Monday, September 16, 2019 at 7:00AM
NATHANIEL R in Beyoncé, Emmy, Free Solo, Homecoming, James Corden, RuPaul's Drag Race
by Nathaniel R
"We're going to the Catskills" was a popular episode of the Emmy's darling favourite The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.
The Creative Arts Emmys were held over the weekend so Game of Thrones and Marvelous Mrs Maisel are looking set to easily repeat their previous series wins on Emmy Night (Sept 22nd) since they retained a stranglehold on below the line prizes. The big news that had the internet in a huff over the two night ceremony was the fact that the popular concert special Beyonce Homecoming lost all the Emmy categories it was up for. Whether or not you love Beyoncé (I remain indifferent) that seems justifiably insane in some of those categories.
It's really time for Emmys to bring back blue ribbon panels because this "everyone can vote" thing just means that whatever is the most watched or most obsessed over show just wins everything regardless of the category. If voters aren't watching their submission tapes they're also often voting on shows they loved the year before or love right now (but a different season is the thing they're voting on. Etcetera). Why have 100s of categories if you're just going to bury three or four shows in the same dozens of awards and leave hundreds of just-as-fine programs Emmyless? If the Emmys were truly a reflection of the art of television there would be more of a variety of winners from year to year. The list of winners and a few notes after the jump...
The Queer Eye cast at the Emmys
Structured Reality Program Queer Eye Variety Special (Live) Norman Lear Presents: All in the Family and The Jeffersons
This award makes Norman Lear the oldest Emmy winner of all time. He's 97 years old
Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney
Somehow this one beat cultural events like Hannah Gadbsy: Nanette and Beyonce: Homecoming.
Choreography (Variety / Reality) Tessandra Chavez, World of Dance
All the nominees were from just two shows, this one and So You Think You Can Dance
Production Design (Variety Special) Rent Production Design (Variety / Reality Series) Saturday Night Live — "Host: John Mulaney" Short Form Variety Series Carpool Karaoke: The Series Short Form Animated Program Love, Death and Robots — "The Witness"
Very cool animation in this episode but this is clearly a show for straight boys. Both episodes sampled were all boobs and violence.
Narrator David Attenborough, Our Planet
One of the nominees here was Angela Basset for The Flood and given that Bassett is the Queen of Enunciation, we are not pleased that she lost.
Music Composition (Documentary) Free Solo Music Direction Fosse/Verdon — "Life is a Cabaret"
Another place where Homecoming lost. Fosse/Verdon actually made a good showing. Will Michelle Williams win on Emmy night? We're crossing our fingers for her.
Music and Lyrics Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — "Antidepressants Are So Not A Big Deal"
FINALLY an Emmy for that amazing show.
Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Free Solo — "360"
Hmmm, how many prizes does Free Solo need?
Creative Achievement In Interactive Media Within A Scripted Program Bandersnatch (Black Mirror) Interactive Program NASA and SpaceX: The Interactive Demo-1 Launch
This was up against a field entirely made of out of late night comedy talk shows so standing out helps?
Technical Direction / Camerawork / Video Control (Special) The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke Primetime Special 2019
They sure do love that James Corden series. show. It beat the Oscars, the Tonys, and the Kennedy Center Honors here and various other shows in other categories
Technical Direction / Camerawork / Video Control (Series) Last Week Tonight with John Oliver — "Psychics" Short Form Nonfiction / Reality Creating Saturday Night Live Writing (Variety Special) Hannah Gadsby: Nanette Writing (Nonfiction) Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown — "Kenya" Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking [TIE]RBG / The Sentence Informational Series or Special Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown Documentary / Nonfiction Special Leaving Neverland
Directing (Reality) Queer Eye — "Black Girl Magic" Casting (Reality) Queer Eye Directing (Documentary / Nonfiction) Free Solo Directing (Variety Special) Springsteen on Broadway Animated Program The Simpsons — "Mad About the Toy"
I haven't watched the Simpsons in a long time so perhaps it was deserving but given the regular critical hosannas to its fresher competitors like Big Mouth — "The Planned Parenthood Show", Bob's Burgers — "Just One of the Boyz 4 Now for Now", and BoJack Horseman — "Free Churro" one has to wonder how seriously voters are taking their ballots. Well, one has to wonder that all the time about the Emmys.
Character Voice-Over Performance Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy
Emmy's single most useless category. They nearly always give it to MacFarlane and ignore most of the great voicework on more critically lauded animated series.
Picture Editing (Variety) Last Week Tonight — "The Wax and the Furious" (Segment) Picture Editing (Unstructured Reality) United Shades of America — "Hmong Americans and the Secret War" Picture Editing (Structured Reality / Competition) Queer Eye Picture Editing (Nonfiction) Free Solo Sound Mixing (Variety) Aretha! A Grammy Celebration for the Queen of Soul Sound Mixing (Nonfiction) Free Solo Sound Editing (Nonfiction) Free Solo
It turns out the Oscar winning Free Solo needed a LOT more trophies... something really must be done about documentaries being eligible for both Emmys and Oscars.
