Title: The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards
Genre: Award Ceremony, Entertainment Special
Platform: TV-CBS
Director: Glenn Weiss
Writers: Dave Boone
Rating: TV-14
Release: September 17, 2017
Host: Stephen Colbert
Feature image: Source
The show began with a skit involving Anthony Anderson from ABC’s Blackish and Allison Janney from ABC’s Blackish (just roll with it). Stephen talks about how Everything is Better on TV and they challenge him to sing it. That begins the opening musical number. After it ends, Stephen begins his opening monologue. He makes the requisite jokes about the TV industry and Hollywood. His better jokes of course are about politics, Trump in particular. At the end of one of his jokes about Trump, he brings on the human punch line himself, Sean Spicer. Spicer received a warm reception from the audience, considering who the audience was. You could see there were a few celebrities who weren’t thrilled to see him, but it was cordial. Spicer played the good sport, because what choice does he have. He is a national joke and he knows it. He’ll probably ride his rehabilitation tour to a book deal and a spot on one of the cable networks. Not bad for being the mouthpiece of this administration. So, I guess we should expect to see Steve Bannon be a presenter on the BET Awards.
Because we are in the era of ‘Peak TV’, I haven’t seen many of the nominated shows and performers. Going by the shows and performers, I have seen, and going by the positive reviews about the shows and performances I didn’t see, there wasn’t an Emmy given to someone who didn’t deserve it. There were people and shows I wanted to see win, but I wasn’t upset when my show didn’t win, just disappointed.
The big winners for the evening were The Handmaid’s Tale, Big Little Lies, and Saturday Night Live. The Handmaid’s Tale won best drama, best actress in a drama (Elizabeth Moss), best writing in a drama (Bruce Miller), best directing in a drama (Reed Morano), best supporting actress in a drama (Ann Dowd), and outstanding guest actress (Alex Bledel) during the Creative Arts Emmys. Big Little Lies won best-limited series, best actress in a limited series (Nicole Kidman), best supporting actor in a limited series (Alexander Skarsgard), best supporting actress in a limited series (Laura Dern) and best directing a limited series or movie (Jean-Marc Vallée). Saturday Night Live won best variety sketch series, best supporting actor in a comedy series (Alec Baldwin), best supporting actress in a comedy series (Kate McKinnon), outstanding guest actor in a comedy series (Dave Chappelle), and outstanding guest actress in a comedy series (Melissa McCarthy). They both received their Emmys during the Creative Arts Emmys.
Two who made history were Lena Waithe being the first African American woman to win in the comedy series writer category, and Donald Glover for being the first African American winner in the comedy series director category. Donald Glover also won for actor in a comedy (and best tux). It was a big evening for women and people of color this year, and the academy made a point to pat themselves on the back for it. It would have been nice if they let Sterling Brown finish his acceptance speech.
The program was good. There were entertaining sketches, the best being the Westworld sketch. The presenters banter was awkward like all awards shows. The acceptance speeches were generally good. The best thing, they only ran over by three minutes. The Oscars should take a lesson. Here are the winners from the 2017 Primetime Emmys and the Creative Arts Emmys. Most off the shows that didn’t win an Emmy on the Sunday broadcast, at least won one at the Creative Arts Emmys; so your favorite show might have won an Emmy after all.
- Moon Knight: Steven Grant of the Giftshop - April 6, 2022
- Eternals: Through the Ages - April 3, 2022
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: Slackers - March 12, 2022