The Emmy Awards celebrated its 70th anniversary, once again honouring the best TV shows and actors of the year.
The three-hour ceremony, held in Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater, was hosted by Saturday Night Live‘s Colin Jost and Michael Che, who performed to mixed results.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a sitcom about a ’50s homemaker turned edgy stand-up comedian, took an early lead on Monday night.
Series star Rachel Brosnahan was honoured as best comedy actress, Alex Borstein earned the supporting trophy and the series creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, nabbed writing and directing awards.
Brosnahan used the end of her acceptance speech to give a shout-out to the show’s celebration of women power.
“It’s about a woman who’s finding her voice anew, and it’s one of the things that’s happening all over the country now,” she said. She urged viewers to exercise that power by voting.
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In an awards ceremony that started out congratulating TV academy voters for the most ethnically diverse field of nominees ever, the first awards all went to white people.
“Let’s get it trending: #EmmysSoWhite,” presenter James Corden joked at the midway point, riffing off an earlier tribute to Betty White.
“I want to say six awards, all white winners, and nobody has thanked Jesus yet,” co-host Michael Che said, referring back to his earlier joke that only African-American winners do.
Then Regina King broke the string, with a best actress trophy in a limited series or movie for Seven Seconds, which tracks the fallout from a white police officer’s traffic accident involving a black teenager.
She was followed by Darren Criss, who is of Filipino descent and won the lead acting award for the miniseries The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
Thandie Newton won best supporting drama actress for Westworld, and Peter Dinklage added a third trophy to his collection for Game of Thrones.
The ceremony had a real-life drama moment when winning director Glenn Weiss, noting his mother had died two weeks ago, proposed to his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen.
“You wonder why I don’t want to call you my girlfriend? It’s because I want to call you my wife,” Weiss said. She said yes, he put his mother’s ring on her finger and the crowd whooped and cheered.
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Bill Hader collected the best comedy actor award for Barry, a dark comedy about a hired killer who stumbles into an acting career.
Henry Winkler, perhaps better known to TV viewers as “The Fonz,” won a supporting actor award for Barry, four decades after gaining fame for his role in Happy Days.
“If you stay at the table long enough, the chips come to you. Tonight, I got to clear the table,” an ebullient Winkler said, with an equally delighted auditorium audience rising to give him a standing ovation. To his children, he said: “You can go to bed now, daddy won!”
Top comedy honours went to — what else? — The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and top drama went to Game of Thrones.
All the winners in the major categories are listed below.
—
Drama series
The Americans
The Crown
*** WINNER: Game of Thrones
The Handmaid’s Tale
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld
Comedy series
Atlanta
Barry
Blackish
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Glow
*** WINNER: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Silicon Valley
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
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Lead actor, drama
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Ed Harris, Westworld
*** WINNER: Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us
Jeffrey Wright, Westworld
Lead actress, drama
*** WINNER: Claire Foy, The Crown
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Elizabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Keri Russell, The Americans
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld
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Lead actor, comedy
Anthony Anderson, Blackish
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Donald Glover, Atlanta
*** WINNER: Bill Hader, Barry
William H. Macy, Shameless
Lead actress, comedy
Pamela Adlon, Better Things
*** WINNER: Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Allison Janney, Mom
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, Blackish
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie
Supporting actor, drama
Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau, Game of Thrones
*** WINNER: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
David Harbour, Stranger Things
Matt Smith, The Crown
Joseph Fiennes, The Handmaid’s Tale
Guest actor, drama
F. Murray Abraham, Homeland
Cameron Britton, Mindhunter
Matthew Goode, The Crown
Gerald McRaney, This Is Us
*** WINNER: Ron Cephas Jones, This Is Us
Jimmi Simpson, Westworld
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Supporting actress, drama
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things
Ann Dowd, The Handmaid’s Tale
Vanessa Kirby, The Crown
Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid’s Tale
Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid’s Tale
*** WINNER: Thandie Newton, Westworld
Guest actress, drama
*** WINNER: Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale
Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones
Cicely Tyson, How To Get Away With Murder
Kelly Jernette, The Handmaid’s Tale
Viola Davis, Scandal
Cherry Jones, The Handmaid’s Tale
Supporting actor, comedy
Brian Tyree Henry, Atlanta
***WINNER: Henry Winkler, Barry
Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live
Louis Anderson, Baskets
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Supporting actress, comedy
Zazie Beetz, Atlanta
Betty Gilpin, Glow
Laurie Metcalf, Roseanne
Aidy Bryant, Saturday Night Live
Leslie Jones, Saturday Night Live
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
*** WINNER: Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Megan Mullally, Will & Grace
Guest actor, comedy
Sterling K. Brown, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live
Donald Glover, Saturday Night Live
Bryan Cranston, Curb Your Enthusiasm
*** WINNER: Katt Williams, Atlanta
Guest actress, comedy
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
*** WINNER: Tiffany Haddish, Saturday Night Live
Wanda Sykes, Blackish
Maya Rudolph, The Good Place
Molly Shannon, Will & Grace
Jane Lynch, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Variety talk series
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
*** WINNER: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
The Late Late Show With James Corden
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Variety sketch series
At Home With Amy Sedaris
Drunk History
I Love You America
Portlandia
*** WINNER: Saturday Night Live
Tracey Ullman’s Show
Reality-competition series
The Amazing Race
American Ninja Warrior
Project Runway
*** WINNER: RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice
Reality host(s)
W. Kamau Bell, United Shades of America With W. Kamau Bell
*** WINNER: RuPaul Charles, RuPaul’s Drag Race
Ellen DeGeneres, Ellen’s Game of Games
Jane Lynch, Hollywood Game Night
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, Project Runway
Limited series
The Alienist
*** WINNER: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Genius: Picasso
Godless
Patrick Melrose
TV movie
Fahrenheit 451
Flint
Paterno
The Tale
*** WINNER: USS Callister (Black Mirror)
Lead actor, limited series or movie
Antonio Banderas, Genius: Picasso
*** WINNER: Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose
Jeff Daniels, The Looming Tower
John Legend, Jesus Christ Superstar Live
Jessie Plemons, Black Mirror
Lead actress, limited series or movie
Jessica Biel, The Sinner
Laura Dern, The Tale
Michelle Dockery, Godless
Edie Falco, Law & Order True Crime
*** WINNER: Regina King, Seven Seconds
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Cult
Supporting actor, limited series or movie
*** WINNER: Jeff Daniels, Godless
Brandon Victor Dixon, Jesus Christ Superstar Live
Rick Martin, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Edgar Ramirez, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Finn Wittrock, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Michael Stuhlbarg, The Looming Tower
John Leguizamo, Waco
Supporting actress, limited series or movie
Adina Porter, American Horror Story: Cult
Letitia Wright, Black Museum (Black Mirror)
Sara Bareilles, Jesus Christ Superstar Live
*** WINNER: Merritt Wever, Godless
Judith Light, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Penelope Cruz, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
— With files from The Associated Press