Emmys Recap
I'd like to briefly interrupt our regularly scheduled newsletter programming to talk about last night's Emmys. In an attempt to increase viewers and avoid football conflicts, NBC (aka Lorne Michaels, who made sure everybody knew the Emmys were all about SNL and the fact that broadcast networks aren't dead) moved the awards show to a Monday night for the first time in five years. It didn't fix the numbers problem, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the Emmys and will pretty much tune in on any night to watch. You can find a compete list of winners here. For the moments you may have missed, you can find a recap of the night's highs and lows:
I think anything can be improved with the addition of a musical number, so as Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson burst into song onstage, I immediately got excited. The danger of starting the show with two people who are funnier than the actual hosts is you spend the rest of the night wondering why Michael Che and Colin Jost were given the headlining spot. Suffice it to say, I was a fan of the opening number (although the energy never quite got there) but felt like Colin and Michael's laid back Weekend Update hosting style didn't eject enough pep into the ceremony. In the opening number, Kate and Kenan were joined by a host of other celebrities singing about whether or not we've solved Hollywood's diversity problem. Spoiler alert: We haven't. This conversation continued in the one shining moment from the hosts in a video segment called The Reparation Emmys, where Michael went around giving awards to those who have been overlooked through the years. It was funny, entertaining and a great way to point out that while this is the most diverse list of Emmy nominees ever, there's still a lot of work to do.
After years of Emmy snubs, Amy Sherman-Palladino finally received the recognition she deserved after years of witty writing and directing beautiful master shots. She made history as the first woman to win both comedy directing and writing awards, beat out the other men in the best directing category and rocked a fabulous hat while dancing around the stage to accept her Emmys. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel received a lot of love throughout the rest of the broadcast as well, earning best actress, best supporting actress and best comedy wins to boot.
I learned a big lesson last night about valuing my TV time after I saw a proposal during hour two of The Emmys that was more romantic than anything that aired during the weeks I spent watching Bachelor in Paradise. After audibly objecting to the director of The Oscars broadcast receiving an award, I immediately quieted as Glenn Weiss gave a sweet speech about his mother, who recently passed away. He concluded by proposing to his girlfriend and the celebrities in the audience (see Leslie Jones) abruptly lost their minds, as Jan Svendsen rushed to the stage in tears to accept.
Other charming moments throughout the night? Henry Winkler nabbed his first-ever Emmy win in the first award of the night and looked ecstatic to be on the stage. Regina King looked truly surprised and touched when her name was announced and had to be adorably waved onto the stage by her seatmates. We learned that Keri Russel does not want a public proposal, as Matthew Rhys joked from the stage that she warned him not to follow up with a second proposal when he accepted his statue. And pretty much any time RuPaul took the stage throughout the night was a highlight, from appearing in the opening number to accepting the Outstanding Reality Competition award.
To make up for the lackluster hosting, the Emmys did inundate us with plenty of hilarious alternates during the award introductions. Standouts included Sandra Oh (who was snubbed from winning!) and Andy Samberg, who engaged in adorable banter that had Twitter inventing a romantic comedy starring the pair, the hilarious Hannah Gadsby, who cracked joke after joke, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, who committed to an intro bit that could have gone off the rails with less esteemed comedians, and the ultimate #relationshipgoals couple Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, who gave us some amazing audience reaction shots and joked about the latter's EGOT.
