The Emmys were given out last night; there was a time not long ago when it would have been a VERY big deal. I used to attend on a regular basis, and I even got to ride by limo on occasion. During last night’s ceremonies there were a number of anniversaries that were celebrated and guest appearances made, including the OG cast of GREY’S ANATOMY and the Barone brothers from EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND marking 20-year milestones and a poignant salute to THE GOLDEN GIRLS from fan girls such as Reba McIntyre that noted that it was 40 years ago to the day that the show premiered on the same network where McIntyre’s 0.64 rated HAPPY’S PLACE is now one of NBC’s most-viewed sitcoms. THE GOLDEN GIRLS opened on a Saturday evening to a 25.0 HH rating. Yeah, I felt a bit older and more detached than usual.
Such was the vibe that permeated the Peacock Theatre last night. A few veteran shows and performers were honored–in the case of HACKS’ Jean Smart, it was a reinforcement and in the case of THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT, it was a long time coming, and a triumph that was a fitting denouement to a challenging summer that saw him as the face of a network and daypart in transition while being given a ten-month ramp to unemployment. Per THE WRAP’s Kayla Cobb, it produced one of the night’s more celebratory moments:
Stephen Colbert took the Emmys stage following “The Late Show’s” win for Outstanding Talk Series on Sunday night. His victory was one of the most celebrated of the evening, causing the crowd to erupt into chants of “Stephen.” “Ten years ago, in September of 2015, Spike Jonze stopped by my office and said, ‘Hey, what do you want this show to be about?'” Colbert said. “I said, ‘Spike, I don’t know how you could do it, but I would like to do a late night comedy show that was about love. I don’t know if I ever figured that out, but at a certain point — and you can guess what that point was — I realized that in some ways, we were doing a late night comedy show about loss. That’s related to love, because sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it,” Colbert continued. “Ten years later, in September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America. Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and put to the higher floor.”
But for the most part it was a night where veterans and recent winners were eschewed for a new wave of voter favorites, some predicted and some outright out of left field. The GOOD MORNING, AMERICA triumverate of Mason Leib, Emily Shapiro, and Angeline Jane Bernabe had receipts:
“The Studio,” Seth Rogen’s Hollywood-based comedy covering the life of powerful and klutzy studio executive Matt Remick, played by Rogen, took home the award for best comedy series and outstanding lead actor in a comedy series. ” Adolescence” won many of the major awards in the limited or anthology series categories, taking home outstanding limited or anthology series, lead actor (Stephen Graham), supporting actress (Erin Doherty) and supporting actor (Owen Cooper). The medical drama “The Pitt” also claimed top awards including best drama and best lead actor in a drama for the show’s star Noah Wyle. Other big winners included Britt Lower from “Severance” for lead actress in a drama.
The latter honors, not to mention to the Best Supporting Actress nod for yet another Pitt boss, Katherine LaNasa, were not on many pundits’ bingo cards. In an environment that has often resulted in producing results that can best be described as safe, it was a series of signs that, like it or not, there are some new sheriffs in town. The fact that THE PITT effectively shut out fellow HBO (Max) stablemate THE WHITE LOTUS and THE STUDIO turned last years’ comedy darling THE BEAR into an afterthought seemed especially jarring, especially when glimpses of those casts’ and crews’ collective disappointments were caught.
Amidst all of this fresh blood were a few sour notes, though thankfully nothing truly scandalous. What should have been a true moment of glory for Smart’s brilliant HACKS ingenue Hannah Einbinder was tinged by her decision to make one of the few political statements of the evening, as VARIETY’s Michael Schneider and Adam B. Vary chronicled:
Einbinder has won her first Emmy, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy at the Sunday ceremony. She closed her speech with a shout out to the Philadelphia Eagles, and the first overtly political moment of the ceremony, saying “Go Birds, fuck ICE and free Palestine.” The profanity was muted on the telecast, but the rest of her message made it through.
The actor’s pronouncement follows the announcement of an open letter signed by 3,900 industry figures (including Einbinder) declaring they will not work with Israeli institutions and film companies that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.” Paramount, the parent company of this year’s Emmy’s broadcaster CBS, was the first major studio to respond to the letter, condemning the boycott with a statement that read, in part, “We do not agree with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers. Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace.”
Sure sounds like that CBS ombudsman is already hard at work, and that Einbinder is probably headed for what can only be deemed as an anticpated victory lap sometime soon on an upcoming Colbert.
And her decision to hop onto a soapbox could have been quite costly, as she and other acceptees were battling a gimmicky clock challenge that host Nate Bargatze threw down at the outset, as PEOPLE’s
Bargatze’s monologue…saw him telling the audience he planned to donate $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America — but with a catch. “Every second you go over 45 seconds, we will [deduct] $1,000 away from the Boys & Girls Club,” he joked about acceptance speeches, amid laughter from the audience.
But with all of those upsets and large on-stage gatherings to revel in the shock and delight, by show’s end that $100,000 was a memory, and it led to a “payoff” that at least salvaged for its charity what it failed to achieve comedically. So sayeth VARIETY’s Aramide Tinubu:
There was a time when these shows were guaranteed ratings juggernauts, and an opportunity for me to show off how well I could clean up, even if I didn’t always tuck in my shirt. That era, it would appear, is over. Perhaps for the best on all counts.