2018 Emmys Review
The Emmys are a time of year to celebrate the best that television has to offer. Bringing a new light into the crazy ideas of creators, directors, and actors. But unfortunately, the Emmys this year were much below average. Hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che, most notably known for their take on the “Weekend Update” skit on SNL, did a well job hosting the night with humorous stunts that really added value to the show.
Now, as always, you should take these highlights and opinions with a pinch of salt. At the very beginning of the show, SNL’s own, Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson came out and talked about some of the stats. NBC had the most nominated shows for network TV, while Netflix had the most nominations overall. They also touched on how Sandra Oh was the first Asian woman to be nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and there also was the fact that the audience could finally drink in their seats. They then sang a song about diversity, singing how this is the most diverse group of Emmys in history. Special Guests included Andy Samberg, Ricky Martin, and John Legend, who most recently won the EGOT.
The first awards given out were for Best Supporting Actors in Comedy Series. They went to Alex Borstein for The Marvelous Ms. Maisel (TMMM) and Henry Winkler finally won for his performance in Barry. A notable win went to Amy Sherman-Palladino for writing AND directing for TMMM. Lead Acting in a Comedy Series went to Rachel Brosnahan for TMMM and Bill Hader for Barry.Probably the best acceptance speech of the evening was Outstanding Directing for Variety Special. It went to Glenn Weiss, who if you may not have known who he was, you may know now if you watched the Emmys. During his acceptance speech, Weiss proposed to his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen. This has never been done in Emmy history making it a very unexpected, but beautiful moment of the night. The winners of the Lead Actors for Drama series were Matthew Rhys for The Americans and Claire Foy for The Crown. And other big winners were RuPaul’s Drag Race for Outstanding Reality Competition, SNL for Outstanding Sketch Series, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver for Variety Talk Series, TAOGV for Outstanding Limited Series, TMMM for Outstanding Comedy Series, and finally, Game of Thrones for Outstanding Drama Series.
Some other highlights of the show where when Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen tried (and failed) to give some facts about the Emmys. They did not manage to actually state a single fact, but then created a few laughs in the effort. By far the best presenters were Hannah Gadsby, who charmed the world with her awkward mannerisms, while Rick and Morty made an animated appearance and showed the audience an actual living Emmy creature. One jaw-dropping moment was when the legendary Betty White came on stage to give an incredible speech and melted the audience’s hearts. Michael Che gave out Reparation Emmys to half a dozen black actors who including Jimmy Walker from Good Times and Urkel himself, Jaleel White. And finally, the chairman of the television academy, Hayman Washington gave a speech about the future of television, and he had recent high school graduates on the stage with him. It was enlightening to see how there is high potential for these high school graduates
The Emmys this year were a bit underwhelming than they typically are, with a lot of highs and lows, and the best parts being short and sweet. The Emmys did hit an all-time low this year, with only 10 million viewers. Hopefully next year will bring in an increased number of viewers and an exceptional show.
