An Emmy Presentation During Which Everything Went Right
Well, this may be a first: An awards show review with no real complaints. That’s how I feel about ABC’s presentation last night of the Emmy Awards. It was a compact, fast-moving show that actually came in on time. Jimmy Kimmel was a dashing and consistently engaging host, unafraid to make as much fun of himself as of any celebrities in the audience (especially poor “Celebrity Apprentice” executive producer Mark Burnett, identified by Kimmel as the man responsible for thrusting Donald Trump into the national spotlight … which isn’t accurate, by the way – Trump was already there when “The Apprentice” was transformed into something different -- but Kimmel was funny and Burnett was a good sport about it). And there was no real cause for umbrage over any of the winners.
FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” was the big winner of the night, taking awards for Outstanding Limited Series as well as stars Sarah Paulson (pictured above), Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown (pictured below).
If I have to complain about anything it would be watching the same network’s other terrific limited series, “Fargo,” sit on the sidelines throughout. I thought there might be some love for Jean Smart as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, but that honor went to Regina King (pictured below) of ABC’s “American Crime,” another sensational show that deserved more recognition than it got, but what can you do opposite a juggernaut like “The People v. O.J. Simpson”?
The night also had two moments of genuine emotion, as tearful first-time winner Kate McKinnon of NBC’s Saturday Night Live – as surprised as the rest of us by her very deserved win – accepted the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and, later, a visibly shaken Julia Louis-Dreyfus (pictured below) of HBO’s Veep accepted her fifth consecutive win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, ending her acceptance speech with the revelation that her beloved father has passed away just two days earlier.
Kimmel’s pre-taped opening bit went from consistently clever and funny to downright shocking (in a good way) with a surprise and surprisingly hilarious cameo by former presidential nominee Jeb Bush (insert exclamation point here). The delivery of food (in this instance peanut butter sandwiches) to famished stars in the audience (an award-show bit that is thisclose to becoming stale) worked as well as it did because the young stars of Netflix’s summer sensation Stranger Things were leading the delivery team. Matt Damon’s appearance (pictured below) as Kimmel’s Hollywood nemesis – an ongoing bit dating back to the beginning of Jimmy Kimmel Live – also worked, even in subtle ways, like Damon’s remark about “these apples,” a reference to the infamous JKL video I’m F—king Matt Damon.
In my Emmy columns last week I offered my predictions and preferences in the Drama Series, Comedy Series and Limited Series and Movies categories. I’m happy to say that I did pretty well overall. In my defense, nobody could have predicted that Ben Mendolsohn of Netflix’s Bloodline would win over his fellow nominees in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. (Good lord, what does Jonathan Banks of Better Call Saul have to do to win an Emmy?) Maggie Smith’s win, which I wanted to see but did not predict, was a sweet parting gift to PBS’ Downton Abbey.
I had no doubt that HBO’s Game of Thrones would be named Outstanding Drama Series, but I had hoped the award would go to Downton Abbey or FX’s The Americans. (The cast of Game of Thrones is pictured above.) Similarly, I knew Veep would win as Outstanding Comedy Series but HBO’s Silicon Valley would have been my choice.
It was no surprise to see Jeffrey Tambor of Amazon’s Transparent named Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for the second consecutive year. From where I sat I thought he gave the classiest acceptance speech of the show.
When accepting his award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Rami Malek (pictured above) of USA's Mr. Robot gave us the best line of the night: “Please tell me you are seeing this too.”
The biggest surprise of the night was also the best: The long overdue acknowledgement of Tatiana Maslany (pictured above) as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series for her bravura performance(s) as multiple clones in BBC America’s Orphan Black. The second biggest surprise wasn’t so great, but it didn’t make my head hurt, either: PBS’ Sherlock: The Abominable Bride winning as Outstanding Made for Television Movie over HBO’s formidable All the Way.
Photos courtesy of ABC. The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet management or associated bloggers.
Ed Martin
Ed Martin is the chief television and content critic for MediaVillage. He has written about television and internet programming for several Myers publications since 2000, including The Myers Report, The Myers Programming Report, MediaBizBloggers a…
