First Timers Inject Fresh Blood Into TV’s Big Night

I and many other pundits predicted last night would be a very predictable Emmy Awards. We got that prediction wrong. Well almost. What was actually refreshing about the 77th Emmys was, John Oliver aside, the willingness of voters to embrace new shows rather than doing what they have so often done in the past by selecting the same winners year after year. There were a lot of firsts, which doesn’t often happen in one show.

Tonight saw the first win — for Best Comedy Series — for first year Apple TV+ comedy The Studio. It also became also the first comedy series ever to win 13 Emmys in one season, first or not. Four of those wins were for Seth Rogen. Make a show about them and the Emmy voters will fall in line every time.

The Academy should be applauded since, with its coronation, The Studio becomes the 6th out of the past 7 winners in the Comedy Series category that were first timers (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Fleabag, Schitt’s Creek, Ted Lasso, The Bear, Hacks). It proves the Academy is not relying on same-old, same-old as in the years before 2018 when the category was dominated repeatedly by the likes of 30 Rock, Veep, and Modern Family (the latter winning 5 years in a row).

It was also the first win for Best Drama Series for first year HBO series, The Pitt. And the first win -after five Supporting Actor nominations for ER – for Noah Wyle, and the first win off the first nomination for Supporting Actress Katherine LaNasa. And It was also the first win off the first nomination for Severance co-stars Tramell Tillman and Brit Lower (in an upset over veteran Emmy winner Kathy Bates). It was also nice to see Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder finally pick up her first Emmy after four consecutive nominations (and in a nod to the few at this Emmys who aren’t “firsts” , Jean Smart going four out four as Deborah Vance).

Thanks to being so rudely cancelled by CBS, it was also the first win ever for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert as Best Talk Series, and the first win for a broadcast network talk show since David Letterman last did it in 2002. Ironically it was the first – and only win -of the night for Emmy telecast carrier CBS, and they had to cancel their entire late night franchise in order to get it. The excitement in the room over the Colbert win was palpable. Some in the White House may be upset, but it was a great moment.

In the limited series sweep for Adolescence it was the first win off the first nominations for Stephen Graham (who won 3) , Owen Cooper (now the youngest winner ever) , and Erin Doherty, And at the lively Netflix party in Hollywood following the show they were all partying heartily with Netflix honcho Ted Sarandos congratulating all of them for bringing 8 Emmys home to the streamer with this global sensation. Sarandos was pleased to hear that they seem to have a stranglehold on the Limited Series/Anthology category having won it consistently over the past few years with the likes of The Queen’s Gambit, Beef, Baby Reindeer and now Adolescence. They even competed against themselves this year beating other nominees Monster: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story and Black Mirror.

Plan B’s Jeremy Kleiner, a two time Oscar winner (12 Years A Slave, Moonlight) now holding an Emmy as a producer of this masterful series, told me their company (with Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner) was moving forward into television in a bigger way with the 2023 hiring of former Netflix exec Nina Wolarsky as their first-ever President Of Television. She also was holding a shiny new Emmy as he introduced me to her, proof the smart hire was working out nicely.

The Netflix party was definitely a place to be as many of their 30 winners (tying with HBO for biggest haul, this year) came pouring in and the NYA joint was jumping.

Perhaps the most surprising win was also a first. Somebody Somewhere’s Comedy Supporting Actor Jeff Hiller was a jaw dropping victor over the likes of Harrison Ford, Ike Barinholtz and others, also as shocking as it seemed when he even got nominated for the third and final season of the sweet HBO show, needless to say his first such acknowledgement by the industry. His nomination and win shows Emmy voters have a mind of their own and don’t necessarily need to follow the winds of pundits. It should also give hope to Emmy campaigners that it is possible to be an underdog and still come out on top.

Another first, for me at least, was that a definite highlight of the entire three hour Emmy show was the stirring speech by Television Academy Chairman Cris Abrego, who not only highlighted the Governors Award win at last weekend’s Creative Arts ceremony for the Corporation Of Public Broadcasting and its defunding by Congress forcing it to close its doors, but also his passionate call for continued diversity in the industry even in the face of the Trump administration doing everything to end DEI. It is not every year that the perfunctory address by the Academy chairman gets the rapt attention of the audience, but this one did and that is another first. And a good one from the first Latino Chairman of not just the TV Academy, but any of them. At the Governors Ball there was high praise for his words.

Producers had promised a “politics free” Emmys, so I am glad it was the Academy Chairman who didn’t heed that call, even at one point pointedly blaming and shaming the Republican-controlled Congress over the CPB defunding. It was a refreshing touch of real life issues making its way into the otherwise lighthearted ceremony.

I have been reading some reviews of the show, and I didn’t see it on television but was there in person. I have to say the criticism lobbed at host Nate Bargatze over his inspired idea to promise $100,000 to the Boys And Girls Club of America, and a penalty of $1000 every second over 45 in acceptance speeches worked beautifully in the room keeping everyone engaged throughout in the ups and downs of the tally and that is no small feat. The payoff at the end with CBS donating $100,000 and Bargatze himself $250,000 was a sweet touch (not to mention millions of dollars in free advertising for the Boys & Girls Clubs). I ran into new Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President Lynette Howell Taylor at the Governors Ball and she was so impressed she wishes the Oscars had thought of it(!) This bit as a way of keeping speeches tight was definitely another first in a show full of them.

Finally the 77th Annual Emmy Awards marked another first , this time for me after losing 36 pounds since April (no shot) and wearing the expensive Armani tux that has been buried deep in my closet for 20 years, unable to be worn because I could no longer remotely fit into it. Now three lousy tuxes later, my Armani returned in style and staged its comeback. So I thank the Emmys and the late Giorgio Armani for the opportunity to prove you should never give up hope, only waistlines.