Emmy Afterglow. What's Your Take Away?
Monday, September 19, 2016 at 5:20PM My go to caption for all photos of impossibly lovely groups of fierce women is "You can't sit with us!". But that wouldn't be appropriate here because look how warm and inviting this photo of Marcia Clark, Sarah Paulson and Angela Bassett is after the Emmys!
A day after the Emmys what's your biggest takeaway and favorite win? Besides Paulson I mean who really had it coming. In the good way. My very favorite speech was by Alan Yang who won for co-writing the "Parents" episode of Master of None.
There’s 17 million Asian Americans in this country and there’s 17 million Italian Americans. They have The Godfather, Goodfellas, Rocky, The Sopranos. We got Long Duk Dong.”
Mostly because it was so heartfelt and succinct in its perfect jab at showbiz practices. And also because we agree with him having long been on record as saying that Asian Americans have it the worst in showbiz for inexplicable reasons and yet the "diversity" topic is nearly always reduced to ratios of Black Actors to White Actors which is a gross oversimplification and an exclusionary take on the problem.
This year in addition to racially diverse winners we had a few LGBT winners too (McKinnon, Soloway, Paulson, RuPaul) and Jimmy Kimmel did a surprisingly good hosting job, so it was a fun Emmy year.
Transparent won the same two awards again (Actor / Director)
Topple the Patriarchy!
-Jill Soloway
Slate suggests that this year's Emmy wins are a sign that the new voting system is working -- I'd agree but for the large caveat that I wish the nominations were determined differently. There is so much quality television on the air from so many odd places that I think they'd do well to have multiple committees during the nomination process -- so that the nominee lists aren't the same every year as they shouldn't be since few to no shows are the exact same quality with the exact same MVPs from year to year. I'd also argue that the Guest Acting categories are in desperate need of exclusivity in terms of nominators. Think about it. It's the most populated category since literally every television show has multiple guests each season some that weren't there the season before or won't be there the season after. If any category needed an exclusive committee to watch clips from hundreds of shows and actually vote on merit rather than name awareness, those awards might mean something for a change. Right now they basically mean 'I'm Famous and I Happened to be on a Hit Show Briefly.'
Have any leftover thoughts you'd like to share?
Angela Bassett, Emmy, LGBT, Sarah Paulson, TV, Transparent
Reader Comments (39)
"have it the worst" what about Native Americans??? We have it even more shitty! For any one group to say they have it the worst is just wrong and based on opinion. We as ethnic people need to stop fracturing our argument for equality by making statements like this, we are all one people, ethnic people, and whites, although privileged, are our brothers and sisters as well.
Nathaniel and Asian Americans: a Love Story
I am SO SO HAPPY that Sarah Paulson FINALLY won an Emmy! She should have three total by now, but I'm happy for what is her best performance, on any type of medium, to date :)
Because of her husband Angela Bassett has an Emmy and a Tony to play with.
Jane Krakowsi does not stand up to applaud.
Which I loved! You could tell that she'd arranged her dress just so to show off those gams and didn't want to mess it up. But every time they panned to the audience, she was resolute in staying seated, no matter how many others stood up. Gives me hope that there's a little Jenna Maroney in her.
In terms of winners: what a thrill that Tatiana won! Albeit for the wrong season, but I'll take it.
we are not huge tv watchers... but we love the Simpson series, American Crime and Fargo ... all could not get the Emmy as they were i the same category ... what I did like was that the same old, same old series. people, etc. did not get Emmys ... I do not not know most of the shows, however...
I solidly agree that the new voting rules were a vast improvement over last year's system. There's no way we would have gotten RuPaul, Tatiana Maslany, Kate McKinnon or Rami Malek as winners under the preferential ballot model.
Next year will be even more interesting, with Game of Thrones missing the Emmy eligibility window. That clears 12 categories to new winners.
I do not understand /3rtful's comment as to why Bassett has a Tony and an Emmy because of her husband???? or am I missing the point....
@ rick - Angela Bassett is married to Courtney B. Vance, who is an Tony winner and just won an Emmy for playing Johnny Cochrane in American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson.
I only stream TV shows as I have time, but my thoughts:
Happy for Sarah Paulson - she seems to be one of the best actors working on TV, and maybe she will now go for legend status since she has won, and other ladies are post 65.
Happy for Rami Malek - he is a really interesting actor.
JLD - why? 5 years in a row? Its seems excessive. Same with all the other repeat winners.
People - please learn 3 points in advance to make in a speech! Staring down at your phone or notes is really distracting. I get it if you have to name names, but you should be able to make general points without having to read.
As someone who gives a lot of presentations, I was shocked at how many actors had to read their handwritten notes or even stare at their phone to know what to say. Rami is adorable. Sarah seemed gracious even if she was a notes reader.
T: Oh, you definitely have it bad too. Diversity matters. Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily, anyone?
