Emmy-zing
Well, that was a blast. From the charming and erudite Stephen Colbert to the ridiculously multi-talented Donald Glover to the record-setting win for Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Veep, the 2017 Emmy Awards had it all.
Especially political jokes.
Stephen Colbert began the night with a pre-taped song-and-dance number, packed with cameos from stars, before taking to the live stage to give his opener. Things started off tame, with jokes about “Game of Thrones†not being eligible to win this year and the self-congratulatory nature of the awards, but it didn’t take long for the jokes about the president to come.“The industry is booming. There were 450 original scripted shows this year,†he said. “Of course, there’s no way anyone could watch that much TV, other than the president, who seems to have a lot of time for that sort of thing.â€He then looked directly to camera and addressed Trump.“Hello sir, thank you for joining us. Looking forward to the tweets.â€
Colbert closed out his politics-riddled monologue with a surprise cameo featuring former Press Secretary to the Trump administration Sean Spicer. Colbert pretended to lament that he was unsure how big the viewing audience is and got some help from Spicer. “This will be the largest audience to witness and Emmys, period,†Spicer said emphatically. “Both in person and around the world.â€
Moss Def
So how did the actual awardin’ shake out?
Well…
Dystopian TV series The Handmaid’s Tale has scooped the top drama honors at this year’s Emmy Awards. The show won five awards including best drama series, best actress for Elisabeth Moss and best supporting actress for Ann Dowd. Big Little Lies took five prizes in the limited series categories, including wins for Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern.  Riz Ahmed took best lead actor in a limited series or movie for The Night Of.  Other winners included Charlie Brooker, who won best writing for a limited series for his Netflix show Black Mirror.
British comedian John Oliver and his writing team scooped two prizes for satirical show Last Week Tonight.The Handmaid’s Tale’s win for best drama series means Hulu has become the first streaming service to win that award, beating the likes of big hitters Netflix and Amazon. In the limited series categories, HBO’s Big Little Lies won best lead actress, (Nicole Kidman), supporting actress (Laura Dern), supporting actor (Alexander Skarsgard), director (Jean-Marc Vallee) and best limited series.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus won best actress in a comedy series for Veep for the sixth year in a row – breaking the record for the most Emmys won by a lead actor for the same role. Veep, which was created by Armando Iannucci, also won one the prize for best comedy series. Sterling K Brown’s win for best lead actor in a drama series marked the first time an African-American actor had won in the category in almost 20 years.Atlanta star Donald Glover scored another historic first by becoming the first black person to win an Emmy for directing a comedy show, while Master of None’s Lena Waithe became the first African-American woman to win for comedy writing.
Strangest Thing
We know: you’re wondering, what about my faves? How about them? What hardware did THEY scoop up? Well . . .
Game of Thrones, a big winner at previous Emmys, wasn’t eligible this year because episodes from its last series didn’t air during the Emmys eligibility window. Likewise, the new series of Twin Peaks will have to wait until next year to be considered. Several high-profile series failed to live up to expectations, including Westworld and Stranger Things, which both went home empty-handed.
There’s always next year.
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