I have no idea if the expression “run it back” originated in sports, but I hear it most frequently in the context of the end of a successful season, when a player, coach, or owner expresses a desire to keep all the key pieces in place to repeat the previous result. Sometimes it works, and a dynasty is born. Sometimes, though, a comeback effort fails, demonstrating how fleeting the initial triumph was in the first place.
In January, the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, postponed due to the strike, proved to be one of the best awards telecasts in recent memory. Hosted by Anthony Anderson, the show was filled with memorable moments that reflected a love and pride for the medium.
It was such a welcome change of pace for a show often driven by TV's perpetual artistic inferiority complex that it's hardly surprising (if one assumes the disappointing ratings were an aberration) that the TV Academy decided to revive it.
Sunday night’s telecast of the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards boasted the same producers (Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon, Jeannae Rouzan-Clay), the same director (Alex Rudzinski), and the same warm, thoughtful approach to television. It wasn’t a disaster.
I’d say by the general standards of Emmy telecasts, this was an above-average show. But it was still a disappointment. Given the formula repeated only nine months after the last Emmys, Sunday’s broadcast suffered from fatigue and even staleness. The nostalgia didn’t hit as hard, the affectionate tableaux didn’t have the same vitality, and too many of the winners, especially in the first half of the show, seemed to have run out of things to say or lost their enthusiasm for being in that hallowed position.
It was actually a show full of surprises, none bigger than the ultimate victory of Max's outstanding comedy series. Trickswhich came in as a prohibitive underdog to FX/Hulu The bear (which it won in January) and was competing with a second season that was even more acclaimed than the first. The sense of inevitability only increased when Ebon Moss-Bacharach and Jeremy Allen White won their second straight Emmys and Liza Colón-Zayas prevailed as supporting actress despite a second season that reduced her character to an afterthought.
Colón-Zayas' win felt almost more like a vindication of a divisive third season, in which Tina had several standout episodes. Plus, Colón-Zayas seemed both stunned and grateful in an endearing way, which can't be said of White and Moss-Bachrach's “done it” speeches.
But then Jean Smart beat Ayo Edebiri as the leading actress and the Tricks The creators scored a stunning screenplay win, beating the screenplay for “Fishes,” which won The bear creator Christopher Storer an Emmy for directing. However, I would have bet on The bear to win the series award, which is why I'm not in the Emmy pools. It was the Tricks win a third season reprimand The bear? It was a rebuke of The bearin the comedy category, an ongoing debate that was the subject of a scathing dig in Eugene and Dan Levy's opening monologue? Maybe a little bit of both, but I'll give a simpler explanation: Season 3 of Tricks It was awesome (and Hollywood loves to pay homage to shows that are about itself).
Drama Series Wins For Shogun It was inevitable from the moment FX moved it out of the miniseries field and into development for future seasons. But it lost out on some of the night's biggest upsets, including Billy Crudup beating out Tadanobu Asano for supporting actor and Will “Despite My Name, I Come in Peace” Smith winning for dramatic writing (Slow horses), so there was at least some uncertainty halfway through the show. It was temporary. By the time Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai celebrated their emotional victories, the record-breaking coronation was complete.
Surprises help award shows because they keep viewers on edge and because surprised winners often make the best speeches. I loved how elated Lamorne Morris was at beating out heavyweights like Robert Downey Jr. for supporting actor in a movie/miniseries/whatever for Fargoand how amazed Baby Reindeer Writer/creator/star Richard Gadd appeared with each of his three winners. Gadd had the line of the night when he acknowledged that Hollywood may be in crisis, but warned, “No crisis has ever been broken without a willingness to take risks.” On the other hand, I also appreciated the sincere gratitude expressed by both Jean Smart and Jodie Foster, neither of whom should ever be surprised to win anything.
And the most delightfully out-of-sync speech of the night came from the least surprised winner, John Oliver, who wins every year and was in a category with only one other show. Yet he managed to call his son Hudson “husband” and then had to fight through the playoff music for a half-amused, half-saddened tribute to his dog: “This is for all the dogs. All the dogs. You're good girls. You're good boys. You all deserve an award. PLAY ME NOW.”
Speeches are, as always, a part of the show where the producers keep their fingers crossed. They are not a production choice.
For this show, the production choices were mostly bland and well-intentioned.
More than anything, January’s show had a coherent mission and agenda. This show? Not so much. It was all about paying homage to archetypes, bringing back various beloved but too-recent TV stars to recite poorly written prose about doctors, lawyers, mothers, and fathers in front of recreated sets devoid of visual pop. I spent more time trying to figure out the casting strategy for the segments than I did enjoying them.
A couple of meetings, instead of providing powerful or meaningful moments, felt more like, “Oops, we probably should have honored The West Wing AND Happy days in January.” In January, when nearly every winner was a foregone conclusion, reunions and giveaways were the heart of the show. This year, too often, they've been a drag.
The show also continued its never-ending fight for the awards with the obligatory In Memoriam segment. Jelly Roll's strangely cocky introduction to his performance of the questionable “I Am Not Okay” was a bad start, but at least the rest of the segment was by-the-numbers only, complete with an insufficiently silent audience.
But then, instead of a sad fade to commercial, Jimmy Kimmel came out and stumbled into a tribute to Bob Newhart that wasn't poorly written, but completely distorted the mood in a room that wasn't sure whether This it was time to laugh about how often Jon Stewart wins Emmys. I guess something went wrong with the show, causing Kimmel and the Newhart tribute to be placed after the In Memoriam song instead of before, because I can't even imagine that was a choice.
On the subject of choices, let’s move on to my favorite silver lining. Awards shows have given up on honorary awards as part of the main broadcast. That is and has been a mistake. Giving Greg Berlanti his Governors Award on the main show was the right thing to do, his speech was fantastic, and I hope other shows, especially the Oscars, realize that an honorary award or two can be a real asset. John Leguizamo’s speech discussing the progress television has made in terms of diversity was a little long and a little self-congratulatory, but I appreciated the necessary history lesson he imparted.
Finally, what about Eugene and Dan Levy as hosts? I thought they were good and could have done a better job on a more effective show. Their monologue was a little awkward at first, but they had some good lines by the end and their bits were quietly charming and endearing in a way that worked for me. They were, to use their own benchmark, extremely Canadian as hosts.
Were there any other memorable moments from the presentation? SNL stars joking that Lorne Michaels had never won and then realizing he had won countless times was a bit laughable, especially Maya Rudolph's interpretation of the word “robbed.” But why was it treated like a “reunion”? The three stars of Only murders in the building they continue to get impressive results from what has surely become a repetitive cliché. And I liked Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal who presented mostly in Spanish, just because.
The truth is, award shows are usually worse than they are good, and when something works, there’s a tendency to screw it up. Like the year the hostless Oscars went really well and they were like, “Wow, we don’t need a host!” And then they realized they needed hosts. Recreating it for this Emmy show made sense. It might make sense to do it again. But not next year.