Lighting Design / Direction ( Variety Special) Rent Lighting Design / Direction (Variety Series) Saturday Night Live — "Host: John Mulaney" Reality Host RuPaul Charles, RuPaul's Drag Race Unstructured Reality Program United Shades of America Cinematography (Nonfiction) Free Solo Cinematography (Reality) Life Below Zero Choreography (Scripted Program) Kathryn Burns, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Short Form Comedy or Drama Series State of the Union Actor In A Short Form Comedy or Drama Series Chris O'Dowd, State of the Union Actress In A Short Form Comedy or Drama Series Rosamund Pike, State of the Union
They gave all their short form prizes to the same show. Is it the only one they watched? But yay Rosamund Pike is an Emmy winner. (That said I'm a bit sad for Jessica Hecht who was amazing on Special.
Casting for a Comedy Series Fleabag Casting for a Drama Series Game of Thrones
This is what I mean about Emmy voters never taking their privilege to vote seriously. How does the final season of Game of Thrones which introduced no significant new characters win a casting award over a bunch of fairly new series? For wrangling lots of extras?
Casting for a Limited Series, Movie or Special When They See Us
One of the rare prizes that Chernobyl was up for that it lost.
Children's Program When You Wish Upon a Pickle: A Sesame Street Special Cinematography for a Limited Series or Movie Chernobyl – Jakob Ihre (Episode: "Please Remain Calm") Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series The Ranch – Donald A. Morgan (Episode: "Reckless") Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour) Russian Doll – Chris Teague (Episode: "Ariadne") Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour) The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – M. David Mullen (Episode: "Simone") (Prime Video)
Commercial "Dream Crazy" (Nike) Contemporary Costumes Russian Doll "Superiority Complex" Period Costumes The Marvelous Mrs Maisel "We're Going to the Catskills" Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes Game of Thrones "The Bells"
Luke Kirby as Lenny Bruce on "Mrs Maisel"
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series Matt Damon, Saturday Night Live Robert De Niro, Saturday Night Live ★ Luke Kirby, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Peter MacNicol, Veep John Mulaney, Saturday Night Live Adam Sandler, Saturday Night Live Rufus Sewell, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series Michael Angarano, This Is Us Ron Cephas Jones, This Is Us Michael McKean, Better Call Saul Kumail Nanjiani, The Twilight Zone Glynn Turman, How to Get Away with Murder ★ Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid's Tale
When Emmy has a favourite actor they stick with em. See also the next prize.
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series ★ Jane Lynch, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Sandra Oh, Saturday Night Live Maya Rudolph, The Good Place Kristin Scott Thomas, Fleabag Fiona Shaw, Fleabag Emma Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Over this field? Really Emmy voters? Watch your tapes!
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series Laverne Cox, Orange Is the New Black ★ Cherry Jones, The Handmaid's Tale Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Apocalypse Phylicia Rashad, This Is Us Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away with Murder Carice van Houten, Game of Thrones
Cherry Jones now has a second Emmy to go with her two Tonys
The Guest Acting categories are always such oddities with Emmys. What do you make of this year's four prizes?
Hairstyling for a Limited Series or Movie Fosse/Verdon Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Main Title Design Game of Thrones
Makeup for a Limited Series or Movie (Non-Prosthetic) Fosse/Verdon Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) Game of Thrones "The Long Night"
Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie or Special Star Trek: Discovery "If Memory Serves"
Whoa, Game of Throne actually lost one tech category. Congratulations to Star Trek Discovery for breaking that seemingly impenetrable hold on Emmy voters.
Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score) Hildur Guðnadóttir, Chernobyl Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) Ramin Djawadi, Game of Thrones Music Supervision Robin Urdang, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel "We're Going to the Catskills" Original Main Title Theme Music Nicholas Britell, Succession
So Britell ended up winning an Emmy before an Oscar despite his amazing film scores
Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour) Russian Doll "Nothing in the World is Easy" Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More) The Handmaid's Tale "Holly" Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) Chernobyl
Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series Fleabag – Gary Dollner (Episode: "Episode 1") Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series Game of Thrones – Tim Porter (Episode: "The Long Night") Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series or Movie Chernobyl – Simon Smith Multiple-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series One Day at a Time "The Funeral" Sound Editing for a Limited Series, Movie or Special Chernobyl "1:23:45" Sound Editing for a One Hour Show Game of Thrones "The Long Night" Sound Editing for a Half-Hour Show Barry "Ronny/Lily" Sound Mixing for a Half-Hour Show Barry "Ronny/Lily" Sound Mixing for a One Hour Show Game of Thrones "The Long Night" Sound Mixing for a Limited Series / Movie Chernobyl "1:23:45"
As with Oscar voters, Emmy voters don't know the difference between Editing and Mixing and just give both awards to the same piece of art.
Special Visual Effects Game of Thrones "The Bells" Special Visual Effects In A Supporting Role Chernobyl "1:23:45" Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program GLOW Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series or Movie Game of Thrones
Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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"We're going to the Catskills" was a popular episode of the Emmy's darling favourite The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.
The Queer Eye cast at the Emmys
