Supporting Actor), I can’t begrudge the shows its wins. Its fourth season was absolutely brilliant television. (Of note, it also won four awards at the Creative Arts Emmys last week, bringing this year’s tally to 11 and its all time tally to 21.)
Hacks Prevents a Ted Lasso Sweep of the Comedy Categories. It seemed that if one show was going to sweep its categories it would be AppleTV’s Ted Lasso. It’s astonishing 20 nominations was the best showing ever for the first season of a comedy series and it looked to sweep every category except the one it wasn’t eligible in — Lead Actress. However, it surprisingly lost the writing and directing trophies to HBOMax’s Hacks, suggesting an upset for the top award might be in store. Nevertheless, Ted Lasso rallied with an Outstanding Comedy Series win and three acting awards (Jason Sudeikis in Lead Actor, Hannah Waddingham in Supporting Actress, and Brett Goldstein in Supporting Actor). As predicted, Jean Smart won Lead Actress for her instantly iconic role as Las Vegas comedienne Deborah Vance on Hacks. I don’t begrudge any of the gifted Lasso actors their richly deserved wins, but I do think Hacks’s upset wins in Writing and Directing were well-earned and it should have upset in the top category. I love Ted Lasso, but Hacks was a more daring, compelling, and funnier show.
Mare of Easttown Has an Unexpectedly (and Deservedly) Strong Showing, Preventing a Queen’s Gambit Sweep. It looked possible that we could see three sweeps, with The Crown taking the Drama categories, Ted Lasso taking the Comedy categories, and The Queen’s Gambit taking the Limited Series categories. But Netflix’s period chess drama under-performed, only taking home Directing and the top award. It lost the writing category to Michaela Coel’s brilliant work on HBO’s I May Destroy You and all three of the acting categories it was up for to HBO’s Mare of Easttown (Kate Winslet took Lead Actress, Julianne Nicholson took Supporting Actress, and Evan Peters took Supporting Actor). Lead Actor went to Ewan McGregor for playing the legendary fashion designer in Netflix’s Halston, a show which scored no other major nominations. I personally thought The Queen’s Gambit was a solid, entertaining, and well-made series but that it paled in comparison to its significantly more ambitious and entertaining competitors. I personally would have advocated for a Mare of Easttown sweep.
Repeat Winners Abound in Variety and Reality. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won Variety Talk Series for the sixth consecutive time, Saturday Night Live won Variety Sketch Series for the fifth consecutive time, and RuPaul’s Drug Race won Competition Program for the fourth consecutive time. It was profoundly boring. And the other three Variety awards went to the most predictable of the nominees — Hamilton for Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), Stephen Colbert’s Election Night Special for Variety Special (Live), and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver for writing. The Academy needs to do something to inject some life into these categories.
Striking Lack of Diversity Among the Winners. There was an astonishing amount of diversity among this year’s acting nominees, which was a major discussion point on the day the nominations were announced (check out my article on that here). But the winners were shockingly and troublingly white. Not only were the three series winners remarkably white-oriented (Ted Lasso and The Queen’s Gambit had some diversity in minor roles, but both are white-dominant and there is no diversity to be seen on The Crown by its very nature). All twelve acting awards went to white people. Even though 5 of the 6 acting trophies handed out at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend for Guest Acting in Drama and Comedy and Short-Form Series went to black actors, this is nevertheless a troubling trend. The only prominent wins from minorities came in the form of Michaela Coel’s richly deserved win for writing I May Destroy You and RuPaul’s Drag Race for Competition Program. It was especially striking given that the ceremony placed such a heavy emphasis on having people of color and sexual and gender minorities on stage throughout the show as presenters and performers. There’s obviously a disconnect between the goals of the leadership of the organization and the voting habits of its members (which sadly seems to be true for virtually every major awards organization nowadays).
The Reigning Winners and Losers. RuPaul now has 11 wins, making him the most awarded black person in Emmys history. Stephen Colbert’s win brought him to 10. Jean Smart now has 4 Emmys, with one in each of the Comedy acting categories (she previously won Supporting Actress for Samantha Who? and Guest Actress twice for Frasier). In contrast, Anthony Anderson and Paul Reiser are now both 0-for-11 with their losses for Black-ish and The Kominsky Method tonight (Reiser lost 10 times as the star and producer of 1990s sitcom Mad About You). And then there’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which has the unenviable distinction of the most losses in a single year for its 4th season, which went 0-for-21. However, it already has 15 Emmys for its first 3 seasons and won back many admirers (including me) with its brilliant, reinvigorated 4th season (check out my review of it here).
Streaming Dominates. Of the 27 awards handed out tonight, 15 went to streaming (10 for Netflix, 4 for AppleTV, 1 for Disney+), 11 went to cable (9 to HBO, 1 to VH1, 1 to Showtime), and 1 went to network television (1 for NBC). Of course, it’s all made more confusing by the fact that three of HBO’s wins went to Hacks, which technically aired only on their streaming service HBOMax. But for perhaps the first time, streaming truly dominated this year. Of note, this is the first time that Netflix has won a top award and it did it twice with The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit. Despite its several hundred nominations since it started producing original content, it never won a top award. (It also won Outstanding Made-for-Television Movie for Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, which was handed out at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend).
