by The 76th Annual Emmy Awards began much as the 75th did, a ringing endorsement of The Bear, which won a trio of major comedy awards Jeremy Allen White, best actor, Coln-Zayas, Liza, outstanding supporting actress, Ebon Moss-Bachrach for best supporting actorFor White, Moss-Bachrach, these were their second wins It was the first for Coln-Zayas, a veteran stage actress, also an Obie, Drama Desk Award winner, who plays line cook Tina MarreroAnd Hacks star Jean Smart did what everyone at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles obviously expected she would do Sunday night, accept her third win for best actress in a comedy It was her sixth Emmy overallIn other wins, Elizabeth Debicki won best supporting actress in a drama for The Crown, she was Princess Diana, Billy Crudup won a second Emmy best supporting actordrama for The Morning ShowMeanwhile, fatherson Eugene, Daniel Levy started the show with a wry, generational look at the awards they found themselves co-hosting for the first time I've played a lot of dads, said the dad But without question, my most rewarding dad role has been your dad In 'Schitt's Creek' Because it got me my first EmmyDaniel Levy added regarding Reservation Dogs, honored with its first Emmy nomination as best comedy after three seasons You might say the Television Academy voters have found a show that's been creatively thriving for years, said, 'Hey, look what we've discovered' When looking at this year's Emmy nominees, you are also looking at this past January's to some degree Sunday's 76th annual Primetime Awards are the spiritual cousin's to the 75th nominees, Dark, A, brooding lot, full of division, anxiety, despairAnd those were just the comedies Ba dumNevertheless, Hollywood's, or at least TV's, neuroses were on full display once again Sunday, set against the lead-up to two crippling strikes, dread over artificial intelligence, a streaming world gone madThe reason is that many if not most shows nominated for both the 75th, 76th annual awards were produced a couple of years ago, or before the strikes of 2023 You can therefore think of both of the ceremonies of 2024 as related, as Part A in January, Part B on Sunday The predictions for both matched up in some ways too Leading up to Sunday, The Bear's 23 Emmy nods, the most ever for a comedy, appeared to set it up for a repeat Shogun, 25 nominations overall, appeared poised to sweep Sunday, just as Succession 27 nods swept the drama category at the 75th awards in JanuaryBut what's really troubling the Emmys are viewers, or rather their absence The broadcast of the 75th, which aired on Fox Jan 15, was seen just 42 million viewers, or not much more than the Tonys 35 million this past June Airing on a January night was an anomaly, but nevertheless a trend Emmys ratings have been dropping steadily for years Perhaps the real drama isn't Sunday, but Monday, when the overnight ratings come outLittle wonder the Emmys reached back to the relative halcyon days of 2020 to pick Sunday's hosts, the Levys of Schitt's Creek, that year's big comedy winner A little Levy levity is needed, wouldn't you say
Published in Newsday (16.09.2024)