The Handmaid’s Tale and political comedy Veep won the top prizes at the Emmy awards on Sunday (Sept 17), but satirical sketch show Saturday Night Live won the most Emmys overall on the back of a season of Donald Trump spoofs.
The new US president, who never won an Emmy despite his reality show past, was also the butt of multiple jokes at the ceremony honoring the best of television.
“If he (Trump) had won an Emmy, I bet he wouldn’t have run for president,” host Stephen Colbert told the A-list audience.
“It’s your fault! He never forgave you and he never will.
But unlike the presidency, the Emmys go to the winners of the popular vote,” Colbert quipped, referring to the 2016 election result.
Alec Baldwin won the comedy supporting actor Emmy for his withering impersonations of Trump for Saturday Night Live.
After its most-watched season in 23 years, Saturday Night Live won nine Emmys, including Best Variety Sketch Series, for actress Kate McKinnon and for Melissa McCarthy’s turn as former White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
With HBO’s medieval series Game Of Thrones out of the running this year because of a later airdate, there were a slew of new faces among Sunday’s winners.
Many of them were for women, who scored with female-centric shows like Big Little Lies, A Handmaid’s Tale and Veep, and rare wins for women directors, writers and producers.
New faces
In the first major awards wins for streaming service Hulu, The Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss was named best drama actress for playing a woman forced into sexual servitude. The show also won awards for writing, directing and for supporting actress Ann Dowd for a total of eight.
Other new faces included Donald Glover, the Best Comedy Actor and also director for his hip-hop themed show Atlanta. Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her sixth consecutive Emmy for playing a female egotistical presidential candidate on HBO’s
Veep, one of the few repeat winners.
“We did have a whole storyline about impeachment but we abandoned that because we were worried that someone else might get to it first,” said Louis-Dreyfus, accepting her trophy.
Biggest losers
Sterling K. Brown won Best Dramatic Actor for his role as an African-American who is adopted into a white family in heart-tugging NBC family drama This Is Us.
In a crowded limited series category, HBO’s murder mystery Big Little Lies”came out on top, winning eight Emmys including for Best Series, for Nicole Kidman’s abused wife character, for Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgard, as well as for writing and directing.
Kidman said the show “was created out of frustration because women weren’t getting great roles. So now, more roles for women, please!”
Britain’s Riz Ahmed beat presumed front-runner Robert De Niro to take his first Emmy for his role as a man who falls foul of the US judicial system in HBO’s crime limited series The Night Of.
Some of the night’s biggest losers included two new Netflix shows. Fan favourite Stranger Things won just five of its 18 nominations, mostly in technical categories, and British royal series The Crown came away with three out of 16 nominations. – Reuters
Oprah Winfrey presents Elisabeth Moss with the Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series award for her role in ‘The Handmaids Tale’. Photo: AFP
List of winners in major categories
Drama Series- The Handmaid’s Tale
Comedy Series- Veep
Limited Series- Big Little Lies (HBO)
Television Movie- Black Mirror– San Junipero
Reality Competition Programme- The Voice
Variety Sketch Series- Saturday Night Life
Variety Talk Series- Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
Lead Actress In A Drama Series- Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Lead Actor In A Drama Series- Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us
Supporting Actor In A Drama Series- John Lithgow – The Crown
Supporting Actress In A Drama Series- Ann Dowd – The Handmaid’s Tale
Lead Actor In A Comedy Series- Donald Glover – Atlanta
Lead Actress In A Comedy Series- Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Veep
Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series- Alec Baldwin – Saturday Night Live
Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series- Kate McKinnon – Saturday Night Live
Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie- Nicole Kidman – Big Little Lies
Lead Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie- Riz Ahmed – The Night Of
Supporting Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie- Laura Dern – Big Little Lies
Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie- Alexander Skarsgard – Big Little Lies – dpa
Aziz Ansari (left) from ‘Masters Of None’ and and Donald Glover from ‘Atlanta’ pose with their Emmys. Ansari won for Best Writing For A Comedy. Photo: Reuters
