The entertainment industry, in many ways, has struggled to adapt to the lifestyle permitted by COVID-19. In spite of this, the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards took place last Sunday, with multiple records being broken throughout the ceremony.
Perennial host Jimmy Kimmel started off the socially-distanced ceremony live (but remotely) from Los Angeles’ Staples Center, also a perennial favorite arena for the showrunners. Kimmel’s monologue poked fun at critics who claimed that the show being held in 2020 was frivolous, and all the nominees were in attendance from their respective broadcast locations.
Forbes reported that only 6.1 million viewers watched the awards show. This is an all-time low for the Emmys.
Limited series Watchmen was the most-nominated show of the night, with 11, and dramas Succession and Ozark followed with ten and nine nominations. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and RuPaul’s Drag Race won for Variety Talk and Competition series respectively. One shock of the night included the absence of any awards for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Amazon Prime’s flagship Emmy’s contender, even out of eight total nominations.
Other winners of the virtual night included actors Mark Ruffalo, Billy Crudup, Julia Garner, and Uzo Aduba, as well as a directing award for Unorthodox, Maria Schrader’s series about Hasidic Judaism.
However, on the Comedy Series side of the coin, Pop TV’s Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek was dominant, with leads Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara winning Lead Acting awards, and Dan Levy and Annie Murphy winning both Supporting Acting awards.
Additionally, they won for Directing and Writing. Schitt’s Creek was the night’s titan, and ended up winning every award for which it was nominated. Dan Levy went home happy as well; he became the first person in Emmys history to win an award in all four major categories: Producing, Acting, Directing, and Writing.
Watchmen was another star of the night, winning awards for Regina King in the Actress department and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II for Supporting Actor in a Limited Series/Movie.
Family financial drama Succession also made bank in the awards department, winning the Outstanding Drama Series category over its competitor Ozark, as well as Directing, Writing, and a surprising win for Lead Actor Jeremy Strong over category favorite Jason Bateman’s performance in Ozark.
Perhaps the most exciting twist of the night came when Zendaya’s Outstanding Drama Actress nomination for her role in HBO’s Euphoria became a win, beating out Jennifer Aniston and others, making her the youngest person to ever win in the category.
Some of the big snubs of the evening include Elizabeth Moss for Best Actress for her performance in The Handmaid’s Tale, Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn for their roles in Better Call Saul, and FX series Pose all were absent.
Though the night went off for the most part without a hitch, I’m sure Kimmel and the rest of the Emmys staff would greatly prefer a pre-COVID-19 Emmys ceremony. However, I have to admit that it did work well, considering it was no one’s ideal vision of an award show.
IMAGE TAKEN from New York Times
IMAGE TAKEN from Hollywood Reporter
IMAGE TAKEN from StickPing
