One of the many downsides of living in the UK means being in the wrong time zone for the Oscars and the Emmys. Earlier this year, I lost a good night’s sleep by staying up to watch Leonardo DiCaprio’s win. The night was an emotional rollercoaster; frustration at the shitty quality of my (probably illegal) livestream, followed by a lil power nap of about ten minutes, and then the waterfall of tears as Leo was announced the winner of Best Actor for The Revenant (a lengthy but artistically beautiful film). I had personally been waiting for this moment since twelve year old me discovered Leo in Titanic, and fell completely and utterly in love. I am currently writing this at 11:35pm, so I am preparing for a rollercoaster, just less intense. I may give a little tear if Tom Hiddleston wins, or my new obsession, Rami Malek.
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Before the show begins, there is the incredible red carpet, where you catch your first glimpse of the actors and actresses in their stunning outfits. I’m so prepared for this as I have People/Entertainment Network app on my iPad and the ABC network streaming on my other laptop. The Stranger Things cast, Millie Bobby Brown, Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo walked the red carpet with their usual cheeky charm, with Millie and Caleb pulling faces to the People/Entertainment Network camera. If you have not watched the Netflix hit Stranger Things yet, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE? It is probably one of the best series that has been made in the past few years. The fact that it is centred round the lives of some 12 year old kids makes it quite relatable to everyone, you either want to be them or adopt them.
However, I am not prepared for this year’s Emmy’s as I haven’t watched enough of the shows to have a good idea of what shows or actors could win each category. I mean, I haven’t even got around to watching Game of Thrones. Yes, I am aware that I am a horrific mess and should get my life together. I have only just watched the first season of Mr Robot which has resulted in me falling deeply in love with Rami. He is seriously talented and it helps that he is in such an incredible show. The storyline and the directing of the series is on another level, every shot is an artistic choice and just create the greatest atmosphere.
Another talking point of this year’s Emmys is Tom Hiddleston; either for the fact that he was obviously nominated for his butt’s appearance in The Night Manager (the rest of him was obviously great, but his bum took centre stage), or his lack of date in the form of Taylor Swift. Their relationship has been a massive downer on this summer; no one expected this union and no one wanted it either. They managed to fit a five year relationship into two months – meeting the parents, travelling the world and then going through a relatively messy split. Taylor’s PR team have been on the offensive since the split blaming Tom’s ‘fame hungry’ attitude and his desperation to bring Taylor on the Emmy’s red carpet. But he avoided any awkward questions by turning up at the very last minute with other cast members from The Night Manager, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Coleman.
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The winners of this year’s Emmy’s are one of the most diverse I’ve seen, well definitely compared to the Oscars. There’s a range of ethnitcities, genders, and sexualities and this shows just how television represents the world more accurately, compared to films. The directing awards were evenly split between male and female winners, with Jill Soloway picking up the award for Transparent and Susanne Bier for The Night Manager. These women were the only women nominated in their categories and still came out on top, so this just proves there is nothing wrong with a woman being in charge of directing. In fact, it just proves that they are more worthy of that position as they are able to win huge awards for their work.
Jeffrey Tambor won the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy for Transparent and his speech was particularly worth noting as he stated that he would be happy if he was the last cisgender male to play a transgender female. This also follows the backlash that Eddie Redmayne faced for his role in The Danish Girl; the trans-community needs to be represented by them, not by a man who has not dealt with the journey of transitioning from one gender to another. I mean, come on Laverne Cox has managed to do just fine, why not give other trans people a shot? Their stories need to be told and they need to have the chance to do the same as any other cisgender person. Cox echoed this when she presented a directing award later in the evening, saying that she would not be an Emmy-nominated actress if she was not given that chance.
Jimmy Kimmel’s presenting style isn’t normally my favourite, but he did a pretty decent job, with shock factor being an evident part of his humour, as at one point he announced that Bill Cosby was going to present an award. I also wasn’t keen on his attempt to copy Ellen DeGeneres’s 2014 Oscar hosting skills, by giving the audience PB&J sandwiches. But he was quickly redeemed when it turned out that the Stranger Things cast were handing them out dressed as their characters, with Millie Bobby Brown unintentionally ignoring David Schwimmer as he thanked her for his sandwich – no one likes you, Ross. His banter with Matt Damon is a recurring feature on his show, so when Matt came out to add to Kimmel’s sadness of losing the Variety Talk Series category to John Oliver: ‘I’m sorry, this is humiliating. You lost and now you have to stand out here for the rest of the night in front of everybody, when you probably just wanna go home and curl up and cry.’ Definitely one of my favourite celebrity ‘feuds’ that’s about.
