The Emmy Awards went on Sunday, with Jimmy Kimmel noting at the outset that while an awards show might “seem frivolous and unnecessary” in the middle of a pandemic, “Right now, we need fun.”
Kimmel opened the show with scenes of an audience, before he revealed that he was actually performing in a near-empty auditorium.
“Of course we don’t have an audience. This isn’t a MAGA rally. It’s the Emmys,” the ABC latenight host said, later referring to the show as “The No People’s Choice Awards.”
In early categories, Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy both won for the final season of “Schitt’s Creek,” the first Emmy for the two comedy veterans since receiving awards for writing “SCTV” in the early 1980s. Levy’s son, Daniel Levy, was also recognized for writing the Pop TV show.
The 72nd annual Emmys mark the most significant award show to go on since the coronavirus pandemic ruled out the traditional everyone-together/black-tie events. Most of the other upcoming major awards, following the lead of the Oscars, have postponed their dates further into 2021.
The producers of this year’s Emmy telecast came into the ceremony with a plan to go “live, live, live,” recognizing that there would be potential logistical problems, and hoping for the best. That includes dispatching 130 cameras to catch the reactions of nominees and winners scattered across the globe.
Through the Creative Arts Ceremony, devoted to technical areas and programs in dozens of categories not included in the main primetime telecast, HBO and Netflix were tied with 19 awards each.
Netflix broke a record this year in terms of total nominations, with 160, thanks in part to the volume of programming that the streaming service pumps out.
Neither of 2019’s big series winners, “Game of Thrones” and “Fleabag,” were in contention for this year’s honors, opening the door for some new blood.
It will be interesting to see if the unusual format engenders enough curiosity to prompt more people to tune in, especially with “Thrones,” a huge popular hit, no longer in the mix. Presented by the Television Academy, the Emmys experienced a sharp ratings decline last year to record-low numbers airing on Fox.
