Introduction
In recent years I have come to view
those critics for publications who review awards shows like the Emmys as if
they were entertainments rather than a ceremony celebrating the industry as
people so out of touch I wonder how they have the intelligence to walk upright,
much less perceive the difference between an awards show and the nominated
series and films. These shows are going to be bloated, full of false modesty
and are there to primarily entertain the
people in the theater. This for the nominees first and foremost, the viewing
audience a distant second and criticism doesn't enter into at all . If you want
entertainment you can just as easily stream the nominated series while the
Emmys is going on instead.
However I will note one of the major
criticisms from Variety was that the show and the host were 'apolitical' as if
that was now a requirement of all awards shows. On the contrary it was one of
last night's virtues for a vital reason to me, which I wouldn't normally go
into here but I feel compelled to.
For better or worse – and I've argued
its by large been for the worse – Hollywood is the most visible example of the
far left cause. In the last decade in general and in the aftermath of November
in particular, they've demonstrated the worst flaws of the progressive cause,
not the least of which is the inability to read the room. And by 'room' I mean
the America that isn't part of the Hollywood bubble. In the aftermath of
Charlie Kirk's assassination this past week I was more nervous about last
night's ceremony in a way that had nothing to do with who I wanted to win. I
was well aware that particularly when it came to late night, there were going
to be some winners who were the most open representatives of the political left
who had many reasons to hate this establishment. Considering that in the past
week one of the biggest representatives of the right had been killed I was
terrified that this would be yet another example of Hollywood using a tragedy
and making it about themselves. This is never a good look and considering some
of my issues with other representatives of progressives (which I may end up
going into another series) I spent the lead up to the ceremony terrified. This
was going to be the first visible test of Hollywood in the aftermath of last week's
events and I had little confidence they could pass it.
So the fact that, by and large, we
managed to get through more than three hours with next to no real Trump or
far-right bashing, no jokes about how openly evil all Republicans are, and
almost nobody saying anything that could be construed as beyond the most
average liberal discussion was a genuine relief to me. Perhaps Stephen Colbert
and John Oliver planned to be more virulent in their speeches before last week
and they decided now was not the time or place to make a point. The only person
who did violate that code was Hannah Einbinder, but for various reasons, I was
willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
If reviewers like those of Variety
truly think that Hollywood was supposed to be its usually loud anti-MAGA self
in the aftermath of this week, it says a lot more about them then Hollywood and
honestly none of its good things. (I'll do what they won't do and hold my
tongue.) I'll only say that this is the first time in 2025 I've seen the
entertainment industry basically read the mood of the country for once. I don't
know if it will last long (my guess is by the time the Golden Globes take place
they'll be just as unpleasant as ever in public) but I'd like to think this is
a teachable moment and the industry can learn something from it, if not the
left overall.
Enough editorializing. On with my
reactions.
In ten years of covering the Emmys and
nearly a quarter of a century of watching them seriously I've come to know that
there are two reactions I will have to the results. I will either be satisfied
because the winners were as expected (not always what I expected) or
unpleasantly surprised when someone wins.
Usually satisfaction, if it comes,
does when the overwhelming favorites or deserving winners prevail. If there's
an upset, it has almost always been a sign the Emmys has made a mistake. Jeff
Daniels winning for The Newsroom over Jon Hamm, Zendaya prevailing over
Jennifer Aniston or Olivia for Euphoria, Julia Garner winning over for Ozark
– its never a good choice when it’s a surprise. I'll grant you in recent
years the Emmys have been doing so more frequently – last year was the
best example of it overall – but one goes into the Emmys expecting the expected
with the winners.
That was not the case last night. To
be sure, the overwhelming favorites prevailed in two of the night's biggest genres.
The Studio broke the record in comedy that has stood ever since…last
year with thirteen wins and Stephen Graham had the kind of night that would
have seemed more significant had Seth Rogen not had a bigger one – or if
Richard Gadd hadn't had the exact same night last year. But for a change the
overwhelming number of surprises – and pleasant ones – were in the Drama
category, something that has been locked in more or less the same pattern ever
since I started watching the Emmys.
