The Emmy Awards on Sunday night didn’t offer up one single show that outperformed all the rest. Instead, a few shows split most of the major categories, without too many surprises. (There was perhaps one). Hosts Eugene and Dan Levy did their best to keep things moving, and as always, everyone was very thankful. Here are a few takeaways from the ceremony and the Emmy season.
‘Shōgun’ was the sweeping historical drama that swept the top categories.
Shōgun is the biggest Emmy winner this year, after 14 awards last weekend at the Creative Arts ceremony and four on Sunday night. The show took home outstanding drama series, in addition to awards for lead actor Hiroyuki Sanada, lead actress Anna Sawai, and director Frederick E.O. Toye.
Sweeping historical epics are not as popular as they once were, and over and over, FX and Hulu were praised for being willing to support an expensive period piece that was largely in Japanese with subtitles. It’s going to be interesting to see whether there is any effort in the next couple of years to pursue these sweeping epic series like the ones that used to air in the ’70s and ’80s, like North and South or The Thorn Birds.
It’s hard to make an exciting awards show when it’s too soon after the last show.
The last Emmy Awards were only in January of this year, after being delayed by the actors’ and writers’ strikes. Thus, we just did all of the celebrating of beloved shows, the saluting of people who are in The Bear and Hacks, and discussions of how important television is to people. It might seem like the difference between a year and 8.5 months isn’t that much, but it did indeed feel like we just did this, and it felt a little lifeless as a result. Not because there’s anything wrong with the winners, but just because … you know, we just did this.
‘Baby Reindeer’ cleaned up, and its creator hopes it will prove a point.
The Netflix series created by Richard Gadd won awards for lead actor, supporting actress, writing, and outstanding limited series. It may be in the middle of a lawsuit from the woman who says she inspired the stalker played by Jessica Gunning, but that didn’t bother Emmy voters, who gave Gadd three opportunities to make speeches. He took the opportunity to point out that the show didn’t have established intellectual property, didn’t have established stars, and became a hit anyway. It would be lovely to think that Netflix — and other outlets — will take the lesson that risks can pay off.
‘Hacks’ came up big, and ‘The Bear’ may have run into a category problem.
The Bear, which was a sensation at the Emmys in January, did very well in the comedy categories. It won for lead actor (Jeremy Allen White), it won for supporting actor (Ebon Moss Bachrach), it won for supporting actress (Liza Colón-Zayas), and it won for directing, for the episode “Fishes.” (Keep in mind that these are awards for season two, not the most recent season.) The one acting category in which The Bear didn’t win was lead actress, where Ayo Edebiri lost to Jean Smart after winning in the supporting actress category last year.