The award for Supporting Actor in a Limited Series was given to Sterling K. Brown for his role in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (a huge winner on the night). As he walked on stage, he was welcomed with a standing ovation, which was an wonderful thing to watch as this actor who was relatively unknown a year ago, was shown such great compassion by actors who have been going for years. It was another beautiful speech, a mixture of humour and emotion, as he opened with a jab at Melania Trump on how he approached her to ask how to prepare his speech – one of the many jibes at the Trump family. He ended with a dedication to his wife, who sat in the audience with her eyes full of tears: ‘I got the hottest chick rocking my chain’.
This award was followed by Sarah Paulson FINALLY winning the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. This was her sixth nomination following nominations for her work in American Horror Story and Game Change, and from what I’ve seen from the show, it was definitely well deserved. Paulson brought the woman she portrayed in the show as her plus one, Marcia Clark, the head persecutor in the O. J. Simpson case back in 1995. In her speech, Paulson took the time to apologise to Clark for her ‘superficial judgement’ during the trial and the media frenzy surrounding it. My personal favourite moment of the speech was when she gave a shout out to her girlfriend, Holland Taylor, by declaring ‘I love you’ at the end.
These two awards was then followed by ANOTHER award for The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story; this time it was for Courtney B. Vance. He rivalled Sterling K. Brown’s speech by saying that his wife, Angela Bassett, was the ‘hottest chick in the game’ and I have to completely agree. Later on Steven Moffat tried to say that his wife was the best because she actually produced the now-Emmy-winning Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, but no one can rival the greatness that is Angela Bassett!
This happiness high was quickly dampened when the In Memoriam section came on, and Anton Yelchin appeared third on the slide show, which was accompanied by Tori Kelly singing Hallelujah. Cue many, many tears.
However, these tears quickly became a mixture of happy and sad tears as Rami Malek won the big one, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, the first minority actor (as he is of Egyptian descent) in 18 years to receive this accolade. His performance in Mr Robot is pure perfection, he channels the right amount of energy into a clinical depressed introvert, dealing with the capitalist world. But more importantly I think his quick witted response to win the award deserves an Emmy in itself. After a few seconds of disbelief, he asked the audience: ‘Please tell me you’re seeing this too’, a classic phrase from the show. Cue even more tears and a muffled laughter as I remember that it is three in the morning and there are other people fast asleep in the house.
The final two awards are the big ones for the Best Comedy and Best Drama. I haven’t got around to watching Veep – the winner of Best Comedy – so I feel that seeing as it’s award-winning, I might just have to watch that as well. But then again, I can say the same for Game of Thrones – the winner of Best Drama – as I haven’t got further than the first season. This means that Game of Thrones, with a total of 38 Emmys, has broken the record for the most Emmys won, breaking Frasier’s record of 37. I think my dissertation may have to take a back seat while I catch up on all the evidently amazing shows cos I’ve got a serious case of FOMO.
It turned out to be an emotional rollercoaster after all, and I finally went to sleep at 4am with an overwhelming sense of pride and sadness. I have to admit this is the first time I have watched the Emmys, with the time difference and the fact I probably had to be at school/uni/work the next day. But I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to watch it this year; I feel this award ceremony was just what I needed to remind me to get my butt in gear so that one day I would be reporting from the red carpet myself.
If you want to suggest any TV shows for me to binge while I procrastinate my dissertation, please leave a comment.
Winners
Supporting Actor in a Comedy – Louie Anderson, Baskets
Writing for a Comedy Series – Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, Master of None
Supporting Actress in a Comedy – Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Directing for a Comedy Series – Jill Soloway, Transparent
Lead Actress in a Comedy – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Lead Actor in a Comedy – Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Reality Competition Programme – The Voice
Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Special – D.V. DeVincentis, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie – Regina King, American Crime
Directing for Limited Series, Movie or Special – Susanne Bier, The Night Manager
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie – Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie – Sarah Paulson, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie – Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story
TV Movie – Sherlock: The Abominable Bride
Limited Series – The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Writing for a Variety Special – Patton Oswalt, Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping
Variety Talk Series – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Directing for a Variety Special – Thomas Kail and Alex Rudzinski, Grease: Live
Variety Sketch Series – Key & Peele
Writing for a Drama Series – David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, Game of Thrones
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Directing for a Drama Series – Miguel Sapochnik, Game of Thrones
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series – Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Lead Actor in a Drama Series – Rami Malek, Mr Robot
Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Comedy Series – Veep
Drama Series – Game of Thrones
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