To say that there's almost no drama in
the winners in drama is a classic understatement in the era of Peak TV. One
show overwhelming dominates the category in acting, directing and writing and
only a few strays can pick up a prize or two. In some cases we've either seen
complete sweeps – The Crown in 2021 – or near sweeps like Succession in
2023. This started with The West Wing, mostly went on with Game Of
Thrones and has basically carried on with many streaming shows. I had
little reason to think the pattern would change this year.
Except almost from the first award in
Drama, we learned this was not to be the case. Carrie Coon had been the
out-and-out favorite to win Outstanding Supporting Actress in The White
Lotus almost since the Season 3 finale aired. It was a fait accompli. And
then Jenna Ortega and Catherine Zeta-Jones said that the winner was Katherine
LaNasa for The Pitt. To be clear she'd been rising in the odds at Gold
Derby for awhile but no one gave her a real chance, certainly not me. Despite
my admiration for Coon, LaNasa's win was a balm to my soul and her moving
speech to Wells, the writers, the first responders and her family was
wonderful. (Also she's apparently married to Grant Show, who still looks as
good as he did on Melrose Place.)
Tramell Tillman's win for Severance
was slightly more expected: he'd been moving up in the odds for months
against Walton Goggins and several had predicted him. His speech was profoundly
moving as he thanked his first acting coach for being so tough: "Mothers
are like that," he then pointed out. He went out of his way to thank his
mom who he brought to the show. (As we shall see it was the Supporting Actor
winners that were the heart of Emmy night.)
But the biggest mike drop came moments
later when Angela Bassett announced Best Actress in a Drama. Everyone was sure
that Kathy Bates was going to win for Matlock. She'd already won every
award in the book that counted. I was sure of it. Then Bassett announced the
winner was Britt Lower for Severance. While I was rooting for Bates I
approved of Lower's win (like the majority of the actors on that show she is
playing a dual role which I tend to give an extra degree of credit to) and the
moment her name was announced I knew that any predictions the casual
handicapper had for the Emmys had to be completely thrown away.
This was proven particularly true for
directing and writing. I thought it was a certainty that Severance or The
Pitt would win one or both of the awards. Instead neither show did.
Outstanding Director went to Slow Horses for Season 4's finale: the
second consecutive year it has managed a major upset in an Emmy category. That
this has now happened twice shows the show's growing reputation in Hollywood
and makes it seem more and more likely the grand prize will some they come to
them.
Even more shocking was that Best
Dramatic Teleplay went to Dan Gilroy for Andor, which not even Gilroy
saw coming. He went out of his way to thank both his brothers who are essential
to that shows success. Andor managed to leave the Emmys with a total of
five wins, in what would be a tie for second for most wins of any drama for
2025. (I'll get to the other two in a minute.) After the latter win I genuinely
thought the Drama Emmys were taking the air of the Red Queen's race, that all
should have a prize. I can't tell you how heartily I approved of that.
Comedy was a different story as The
Studio officially set the record of most Emmy win with thirteen. I should
say Seth Rogen set the record because on Sunday he won every award that The
Studio won. He won Outstanding Actor, Director, Writer, and Producer, doing
something that not even Orson Welles or Warren Beatty (who I'm certain Matt
Resnick has everyone of their films on DVD in his library) managed to do in
their entire careers. Each win, amazingly, Rogen became more humble and more
willing to share credit with everyone he worked with, including his writers,
his cast and his producers.
When Rogen won for writing, I should
add, I gave up any hope that Hacks might manage to upset the juggernaut
for the second consecutive year. I thought that given how much discussion there
was about late night and corporations it might give the show an edge over this
equally hysterical depiction of how screwed up and yet how wonderful Hollywood
is. But all things considered it was the right choice.