Nat:
Asian-American Representation: Yeah, I hate this. Asians might have quite a few awesome figures (Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Tony Leung, among others), but if you want to talk awesome Asian-American characters, the closest thing would probably be Knives Chau (Canadian, but close enough for our comparison) from Scott Pilgrim. Which...is still kind of yikes (more in an "is a supporting role in a financial failure gamer/garage rock music comedy all there is" sense, but still...) when laid up against the Italian American examples, which are all 1. Critically and commercially successful, 2. Dramas AND 3. Referring to the main characters.
Guest Acting: I'd also argue that, because there are so many guest performances (there are some shows that have 22+ guests a season, after all), that even seven nominees doesn't fully do the category justice like it does with Oscar or the other Emmy categories. Maybe 15 or 20?
Matt Damon showing up and tormenting Jimmy Kimmel as their legendary yet neverending feud continues.
Actually I thought about YOU last night many times because so many speeches were written (and quite bad).
I guess Paulson's "I'm sorry" to Marcia Clark was for mocking her hair because if you see the documentary you clearly realize that she did every single possible mistake during the trial.
I know he meant well, but Tambor's "I hope I'm the last man to play trans" was kind of awful to Matt Bomer, right? I pictured Bomer watching it at home and covering his face of pure embarrassment.
I can't wait for Thrones missing the Emmy eligibility window specially in the acting categories.
Kirsten Dunst was really bad in Fargo, bad accent, bad line delivery, bad everything - I suspect she was only nominated because she's a "moviestar" crossing over into TV.
But the KILLER dress (yowza, hot!) she wore to the Emmys
more than made up for the undeserved nomination! .
Sarah Paulson, Courtney B Vance, Sterling K Brown
wins for O.J.
were so deserved -
it would've been a travesty if the three of them hadn't won.
Awesome that Master Of None won Comedy Writing - an absolutely brilliant show.
Can't wait for season 2!
I'm pissed that LOVE was snubbed -
Gillian Jacobs should've gotten a Lead Actress in a Comedy nom.
And the show should've gotten noms for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
Guest Acting definitely needs an overhaul. They revamped the eligibility in the category two years ago to limit the nominees to appearing in no more than half of a series' eligible episodes in an Emmy year, which was the right move after Uzo Aduba took home a guest Emmy for playing what is a series regular role despite her first season billing. But the categories seem to get filled out by either SNL hosts or part time regulars. I'd hate to place some additional limit, such as a 1-3 episode max per performer per Emmy year OR a 1 nominee per series per Emmy year, but it would help bring some more variety to the categories.
Personally, I'd love to revamp the Writing and Directing categories to a one submission per program per Emmy year maximum. Silicon Valley had two nominations each in comedy writing and directing, Veep had two writing nominations and three directing nominations, People vs OJ Simpson had three nominations in each category. While separate writers and directors are nominated for individual episodes (there's an Emmy rule that limits writers and directors to a single submission per program per Emmy year,) the practice of multiple nominations in these categories excludes other programs from getting nominated and creates the impression that even fewer shows are actually Emmy worthy. (How Veep and Silicon Valley can nearly monopolize the categories, when other shows, like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, You're The Worst, etc etc are successfully tackling huge creative and tonal leaps make the Emmys look out of touch with how television comedy is evolving.)
Is Claire Danes the only person in the world who doesn't look good tanned?
my favourite moment was the going-to-commercial shot of lily taylor's moment of revelation as the person next to her explained sarah paulson's shout-out to holland taylor
Catastrophe should have won the writing award.
Aside from the three brilliant OJ winners (probably my three favorite performances of the past year, in any medium), I was happiest for Kate McKinnon, Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang. As Ulrich said, Master of None is a brilliant show, and it's so sweet and good-natured (not what you'd expect from a show focusing on a single guy in his early thirties). And McKinnon is just brilliant, I love that her Hillary Clinton is so on-point but not cruel.
I guess I am really turning away from the cynical and mean in my tv viewing.
Otherwise, I thought Jimmy Kimmel did a really good job. I loved his Mark Burnett and Maggie Smith gags.
We haven't celebrated enough Peter Scolari's surprise win.
Just a fun awards night with some truly refreshing, and in most cases, inspired winners. Even a few of the repeat winners were mostly unimpeachable. Just really stoked over Malek and Maslany's wins (even if I was rooting for Russel and Rhys). In all scenarios, I never would've predicted that outcome. And next year will certainly prove interesting... along with no Breaking Bad and Mad Men, there'll also be Downton Abbey, Good Wife, AND Game of Thrones. Could really help a few shows (THE AMERICANS!!!).
Biggest takeaway: Margo Martindale is the most beloved actress in Hollywood. (Best Guest Actress for those scenes?)
In a few short years we've gone from nominee lists consisting of "traditional" names like Cranston/Chandler/Fox/Hall/Hamm/Laurie (2009) to winners with "you-can't-have-a-career-with-that-name" like Rami Malek and Tatiana Maslany.
@par - I missed Lily Tomlin's reaction, need to look it up.
Moments I love:
In addition to the Alan Yang quoted above, Jeffrey Tambor saying that he hopes he's the last cis actor to play a transwoman was great, as was Laverne Cox commenting on it when she presented.
