Focus on Black Lives, also go overboard for ‘Shits Creek’

For the second consecutive year, voters distributed a massive MAPA for the critically acclaimed series that Emmys ignored until its final seasonA strange mix of material went to the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night, but the three most influential on the show were the Kouveau-19 epidemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

The epidemic apparently forced the Television Academy to go virtual with a three-hour telecast that had to go along with social disturbances and no live audience and winners from homes around the world were accepted. And to be honest, it sounded like a mess – an attempt to create a new kind of show that worked really hard but showed tension in every way.

And all the frantic comedy and that spoiled host Jimmy Kimmel was forced to get in the way of the show’s heart, taking a cue from the record number of Black performing nominees and returning to frequent speeches and film that emphasized the voice The power that is often presented on television.

From a clip with Issa Rai, for a cheeky speech by presenter Anthony Anderson, for a Governor Award award to Tyler Perry, an America Ferrara video was dedicated to the proposition that “when TV has more spices, This is better, ”the show. It emerged between jokes as a showcase for Black Lives television. And when voters showed that they had already received the message with a record number of nonwhite nominees, they added four more nonwage acting winners to go along with six at the Creative Arts Emmys show, meaning that this year More than 50% of the winners were people of color in 19% of acting.

“Watchman”, which ruled in limited series categories, was rooted in a story of racial harassment from the 1920s – but the drama and comedy series that dominated the night were “succession” and “Skits Creek,” It has nothing to do with it. Striking for inclusion or diversity. Instead, they only show that the voters decided that they represent the best of the year – not the ones who felt best for 2020, but the ones that seemed most entertaining and the best to the voters.

This meant that for the second year in a row, comedy categories delivered a massive following for a critically acclaimed series that Emmys ignored until its final season. And for this, I blame Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Last year, voters discovered the critics’ favorite “Fleabag” in its final season – and when they gave it four awards, Phoebe Waller-Bridge was such a delightful winner that the show turned into “Fleabag”: Love-Fest . How much better to recreate that feeling, even if it’s virtual around this time, than finding another critics favorite they’d overlooked in its first season?

So they filled that 2020 slot with “Skits Creek”, which ended after winning all seven Comedy Awards on Sunday night, in addition to winning both at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony earlier in the week. The show won a total of zero Emmys for its first five seasons, but did not do any more series, comedy or drama in its final season, it won the Top Series Award, as well as supporting all four lead and acting awards and Directing and Writing Emmys.

Was he going overboard? Yes, it was probably leaving no room for the wonderful final season of “The Good Place” or “Insecurity” or lack of time to “do what we do in the shadows.” But it’s hard to argue with the awarding of the award to Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, who have since won the award in 1983 and 1982 for “SCTV”, respectively, or Eugene’s son Dan, who won as a prize The Emmys did not live. Actor, writer and producer.

If it had not been for Ron Cephas Jones and Jasmine Cephas Jones, Lewis would have been the first parent-child team to have won the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this year and defeated Punch. “Ours” and “#FreeRayshawn, respectively”

Voters in the drama-series and limited-series categories were slightly more egalitarian, with big winners “Succession” and “Watchman” each winning four awards, but not hogging all the statues. Those were the categories where you got to see some of the night’s ups and downs: Zendaya for Laura Linini for “Ozark”, Jennifer Aniston for “The Morning Show” and Olivia Colman for “The Crown” for “Euphoria” Won the Outstanding Lead Actress in a drama series Emmy. ; In the Limited Series or Movie for “Mrs.”, Uzo Aduba won the title of Outstanding Lead Actress for “Watchman” Jean Smart on America “and Tony Collett for” Unbelievable “; and a limited series, movie, or theatrical special award. Excellent direction for “going beyond the scale and scope of the watchman” to the intimacy of “unconventional”.

However, surprisingly, there were relatively few on Sundays. And while it’s no surprise that HBO has come up with more wins than any other network or platform, as always, it should be disappointing for Netflix as well. The streaming giant broke the current record for HBO at 107 with 160 nominations, but finished with 21 wins at HBO’s 30.

The night was a lovely party for “Shits Creek,” which will not be back next year. But does Sunday’s win mean that “Succession” is the successor to “Game of Thrones”, which is in that category with HBO’s previous Emmys? It’s probably premature to suggest this – and who knows what the TV landscape will look like a year from now, with some shows still delayed and others in COVID mode.

But whatever the TV landscape looks like a year from now, can we expect the Emmy show itself to look a bit different?