And it's not like Hacks had a
bad night: Jean Smart took her fourth Emmy in four tries and Hannah Einbinder
finally, finally won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy.
Einbinder did lean towards politics at the end (which has been her want) but I
did enjoy the fact that she said: "this is going to destroy by image that
losing is all I'm qualified to do, but yeah winning's good too." She was
also grateful to the writers for becoming her friends and family and she went
out of her way to call Jean Smart 'the sun'. It's been a long time coming and I
wasn't sure it would happen. I'm glad it did.
But the biggest surprise in comedy –
really the whole night – came in Outstanding Supporting Actor. It was going to
go to one of two actors: Harrison Ford for Shrinking or Ike Barinholtz
for The Studio. All the other nominees were just there for the ride. I
knew it, you knew it, we all knew it.
And then Sterling K. Brown, James
Marsden and Julianne Nicholson (the other winner for Hacks) said the
winner was Jeff Hiller for Somebody Somewhere. Not in my wildest dreams
had I dared hope that Hiller could win in this category. The show had been
ignored by the Emmys for two years; this was just a consolation prize. Hiller's
win went against every prediction I made and I couldn't have been happier.
Hiller's speech was just as wonderful: "Thank you to HBO for decided to
put a show about sweating middle-aged people on the same network as the
beautiful teens of Euphoria." He talked about how the show was
about connection and community in the heartland of America, shouted out to
everybody else and saved his kindest words for the incredible Bridget Everett. I
saw half the losing nominees reacting to Hiller's speech; they were clearly
overjoyed to see him.
The wins for Adolescence were
the least surprising but most pleasing, particularly Owen Cooper making history
as he became the youngest male actor to ever win an Emmy and he received the
longest and loudest ovation. Cooper was humble and put so many of the
presenters and winners to shame with the professionalism and kindness he
demonstrated.
As expected the show won every other
award it had been picked to win – and one that it hadn't been. Stephen Graham
upset his fellow limey Colin Farrell for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited
Series. I will confess to a certain disappointment at that but by that point
Graham's charm and humbleness at his working class roots and upbringing had
completely won me over as well as his personality.
The only award in competition Adolescence
didn't win was, perhaps inevitably, the only won it didn't have a nominee
in. That didn't make Cristin Milioti's win for The Penguin any less
wonderful and her clearly overjoyed reaction and humbleness any more engaging.
Milioti's work was one of the great performances of 2024 and it deserved all
the recognition it got.
By the time the final awards came up I
was no longer sure what would happen in Drama. But when Noah Wyle finally won
the Emmy he's been owed for thirty years I was as happy as he was. He went out
of his way to say that lightning had struck twice and then thanked John Wells
for being that lightning. It was the most deserved win in the night.
So perhaps it was inevitable – though
I was uncertain – that the winner of Best Drama was The Pitt. I do need
to make it clear that The Pitt is only the fifth drama in the 21st
century to win the prize without winning either directing or writing. (The
other four for the record are The West Wing in 2002, Mad Men in
2011, Breaking Bad in 2013 and Game of Thrones in 2018.) The
Pitt managed a total of five wins all of them big. Severance was the
biggest winner in the Drama category with 8 but unfortunately now holds the
distinction of tying with ER for the most wins by a Drama without
winning the big prize.
The Penguin and Adolescence finished tied
for most wins by a Limited Series with 8 essentially winning all of the awards
Limited Series won this in 2025. 7 of The Penguin's awards were
technical ones while six of Adolescence's were major ones.
And in a sign of just how much things
have changed for The Bear after setting the record for most wins by a
comedy last year (while not winning the grand prize) this year it went 0 for 13.
Combined with how even the host Nate Bargatze mocked it as a 'heartbreaking
show about family tragedy in his opening segment, I think it's clear to me The
Bear's moment in the sun well and truly done.
