Well, that was something wasn't it?
I'm not sure about you, but going into this I actually had very little idea how this was going to work. Would people be gussied up, would the Wi-Fi drop out, would Schitt's Creek sweep the board, would Succession storm the barricades?
Schitt's Creek and Succession were two of the big winners at the Emmys on Monday.
The answers: some; no; yes; and kind of.
First, some numbers. Succession won seven awards from 18 nominations, including the biggest award of the night (well, their night), outstanding drama series. In my view, it's well deserved; I thought season one was great, but season two was even better – the best thing on TV in 2019, I reckon.
Schitt's Creek did even better, winning nine* of the 15 awards for which it was nominated, including all seven on this, the big night (it also won for best casting and best contemporary costume). It's been called the little show that could, and today it was the little show that did.
Watchmen had been the leading nominee, with 26 nods, and it finished with 10, which is a very respectable tally. The Mandalorian picked up five from 15, while The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, which had won eight awards in each of its first two seasons, picked up just two this time around from a whopping 20 nominations.
It wasn't a great year for the Australian contingent. Sarah Snook (Succession), Hugh Jackman (Bad Education), Cate Blanchett (Mrs America) and Toni Collette (Unbelievable) all missed out in acting categories, while Blanchett was also overlooked as producer for her compelling feminist drama. Writer Tony McNamara missed out for The Great, and director Jessica Hobbs – born in New Zealand but a 20-year veteran of the Australian television industry (she started on Heartbreak High) – was overlooked for her work on The Crown. But as my colleague Michael Idato rightly noted elsewhere in this blog, their work is excellent and testifies to the fact there is indeed truth in that truism that to be nominated is acknowledgement enough. (Though winning surely feels better.)
It was a gently but persistently political ceremony, with repeated calls for tolerance, love, acceptance and support. No one said "vote Democrat" but plenty of people said "vote", and the subtext in the lead-in to November's presidential election was clear enough. And arguably, the direction of the awards reflected that.
But for mine, the big winner on the night was the awards themselves. In Jimmy Kimmel, the event had the consummate host, equally capable of delivering what's scripted as he is of deviating as circumstances demand. He's a smart guy, funny, and seemingly well-liked by his colleagues in the industry, many of whom were happy to join in the gag (kudos to Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston in particular).
Some of the pre-recorded bits were flat though, and how could you not feel for Randall Park and Sterling K. Brown, who were asked to deliver some pretty lame material without the benefit of either a well-lubricated live audience or a well-timed laugh track. Tough gig that.
The big takeaway though is that this can work. And with Grammys and AACTAs and Oscars all ahead of us, there's a good chance we'll be seeing more of this sort of thing before too long.
And with that, farewell. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time.
* I originally wrote that it had won eight, shamefully overlooking the award for best contemporary costumes it picked up last week. If you've seen Moira's outfit in the finale, you'll know the win was truly deserved.
