The 76th Emmy Awards felt a little like an afterthought. The event, hosted by blandly amusing father-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy, was heavily overshadowed — not just by last year’s far more engaging ceremony, which aired in January, but also by the oft-overlooked Creative Arts Emmys, at which “Shogun” broke records. A full week before the prime-time Emmys began, the drama based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel had notched an astounding 14 wins for categories including best guest actor in a drama series (that went to Néstor Carbonell), main title design and casting. The series from Disney’s FX beat the record for most wins for a single season of television (previously held by “John Adams”) and the record for most wins by a series in its first season. (That briefly belonged to “The Bear.”)
That meant, going into Emmys night, there just wasn’t much suspense. FX was — a little unusually — the network to beat. “Shogun” seemed like a lock for best drama, and “The Bear,” FX’s stressful soi-disant comedy about trauma, addiction and haute cuisine, seemed poised to win best comedy just as it did last year; the show started the evening with a record-breaking 23 nominations. The evening was so wildly overdetermined that John Oliver (who has won many, many Emmys for “Last Week Tonight”) spent his “thank-you” time talking about his dog.
What little speculative chatter there was pertained mostly to category questions. It’s pretty much de rigueur at present to observe that while “The Bear” is a fine show, it is not, in any meaningful sense, a comedy. This is true and undeniable, and no one knows quite what to do about it. One sensed, in the standing ovation that Jean Smart received while accepting the award for best leading actress in a comedy for her work as Deborah Vance in “Hacks,” some collective relief that an actual comedy had won in the comedy category. When “Hacks” went on to win best comedy at the end of the evening, beating out “The Bear,” the crowd went wild. Somehow, an HBO production had become the underdog.
The evening was otherwise short on surprises. “The Bear” did fine! Ebon Moss-Bachrach won for best supporting actor, and Liza Colón-Zayas, whose performance in “Napkins,” the sixth episode of the third season, has been rightly praised as transcendent, delivered one of the most touching speeches of the night. I was shocked to learn she’s the first Latina ever to win best supporting actress in a comedy series and found myself echoing John Leguizamo’s condemnation of the lack of Latino representation on TV — a theme Emmy presenters Gael García-Bernal and Diego Luna (reunited for their forthcoming show “La Maquina”) elaborated on by presenting their category exclusively in Spanish.
But back to “The Bear,” which remains the biggest controversy of a pretty tepid (though punctual — for once the broadcast didn’t run long) evening. Christopher Storer won best director and best writer for a comedy series, and Jeremy Allen White — of course — won best lead actor. Again. One can grouse (and I will) about a system that perversely pronounces White’s simmering fury and pain as he confronts his abusive boss funnier than Matt Berry in “What We Do in the Shadows,” Larry David in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai in “Reservation Dogs” or Steve Martin and Martin Short in “Only Murders in the Building.” But we are where we are.
As for “Shogun,” the drama notched another four wins: for Hiroyuki Sanada as best actor in a drama, Anna Sawai as best actress, Frederick E.O. Toye for best director and the show as a whole for best drama. That’s all exactly as it should be. Not just because Sawai and Sanada were exceptional, but because there were a thousand reasons “Shogun” should have failed to find an American audience. It’s a really weird story set in 17th-century Japan! Most of the dialogue isn’t even in English! As co-creator and showrunner Justin Marks put it (in one of the better jokes of the night): “You guys green-lit a very expensive subtitled Japanese period piece whose central climax revolves around a poetry competition.”
I won’t say that the underperformers at last night’s Emmys deserved to lose, but neither, perhaps, did they need to win. Hulu’s glossy star magnet “Only Murders in the Building,” which started the night with 21 nominations but won only three awards (for music and production design), is far too pleased with itself to care about awards. Apple TV Plus’s “The Morning Show” should never have racked up an absurd and unjustifiable 16 nominations; the creators should be ecstatic to have walked away with three awards. (Billy Crudup won for best supporting actor, and the show got honored for hairstyling and makeup.) And “The Crown” might not have gotten the farewell it hoped for (it received 18 nominations), but it’s symbolically fitting, perhaps, that Elizabeth Debicki won for her portrayal of Princess Diana in the show’s uneven last season.
The biggest twist of the night was undoubtedly “Baby Reindeer’s” breakout success. Richard Gadd’s harrowing, autobiographical, six-episode Netflix show about his experience with a stalker won four Emmys despite legal (and ethical) controversies concerning its production. Gadd, who stars as a version of himself in the drama — even reenacting his own sexual assault — won for best actor and writer in a limited series. Jessica Gunning won best supporting actress for her arresting performance as Martha, Gadd’s stalker, and the show probably earned the win it got for best drama in the limited series category even if the viewing experience it offers is so wildly uncomfortable it’s hard to approach it critically.
I’ve put off talking about the ceremony itself because there’s so little to say. Compared to last year — which abounded in terrific sketches, heartwarming reunions and presenters introducing nominees from the sets of their respective shows — this year’s ceremony was kind of a dud. There were bits that called to mind the pleasures of Emmys past, like a “TV dads” sketch featuring George Lopez, Damon Wayans and Jesse Tyler Ferguson chatting in a man cave and, later, an arguably superior “TV moms” sketch in which Connie Britton, Susan Kelechi Watson and Meredith Baxter from “Family Ties” discussed the TV gender gap. Others were baffling; a sketch featuring Moss-Bachrach and Taylor Zakhar Perez (that seemed to be sponsored content for Johnnie Walker) left everyone confused.
The Levys tried. They delivered a few mild, anodyne, well-meaning bits. They were pleasant but forgettable. But the “Only Murders in the Building” cast was pleasant and forgettable, too. That’s where one starts to suspect there might be a production problem rather than a performer problem. When Martin Short and Steve Martin seem stilted and under-rehearsed — and virtually all the presenters prove to be more entertaining in the commercials airing between segments than they do onstage — something’s gone a little bit wrong. Jimmy Kimmel hosts a show multiple nights a week, but even his speech about his good friend Bob Newhart (after the “In Memoriam” segment) ended so oddly and abruptly it took the audience a minute to realize it was over and clap.
Political commentary was more limited than one might expect this close to a presidential election. I wondered, when Smart won, why the audience seemed so thrilled to see her; Smart is a generational talent, to be sure, but it’s not like she has lacked recognition. She won an Emmy in 2022! Part of it was probably the “Hacks” vs. “The Bear” rivalry, but I bet her reception had something to do with how she was introduced. In one of the night’s most thrilling moments, Candice Bergen walked onstage to present the category of best lead actress in a comedy series and said the following in that legendary voice — all the more moving for how it quavers, just a little, with age.
“For 11 years,” the TV pioneer said, “I had the tremendous privilege of playing the lead in a comedy series called ‘Murphy Brown.’” She recalled the writing, the camaraderie and the time Dan Quayle attacked her character for becoming a single mother. “Oh, how far we’ve come,” she sad, impishly. “Today, a Republican candidate for vice president would never attack a woman for having kids. So, as they say, my work here is done.” She paused. And then she said, “Meow.”
