For its 70th anniversary, the Emmys was warm, open and largely steered clear of overt political gestures, instead turning its humour back on television itself. That was a step-change from the 2017 ceremony.
The most memorable moment from last year’s ceremony was also its most controversial. That was when Sean Spicer sent up his own grasp of “alternative facts”, to the distaste of many viewers, who found his invitation unpalatable. This year, the standout moment was a marriage proposal from the director of the Oscars, who gave a moving speech about the death of his mother before he asked his girlfriend to marry him.
Many of this year’s gags came at the industry’s expense. The opening number, by Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson, was called We Solved It!, which paid tribute to the fact that this was the most diverse list of nominees ever and mocked Hollywood’s self-congratulatory tendencies, which turned out to be ironic, as the first 10 awards were given to white people.
The hosts, Colin Jost and Michael Che, performed their opening monologue as an extended series of zingers in the style of their regular SNL Weekend Update slot. They targeted the Emmys themselves, welcoming “the hundreds watching at home” and promising that, with quality like this, television could keep going “for another … five or six years”. They acknowledged the dominance of Netflix, which ended up in a tie with HBO as the biggest winner of the night with 23 wins and paid nostalgic tribute to the first ever ceremony in 1949, “when we all agreed that Nazis were bad”. It certainly played to the audience, whose acute awareness of its insularity was one of the themes of the night (“This room is so diverse, from Democrat to liberal Democrat …”).
It is extraordinary to think that the timing of the Emmys mean that last year’s ceremony took place before the Weinstein allegations had surfaced and before #MeToo had become a movement. Over the past 11 months, we have seen awards ceremonies showcasing fiery speeches, angry speeches and moving speeches, but the speed at which this has all galloped has been so astonishing that #TimesUp was mentioned briefly as a punchline, when The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’s creator and showrunner, Amy Sherman-Palladino, had a pop at the expense of the flooring: “Whoever put that carpet down hates women. I just want to say that right away. Time’s up, OK?”
In fact, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel trounced the comedy competition and was the bona fide break-out star of the night, winning five awards: outstanding comedy series, lead actress in a comedy for Rachel Brosnahan, supporting actress in a comedy for Alex Borstein, outstanding writing in a comedy series and outstanding directing in a comedy series. It’s a gorgeous and charming show and it’s always a thrill to see a new series coming through in such an emphatic way.
Often, the Emmys can feel like ticking off a list, in terms of doling out rewards as expected. A fair few of the categories did go that way: of course Game of Thrones took a running leap into its final season with awards to spare, The Americans was seen off in style and The Crown was honoured for its sort-of series finale – before the Olivia Colman era begins. But there were other series which, like Mrs Maisel, haven’t quite endured the full Bodyguard level of analysis and overindulgence and yet still walked away victorious. Netflix’s endurance western Godless won acting plaudits for Jeff Daniels and Merritt Weaver, and Barry won big for Henry Winkler and Bill Hader. It was also a year that celebrated internet-watercooler shows, with Black Mirror, Queer Eye and RuPaul’s Drag Race scoring deserved, and, in RuPaul’s case, long overdue, wins.
As much as the humour was self-deprecating, the spread of the awards all felt very fair. Even the snubs were relatively gentle. I would have loved to have seen Sandra Oh win best actress for Killing Eve, though perhaps Claire Foy, who did win, would have, too, as she told Oh how much she loved her in her acceptance speech. Last year’s big successes, Atlanta and The Handmaid’s Tale, faded away, and the hype for Netflix’s Glow failed to materialise into any prizes. But that really was the extent of it and there were no true causes for outrage. It wasn’t exactly the triumph of the underdog, then, but there was a sense that this was a shake-up, if a shake-up of the steady variety.
