Image courtesy of Flickr
By Sabryna Coppola ’22
Arts & Entertainment Editor
On Sept. 20, the 72nd Emmy Awards took place, celebrating all of the triumphs of television in the last year. The show aired as a primarily virtual event for the first time. It was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, who made his comedic monologue to an empty Staples Center. Because everyone had to stay safely in their homes, or at least away from the crowds, the virtual Emmy Awards were very different than in past years, but there were a few shining moments.
The first section of the show was devoted to comedy, and Pop TV’s “Schitt’s Creek” swept the board. Winning every single award for a comedy series, the Canadian show took home seven wins. Crediting each member of the fictional Rose family with an Emmy, the Academy also awarded the show for its writing, directing and overall quality.
As a fan of the show, I am delighted to see their hard work being recognized. But as someone who has watched a lot of television in the past six months, I have to say there were so many more shows that deserved a share in the glory. Other nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series included “Insecure,” “The Good Place” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” all of which I believe stood their ground compared to “Schitt’s Creek.” I think individuals who made incredible contributions to television this year, like Ramy Youssef and Issa Rae, deserved to be celebrated as well. Essentially, “Schitt’s Creek” earned its success, but taking home every single award in the category seemed wrong considering all of its strong competitors.
HBO’s “Succession” took home the win for Outstanding Drama Series, beating “Ozark,” “Killing Eve” and others. Zendaya made history as the youngest recipient of an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at just 24. Amid her surprise, she took a moment to thank the other women in the category, as well as young activists all over the country.
“To all my peers out there doing the work in the streets: I see you, I admire you, I thank you,” Zendaya said, accepting her Emmy. She was not alone in acknowledging politics that night.
Regina King, who won Best Actress in a Limited Series, accepted her award for playing Angela Abar in the adaptation of the comic “Watchmen” while wearing a shirt with Breonna Taylor’s face on it, accompanied by the words “Say Her Name.” “Watchmen” was bitingly relevant in the last few months, confronting the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre and police brutality. Her co-star, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, won the nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series, and the show itself won Best Limited Series, taking home a total of four wins. Uzo Aduba, who won Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for her role in “Mrs. America,” also wore an outfit honoring Taylor.
Tyler Perry won the Governors Award in recognition for “outstanding achievement … either of a cumulative nature or so extraordinary and universal in nature as to go beyond the scope of the Emmy Awards presented in the categories and areas of the competition,” and delivered a touching speech about a quilt his grandmother gave him, which he sees as a representation of America.
“I stand here tonight to say thank you to all of the people who are celebrating and know the value of every patch and every story and every color that makes up this quilt that is our business, this quilt that is our lives, this quilt that is America,” Perry said, honoring the representation of Black Americans in television, something that his grandmother didn’t have.
This year, the Emmys seemed oddly unfamiliar in that everyone accepted their awards from home. The show followed a lot of the formulas we have seen in the wake of the pandemic: awkward jokes about social distancing and never leaving the house, commending essential workers and desperately urging viewers to vote. We saw some instances of true heartfelt acknowledgment of discrimination in the television industry and certainly felt the shortcomings of the Academy, including the failure to go further than nominating up-and-coming creators of color for their work.