So, after the ratings disaster that was last year's Emmy ceremony - despite the Zoom enabled telecast actually going pretty well - we're back to an in-person ceremony. Cedric the Entertainer was on hand as a traditional comedian host, there was a red carpet and a backstage and live music, including an upbeat opening number. There were still plenty of pandemic measures in place - most of the UK winners teleconferenced in their speeches from London, there was an extended comedic bit about Ken Jeong forgetting his vaccination card, and you could still see masks here and there. Seth Rogen bluntly pointed out the unease in the room. However, the Emmys did a decent job of pretending it was all business as usual. Great set design with the long, room-spanning screens and the lights in the table centerpieces.
The awards themselves were decent this year. It helped that I had seen most of the big winners - "The Crown," "Ted Lasso," "Mare of Easttown," and "The Queen's Gambit" - and was decently invested in some of the races. It was great to see Hannah Waddingham win, Brett Goldstein win, Michaela Coel win, and Kate Winslet win. If Scott Frank wanted to drone on for three and a half minutes, however, he really should have written himself a better speech. Not too many surprises this year, except maybe Ewan McGregor winning for "Halston," and Julianne Nicholson winning for her small, but very good appearance in "Mare of Easttown." It was great to see women winning so many of the writing and directing categories, but also super noticeable that nearly every winner was white. Really, "Underground Railroad" should have had a far, far bigger presence here. And where was "Small Axe"?! Thank god for that Debbie Allen tribute.
Cedric the Entertainer was a pretty dull host, and none of the prerecorded comedy bits he did landed very well, except the support group for people who hadn't won Emmys. It was really just an excuse to put Scott Bakula, Alyson Hannigan, Fred Savage, and Dr. Phil in a sketch together, but I laughed. I admit it. However, the various presenters added some life to the ceremony. I missed the "Schitt's Creek" train completely, but the chemistry that the cast had was off the charts. Stephen Colbert was the only one who did anything remotely political all night, making fun of the California governor recall. Jennifer Coolidge and Bowen Yang and Bowen Yang's silver disco platform shoes were other favorites. Good grief, I will never make fun of the red carpet ever again, because I didn't know how much I would miss the wild pageantry of these events until suddenly it was missing.
And then there was Conan O'Brien, who left late night this year, and decided to be the most entertaining person at the ceremony. After losing his own category to John Oliver - who said nice things about him in his acceptance speech - he heckled the Television Academy President, Frank Scherma by obsequiously cheering and saluting him. He then joined Stephen Colbert and his crew onstage when they won a trophy for their election special. It is one of the great award show tragedies that he never got to host the Emmys again after his incredible turn at the 2006 ceremony - before all the late night musical chairs happened.
Because I'm a wonk, I'll point out that Netflix was the major winner here, with the most trophies by the end of the night, underlined by "The Queen's Gambit" nabbing the final win of the night - the first time I can remember the evening ending with the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series category. The awards were so dominated by the streamers this year that it's starting to feel a little odd that the Emmys are still primarily airing on network television.
I wish Bo Burnham would have won Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), and that "The Handmaid's Tale" would have picked up something out of all those nominations. And I'm not sure whether I'm sad or relieved that "WandaVision" only managed to win three smaller production awards. Probably both.
Next year, I expect I'll be back on the outs, when "Better Call Saul," "White Lotus," and "Succession" are poised to be the big contenders. But you never know. It's a long time until next year, and there's more television coming our way than ever.
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