The joy on the faces of the other supporting actress/comedy nominees when Kate McKinnon won. They all looked genuinely happy, with Gaby Hoffman and Anna Chlumsky as excited as Meryl Streep when Cher won the Oscar, or Cate Blanchett when Marion Cotillard won.
Wins I love:
Aziz Ansari & Alan Yang/Master of None
The People vs. OJ Simpson acting wins (all just phenomenal)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. I lurve this show so hard.
One thing I love about this year's Emmys is how it shows how progressive TV seems to be getting with its winners:
4 actors of color (Malek, Vance, Brown, King)
4 LGBTQ winners (RuPaul, Soloway, McKinnon, Paulson)
2 women directors (Soloway, Bier)
2 writers of color (Ansari, Yang)
Even if these numbers might not seem like much, it's still more actors and the writers of color than the amount that have won Oscars this decade and more women directors than the Oscars have awarded in its 88-year history in the Best Director category.
Jill Soloway seems like she'd be great to hang out with. You know, have a few drinks, then topple the patriarchy. I've admired her writing since Six Feet Under. It's probably where she learned how much fun awkward family dinners can be.
Liked Tambor's speech and loved Laverne Cox's reaction. If Tambor sincerely believes what he's saying about giving trans actors a chance, he should take himself out of Emmy consideration for his Transparent role in the future.
@carmen santiago
thank you for the clarification
Am I the only one who thinks the biggest surprise of the night was Mendelsohn? I would have thought he'd be considered guest this year, he was barely in it. I thought it was a shock when he was nominated.
I've never been a huge Emmys fan mostly because I've never really enjoyed the medium of television but I did get a chance to catch most of the best projects last year so I did watch it and enjoyed the show immensely.
I thought Jimmy Kimmel was fantastic. I laughed at most of his jokes and I thought he was clever and very very charming. He did not go too far at any point in my opinion.
His best jokes:
- The Amys joke - always lots of fun to see these actresses interact at awards shows and they're always so game.
- Matt Damon - I think Damon is a very naturally funny guy and also immensely intelligent. It was so nice to see bring his effortless hollywood charm to the affair
- The Maggie Smith joke. It's getting some hate but I thought it was really really funny. I fell to the floor laughing when he called her Lame Maggie Smith.
- The Bill Cosby joke - mostly because of Ellie Kemper's face
Other notes:
- Why is it so much funner to see VEEP win stuff than Game of Thrones? GOT is a very deserving winner not because I enjoy it (which I don't always do) but because of how big of a cultural phenomenon it is. But its creators take themselves so so seriously. I mean there is a complete absence of charm or interest in any of their interviews, award acceptances or really anything they do. You know Martin Scorcese created some of the grittiest classics in the history of film and he still has a sense of humor.
- I think people who are hating of the JLD win should be a little ashamed of themselves. If Team America takes the highest olympic medal count every olympics everyone would be ecstatic. This is the best actor of any gender doing comedy on TV right now and she deserves all her awards. The need for "I'm so emotional I can't breathe" moments is not more important than rewarding a true TV legend who is at the top of her game.. So hush.
- Rami Malek and Tatiana Maslany are adorable. The former genuinely awestruck by his win ( never really liked him as a celebrity until last night) and the latter the epitomy of hardworking talent (skipping the dramatic antics and jumping to genuine gratitude in her acceptance speech).
- Why are seasoned actors and actresses reading acceptance speeches from a paper. Does Meryl Streep read from a paper? Does Cate Blanchett read from a paper? How about Daniel Day Lewis? Does he read from a paper? You have memorized lines before!
I loved it when Kate McKinnon won. Her reaction was so geniune- she was talking to someone next to her and didn't seem to be completely focused when they called her name, which made the surprise even better.
I also enjoyed Sarah Paulson's speech and Julia's. I know Julia has won lots of awards, but she gave the best speech hands down. She probably needed the written paper to make sure she said everything she wanted to say. She may have just formulated it that day. She was clearly emotional and the paper may have hleped her keep her composure.
BTW I would've voted for JLD to win this year's award (esp. with Rachel Bloom, Gina Rodriguez and Aya Cash were not nominated). Last year though belonged to Lisa Kudrow (or Amy Poehler). Five in a row wins is NOT the problem, it's the seemingly lazy way it's happening that is.
I need a devastatingly sexy lesbian drama starring Sarah Paulson and Angela Bassett. Now.
Is this were Paulson begins the steps towards a Supporting Actress Oscar.
markgordon -- we can dream!
RuPaul sang "If I dream anything is possible"
It's too bad RuPaul's category (and much deserved win) wasn't aired on the main telecast. That would've been a great moment and a potentially important one for many queer kids out there to see.
Yeah, I wish RuPaul's win would have even been ACKNOWLEDGED. It's a big moment.
I was beyond thrilled about Louie Anderson in "Baskets". It might be because we're both from Minnesota and have mutual friends, but I think it's such a brilliant, WEIRD performance on a show that can also only be described as the same thing. It's very Divine-in-"Hairspray" in a way. There's no element of camp or even drag in his performance.
Tyler - Angela Bassett, really?
How 'bout a devastatingly sexy lesbian drama starring Sarah Paulson and Christina Hendicks - now, that would be HOT!