Sean Spicer at the Emmys 2017 (courtesy AFP)
It was a show filled with emotional acceptance speeches, political jokes and unexpected cameos. Here are 15 things you need to know from
Sunday night's Emmy Awards:
1.
The Handmaid's Tale and
Big Little Lies dominated.
Want to bet the champagne bottles are popping at Hulu? The streaming service landed five wins on Sunday for
The Handmaid's Tale, its critically acclaimed drama based on the 1985 dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood. This is the first original series on Hulu to get this much awards attention, winning for best drama; lead drama actress (Elizabeth Moss); supporting drama actress (Ann Dowd); directing for a drama; and writing for a drama.
Meanwhile, HBO is accustomed to award show domination but is clearly thrilled at the victories for
Big Little Lies, which also went home with five trophies, including limited series; limited series actress (Nicole Kidman); limited series supporting actress (Laura Dern); limited series supporting actor (Alexander Skarsgard); and directing for a limited series.
2.
Saturday Night Live triumphed.
Including the Creative Emmy awards, which were handed out Sept. 9 and 10,NBC's SNL had nine total wins, the most of any show. On Sunday night,
Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon were honored for comedy supporting actor and supporting actress, respectively, and the show also picked up best variety sketch series and directing for a variety series. The number of wins were certainly expected, given the amount of material the show had to work with this year.
"I remember the first time we won this award, it was after our first season in 1976. And I remember thinking, as I was standing there, alone, that this was it. This was the high point. There would never be another season as crazy, as unpredictable, as frightening, as exhausting, or as exhilarating," executive producer Lorne Michaels said onstage. "Turns out I was wrong."
3. Dave Chappelle and John Oliver got #DCPublicSchools trending on Twitter.
While presenting an award with Melissa McCarthy, there were several awkward pauses, and Chappelle joked that he skipped rehearsal. "Now I will read this teleprompter, please forgive me," the Washington native said. "Shout out to D.C. public schools." Later, Oliver thanked the school system, because he thought it would be fun to see it trend on Twitter. It worked!
4. Women were the big winners throughout the night.
As you can tell from the winners above, two of the most successful shows of the night were female-centric stories. The topic came up several times. In her acceptance speech, Dern said she has worked with "maybe 12 women" in her decades of acting, so she thanked the TV academy for honoring "this incredible tribe of fierce women." In his monologue, host Stephen Colbert pointed to 13-year-old nominee Millie Bobby Brown (
Stranger Things), who proved "once and for all that there are roles in Hollywood for women over 12."
"This is a friendship that then created opportunities," Nicole Kidman said of her bond with the cast and Big Little Lies"co-star Reese Witherspoon, who urged Hollywood to "bring women to the front of their own stories" when the cast accepted the best drama trophy. "It created opportunities out of a frustration because we weren't getting offered great roles. So now, more great roles for women, please."
5. Stephen Colbert took plenty of shots at President Donald Trump, along with Ted Cruz and HBO.
Colbert mocking Trump? You don't say! True to form, the CBS late-night host took great delight in trolling the president. ("Unlike the presidency, Emmys go to the winner of the popular vote.") Other targets of his monologue included Sen. Cruz. ("These days, everybody loves streaming video. Just ask Ted Cruz. But knock first.") and HBO's hacking situation ("I am sure HBO will take home a lot of Emmys tonight, which they'll have to melt down to pay for next year's hacker ransom.")
6. Sean Spicer showed up.
Toward the end of his monologue,
Colbert lamented there was no way to tell how many people really watched the Emmys - and suddenly, Sean Spicer rolled in on a podium to announce "This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period, both in person and around the world!" The Hollywood crowd cheered loudly for Trump's press secretary making fun of himself, while many viewers at home argued that Spicer's appearance went too far to "normalize" him.
7. Donald Glover had a great night.
The
Atlanta creator and star won best comedy actor and directing in a comedy, becoming the first black director to win the trophy. Glover thanked his parents; his girlfriend, who's pregnant with their second child; FX; the city of Atlanta; and one other person.
"I want to thank Trump for making black people No. 1 on the most oppressed list," Glover said. "He's the reason I'm probably up here."
8. Lena Waithe's speech
Waithe and
Master of None creator-star Aziz Ansari won the comedy writing trophy for their "Thanksgiving" episode, which tells the story of Waithe's character coming out to her family, inspired by her real-life experiences. Waithe, the first black woman to win a comedy writing Emmy, immediately made headlines for this excerpt from her speech:
"My LGBQTIA family, I see each and every one of you. The things that make us different, those are our superpowers. Every day when you walk out the door, put on your imaginary cape and go out there and conquer the world, because the world would not be as beautiful as it is if we weren't in it. And for everybody out there that showed so much love for this episode, thank you for embracing a little Indian boy from South Carolina and a little queer black girl from the south side of Chicago."
9. Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin (of Netflix's
Grace and Frankie) and Dolly Parton had a
9 to 5 reunion.
The trio, who starred together in the 1980 comedy, got some of the biggest cheers of the show as they presented the award for outstanding actor in a limited series. It led to this banter:
Fonda: "Back in 1980, in that movie, we refused to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot."
Tomlin: "And in 2017, we still refuse to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot."
Fonda: "That being said, tonight we're here to recognize some men who conduct themselves with the utmost integrity."
Tomlin: "They're nominated for their extraordinary work in supporting roles."
Parton: "Well, I know about support."
10. Alec Baldwin finally earned Trump that coveted Emmy.
Trump was upset that "The Apprentice" never won an Emmy, so as Baldwin accepted his prize for supporting actor in a comedy series, he had some comforting words.
"I suppose I should say at long last, Mr. President, here is your Emmy," Baldwin said. He continued: "I want to thank my wife. My wife and I had three children in three years, and we didn't have a child last year during the
SNL season. I wonder if there is a correlation there - all you men up there, you put that orange wig on, it's birth control, trust me."
11. Sterling K. Brown won best actor in a drama - then his speech was cut off.
The
This Is Us actor appeared in awe as he talked about all the other great characters that won this trophy - Walter White of
Breaking Bad, Dick Whitman of
Mad Men, Frank Pembleton on
Homicide: Life on the Street. He also thanked his castmates for being "the best white TV family that a brother has ever had." Eventually, he got loudly played off by the music, upsetting many on Twitter. (E! reports he finished the speech backstage.)
12. In memoriam snubs
People are always upset when certain stars are left out of the tribute segment. This year, many were upset that Dick Gregory and Charlie Murphy didn't make the cut.
13. Ann Dowd is the most surprised person of the night.
Dowd (who hates when you call her a "character actor") looked genuinely shocked as she won supporting drama actress for her role in
The Handmaid's Tale. She walked slowly to the stage, collecting herself. "I think this is a dream, you know? I know it's an actor's dream and I'm deeply grateful to you," she said, her voice shaking. "I have been acting for a long time and that this should happen now, I don't have the words, so I thank you."
14. Nicole Kidman's speech
The movie star picked up the drama actress prize for
Big Little Lies, in which she plays a woman in an abusive marriage. "We shone a light of domestic abuse," she said. "It is a complicated, insidious disease. It exists far more than we allow ourselves to know. It is filled with shame and secrecy. And by you acknowledging me with this award, it shines a light on it even more."
15. Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at the Oscars mix-up.
After Oliver won out over Kimmel and Colbert for the best variety talk show, the camera panned to the two late-show hosts drowning their sorrows in drinks. "You know, sometimes they put the wrong name on the envelope," Kimmel said hopefully. "I mean, it's possible that that happened here, right?"
"Not tonight," Colbert assured him.
(c) 2017, The Washington Post
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)