Emmy Reactions

Now that’s a rare occasion: an awards show that actually ends on time. I’m never rooting for that, especially in this case because I’m on the west coast and this is much earlier than I’ve experienced an awards show ending before. All in all, it was a good night, and I’m pretty happy with most of the winners. We’ll get back to that in a moment. I enjoyed watching Michael Che and Colin Jost on “Saturday Night Live,” but they’re better at just delivering one-liners than actually hosting a show like this. Their bit about hundreds of people watching at home was funny, and only Jaleel White and Bryan Cranston managed to save the “Reparation Emmys.” It was also very weird that they had the presenters come out after the nominees were announced each time. I’m all for the many clips that played (before they incorrectly thought they were out of time and rushed through the variety talk series nominees), but it feels more natural to have the presenters out there first. They also didn’t have the guest acting winners present together, with Katt Williams absent (unless I’m mistaken), but it actually worked out sweetly to have Samira Wiley present with Elisabeth Moss (but for the unfortunate loss of all three of their shows’ nominees in that category) and Ron Cephas Jones make dad jokes with Ron Cephas Jones. Of the many presenters, I most enjoyed Sandra Oh’s enthusiasm while she tried to announce “La La Land” as the winner, a high compliment given that the joke has been made before and the Queer Eye guys giving fashion tips to the Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series nominees. Here are some other takeaways:

- I’m thrilled that “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Barry” split all the comedy wins, leaving “Atlanta” shut out. I missed only Henry Winkler, picking Tony Shalhoub instead, and even though I would have honored a different “Barry” actor, Anthony Carrigan, I’m all for it, especially because of how happy Winkler was and everyone was for him. Alex Borstein and Amy Sherman-Palladino are both a bit strange, as is Bill Hader, and Rachel Brosnahan urging people to go vote was cool. It’s nice to see all new series win in these categories!
- I watched a bit of most of the miniseries/TV movie nominees but not enough to truly be invested. I was happy for Merritt Wever because I like her a lot, and Jeff Daniels was subdued and blunt as usual. Regina King has won three awards in four years, which is impressive, though I was hoping “The Tale” would be recognized in some form with a win for Laura Dern. Ryan Murphy also shouldn’t be shocked that he won his fifth Emmy, though it is only his second for directing, after the pilot of “Glee” nine years ago.
- I don’t care much about the variety and talk series and not at all about reality, and I wish those would have happened much earlier in the show. That’s why I’m writing about them now. John Mulaney saying that his wife was too busy to fly across the country to watch him lose was funny, and of course the director of the Oscars proposing on air was very sweet. If anyone has the right to do it, it’s the director of an event like the Oscars.
- And then we have drama. I was all about Thandie Newton winning last year, and it’s good that she got recognized now for what was admittedly an equally strong performance. It’s just a shame that Yvonne Strahovski didn’t win for her performance this year. Without any frontrunner in the supporting actor category, Peter Dinklage was a fine default choice. I found myself happy for “The Americans” with its writing win even though I’m not a big fan of the show, and it was nice that he thanked the television critics for keeping it on the air. I’m also okay with Matthew Rhys since there was no one in best actor that I was all about, and Sterling K. Brown won last year. Similarly, good for Claire Foy, who sweetly said goodbye to the character while the show goes on, and “The Crown” even picked up a directing trophy which wasn’t expected. Last but not least, it seemed like it could be “The Americans” over “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and then “Game of Thrones” took it instead, allowing the wealth to be spread decently in the drama categories. I’m more than okay with that.
- Finally, I scored 18/26. I did better last year but not the few years before that, but most importantly, according to GoldDerby, my predictions ranked 15 out of about 3000, which is pretty awesome!

What’s next? My own choices for the best in this past television season, the AFT Television Awards, begin tomorrow! I’ll be posting the nominees and winners over the next week or so, mixed in with some regular television episode and pilot reviews! Stay tuned, and stick around!