My Prediction Accuracy. On Friday, I published my list of predictions in all 27 categories presented at tonight’s ceremony. (Click here to read that article.) Last year I went 14-for-24 and this year I did considerably better, going 18-for-27. Of the 9 I got wrong, 6 I listed as the most likely to upset. The 3 I didn’t predict at all were Ewan McGregor, Tobias Menzies, and Stephen Colbert’s Election Night Special. Ultimately, I’m pleased with my performance, but it certainly helped that there were so many obvious frontrunners this year.
Thoughts on the Telecast
The telecast was fairly straightforward and well-produced. There was thankfully only two musical numbers and a few short skits. Overall, I would rate it as far better than this year’s disastrous Oscars ceremony but not as impressive as this year’s Grammys ceremony.
Cedric the Entertainer was a fine host and he injected an edge that the smarmy Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t muster last year. He didn’t land any truly hilarious moments, but none of it fell truly flat. His three bits worked just fine, with the opening Biz Markie “Just a Friend” spoof being a ebullient (if chaotic) start to the show and the skits featuring the roundtable of Emmy losers (including Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander) and his former on-screen TV wives (including the incomparable Niecy Nash) being amusing.
There were two moments that really stood out as emotional highlights. The first was the awarding of the Governor’s Award to the legendary Debbie Allen. A stirring introduction gave way to a Fame-inspired presentation of the award led by director Ava DuVernay, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo. Allen was richly deserving of the award in her impassioned, elegant speech showed why the career achievement awards belong on the main telecasts of awards shows. (Oscars, take note!) The second was the “In Memoriam” segment. It’s a tricky thing to pull off well, but Leon Bridges and Jon Batiste rendition of Bridges’s “River” was tonally perfect and the visually clever montage of the astonishing number of legends we lost this year was moving. It’s hard to believe we lost so many great ones this year, including three of the surviving cast members of The Mary Tyler Moore Show — Ed Asner, Cloris Leachman, and Gavin MacLeod.
The presenters were generally well-selected and forced banter was at a merciful minimum. There were certainly some weak points. Seth Rogen’s sloppy and cynical presentation of the night’s first award set things off on the wrong foot and there was way too much highlighting of CBS-backed shows and others way off the Emmys radar (e.g., Dr. Phil, NCIS: Hawaii, The Neighborhood, The Masked Singer). But there were many lovely moments among presenters. The reunion of the cast of Schitt’s Creek was overwhelmingly joyful. Jennifer Coolidge, Amy Poehler, Aidy Bryant, Mindy Kaling, and Bowen Yang were delightfully bonkers as usual. Kerry Washington, Angela Bassett, and Sir Patrick Stewart were the embodiment of elegance as always. And even though he didn’t present, Conan O’Brien’s ridiculous hooting and hollering for the Academy CEO was a truly spontaneous moment of hilarity.
There were several memorable speeches during the show, as well. There were certainly more than at last year’s Emmys or this year’s Oscars. In addition to Debbie Allen’s (see above), Hannah Waddingham and Kate Winslet’s absolute delight upon winning was infectious, while Jean Smart, Olivia Colman, Josh O’Connor, and John Oliver played loving tribute to loved ones they recently lost. The worst — by far — was The Queen’s Gambit creator Scott Frank who not only rambled far past his allotted time, but had a disgusting entitlement when they tried to play him off. He should have taken a note from Michaela Coel, who immediately followed him with an acceptance speech that was infinitely more impactful in a fraction of the time.
In Conclusion
Ultimately, the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards was fine both as a telecast and in the set of winners it produced. In fact, it was actually quite good in both regards. I certainly would have made different choices both as a producer and voter, but nothing was truly disappointing or cringe-inducing. My main wishes for the next ceremony are that they actually embrace diversity among the winners (not just nominees), that they pay more tribute to television history (not just in the “In Memoriam” section), and that they spice up the incredibly stale variety and reality categories with some fresh winners.
73rd Primetime Emmy Award Winners:
Comedy
- Outstanding Comedy Series: Ted Lasso (AppleTV+)
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Jean Smart, Hacks (HBOMax)
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso (AppleTV+)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso (AppleTV+)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso (AppleTV+)
- Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, Hacks (Episode: “There Is No Line”; HBOMax)
- Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series: Lucia Aniello, Hacks (Episode: “There Is No Line”; HBOMax)
Drama
- Outstanding Drama Series: The Crown (Netflix)
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Olivia Colman, The Crown (Netflix)
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Josh O’Connor, The Crown (Netflix)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Gillian Anderson, The Crown (Netflix)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Tobias Menzies, The Crown (Netflix)
- Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Peter Morgan, The Crown (Episode: “War”; Netflix)
- Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: Jessica Hobbs, The Crown (Episode: “War”; Netflix)
Limited Series/Made-for-Television Movie
- Outstanding Limited Series: The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Made-for-Television Movie: Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown (HBO)
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Made-for-Television Movie: Ewan McGregor, Halston (Netflix)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Made-for-Television Movie: Julianne Nicholson, Mare of Easttown (HBO)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Made-for-Television Movie: Evan Peters, Mare of Easttown (HBO)
- Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Made-for-Television Movie: Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You (HBO)
- Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series or Made-for-Television Movie: Scott Frank, The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)
Variety and Reality
- Outstanding Reality Competition Program: RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)
- Outstanding Variety Talk Series: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
- Outstanding Variety Sketch Series: Saturday Night Live (NBC)
- Outstanding Variety Special (Live): Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020 (Showtime)
- Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded): Hamilton (Disney+)
- Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Governor’s Award: Debbie Allen
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