On the plus side I loved the opening
segment where Bargatze played Philo Farnsworth and mocked the state of
television today with the same kind of hysterical detachment he's done when
George Washington described the future on Saturday Night Live. Describing
the ridiculousness of Severance, how the History Channel is about
aliens, the idea that streaming television will have ads and perhaps most
hysterically the detachment between quality and viewership. ("And they
will be the most watched shows on television. No! Hardly any of them will. Most
viewers will watch football and Yellowstone!") Rarely has anyone
deconstructed the absurdity of the medium – and by extension the difference
between the popularity of quality of shows – as humorously as Bargatze did in
just six minutes time. For no other reason than that I will applaud him even if
he is skewered for being 'apolitical'.
I also respect how the Emmys is
increasingly coming to realize that the best way to honor the industry is the
shows that made television great in the first place. The pleasure of honoring The
Golden Girls was one thing but I was overjoyed when Alexis Bleidel and
Lauren Graham came out to celebrate Gilmore Girls and essentially did a
Lorelai and Rory routine about tough it was to film their show. Favorite bit
was Graham's attitude about winter: "Once a year we managed to afford a
winter episode with snow, and then ER would do a show and wash it all
away." Bleidel: "You've got to let that go." Graham: "They
had Clooney. They could had Clooney and given us snow." And nothing in my
mind was more fitting then the fact that Outstanding Drama series was given by
a roster of the cast of the various Law & Order franchise, past and
present, under the disguise of openly mocking Mariska Hargitay. I also thought
the banter between presenters was better than usual, I particularly loved the
give and take between Kathy Bates and Alan Cumming when they presented – and
Cumming took the opportunity to rub it in Bates's fate that he had won every
Emmy he was nominated for and Bates was not.
(Personally the high point for me came
when Ray Romano and Brad Garrett presenting Outstanding Comedy and basically
acted exactly like their characters on the show in real life. Garrett's
highpoint when he asked Romano if he would make the In Memoriam segment and
Romano said: "If it's a slow year yeah." Romano: "If you'd been
like this all the time, we might have won a few more of these." They did
fine on their own, for the record.)
And on a side note for those who
choose to lambaste Bargatze, I really do approve that he chose to give the
greatest gift any host can give: the gift of charity. I love how he offered the
donate $100,000 to the Boys and Girls Scouts of America, then said if the speechmakers
went over the charity was lose money if they went over and if they went under,
it would gain money. In a weird way this may have been the subtlest example of
how Hollywood's liberalism is only skin deep: given the chance to congratulate
themselves or help an organization associated with the next generation with
money, they overwhelming chose to do the former. I give credit to Bargatze for
never directly pointing this discrepancy out and for being the bigger man at
every opportunity – including the end. When the night was over and the counter
was at -$28,000 he chose not only to give the original $100,000 but an
additional $250,000. Unlike the vast array of celebrities he did put
his money where his mouth was, which is so rare it needs to be applauded, not
pilloried by a bunch of critics who refused to see the gesture for what it was.
Hell if you were so inclined you might
argue that rather than being apolitical Bargatze was making a political
statement in the subtlest way possible all night. By arguing that these liberals
who will gladly say they will advocate and speak for progressive causes are
willing to take actual money out of a charitable cause he might have
been saying that the left is more about making gestures for the younger generation
then doing something to help a group right now.
That so many people have chosen to argue that this was a stale gag shows
that not only do they not get the joke behind it but that they can only define
activism when its giving in a speech or social media context, not when it comes
to actually helping the less fortunate. The recipients can be forgiven
for missing the context; those who choose to ignore the larger construct as
Bargatze not being sufficiently political further demonstrate that they don't
know the meaning of the word.
It's not too fine a point and it
didn't overall affect my opinion of last night's Emmys. I was satisfied with
the results and it exceeded by expectations of what the Emmys are capable of,
mostly on awards and honestly in entertainment. Those of you who are
small-minded not to view it for that reason, well, as Philo Farnsworth put it
last night, next year you can be like the rest of America and watch football or
Yellowstone instead.
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