Well this was a strange, interesting year. The awards races themselves were actually kind of fun, with plenty of good nominees and some major upsets, and Phoebe Waller Bridge being an absolute class act as she wiped the floor with nearly all of her competitors. Also, there was some choice schadenfreude seeing everyone turn on “Game of Thrones” for most of the evening, only to have them win Best Drama in the end anyway. Because really, no other show generated nearly as much drama both onscreen and off.
The telecast itself, however, was this hostile, kind of exasperated thing produced by Fox. There was no host, few production numbers or skits, and a minimalist stage design. Their biggest stylistic choice was employing announcer Thomas Lennon, who filled the space during the winners’ walk to the stage with increasingly cynical and absurdist commentary. A lot of it didn’t work, and gave the ceremony a passive-aggressive tone all night. Fine, we’ll host your stupid awards show where we aren’t nominated for anything, but we’re only going to do a half-assed job of it. The tributes to departing shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Veep” felt like time-wasting filler, and the lack of an orchestra just came across as cheap.
And yet, they couldn’t keep the great moments from happening. Newly minted stars Julia Garner, Jodie Comer, Jharrel Jerome, and a most glorious Billy Porter all won unexpectedly and delivered great speeches full of enthusiasm and energy. They couldn’t keep the politics out, as Patricia Arquette paid tribute to her trans sister and Michelle Williams delivered a wonderfully polished appeal for gender parity. The bleeped comment about immigration from the "Succession" winner only served to draw more attention to it. Trump was ignored all night, but there were plenty of veiled swipes at him from the creators of shows like “Chernobyl” and “Veep.”
Speaking of “Veep,” one of the big narratives of the night was watching it and “Game of Thrones” being quickly supplanted by newcomers to the Emmy race. Both shows have dominated in their races for years, and the finale seasons could easily have been a victory lap for both of them. Instead, “Thrones” only won two major awards, and “Veep” was shut out. Jason Bateman winning a directing award felt like a consolation prize for losing in the acting category, but was actually a much bigger swipe at “Game of Thrones,” the clear favorite going in. In the final count, HBO took home the most statuettes, but Amazon and Netflix both made a very strong showing this year.
I wonder if “Ozark” and “Succession” will keep winning next year with “A Handmaid’s Tale,” "The Crown," and “Westworld” back in the mix. “Barry” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” must be relieved that “Fleabag” is not coming back for a third series any time soon. On the other hand, there’s a boatload of new series coming our way, any of which could be the next “Thrones." I doubt any of them are going to come from the networks, though. Aside from “The Good Place” and “This is Us,” both NBC shows, comedy and drama nominees were all from cable or streaming. The only acknowledgement of ratings juggernaut and onetime Emmy darling “The Big Bang Theory” was in one of the montages. I’d assumed “Pose” and “Schitt’s Creek” were network shows, but they air on Pop TV and FX respectively.
Anyway, it was nice to see Bob Newhart and Norman Lear, bask in the fabulousness of Billy Porter’s outfit, and wonder whether the age of niche TV means that the total British takeover over awards season is inevitable. The worst win of the night was probably Bateman - whatever the faults of the last season of “Game of Thrones,” the directing wasn’t one of them. Best was probably Comer, since we all finally got to hear her adorable Liverpool accent. And I'm going to go with Maya Rudolph and Ike Barinholtz as best presenters, for an old bit that they really committed to.
And though there were some glaring exceptions, it also felt like the awards mostly got things right this year. Until next time.
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