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Emmys 2021 as they happened: The Crown and Ted Lasso celebrate a golden night
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What we learned from TV’s big night
By Thomas Mitchell
“What time is it, and how do we get out of here?” asked comedian Amy Poehler while she presented an award towards the end of the Emmys five-hour broadcast. The 20-time Emmy nominee was joking - yet it proved the most poignant question of the night.
The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards marked a return to a more traditional ceremony, including an actual red carpet, real-life attendees and a really long run time.
At last, that’s a wrap for our live coverage of the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards. Thanks for joining us for all the highlights.
Should you not feel the need to rewatch the broadcast in its entirety, check out our countdown of the five key takeaways from Hollywood’s first in-person awards show in two years.
Emmys so white?
By Karl Quinn
There were 12 acting awards given out during today’s telecast. Not one of them went to an actor who was not white.
That should not in and of itself be taken as proof of racism, though it no doubt will be by some. But it is curious.
Given the weight of campaigning around #Oscarsowhite over the past five or six years and its flow on to other awards ceremonies, there’s no way the voters of the Television Academy could have been ignorant of the value placed on representation and diversity. And there was no shortage of people of colour among the nominees: Jurnee Smollett and Jonathan Majors from Lovecraft Country, Sterling K Brown for This Is Us, Rege-Jean Page for Bridgerton, Michaela Coel, Cynthia Erivo, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez and many more.
The fact that none of them got over the line proves nothing, but it does sit uncomfortably against the very pronounced celebration of diversity on display at the ceremony, from the choice of Cedric the (not-very-entertaining) Entertainer as host to the valiant efforts of Academy chair Frank Scherma to win back the audience’s attention with earnestness when Conan O’Brien had stolen it away with an off-camera gag.
Where’s Paul Revere when you need him?
By Karl Quinn
The last time the British invaded America with quite this much success, and with quite so warm an embrace from those they were invading, it was The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Herman’s Hermits leading the charge.
There were 27 competitive awards handed out today (plus the Governor’s Award). Of those, 12 went to Brits (The Crown’s acting and writing winners; Brett Goldstein and Hannah Waddingham for Ted Lasso; Ewan McGregor for Halston; Michaela Coel for I May Destroy You; and John Oliver).
In addition, Jessica Hobbs – a New Zealander who lives in London – won best directing for The Crown, and that show’s Gillian Anderson spent a chunk of her childhood in London, lives in London and has described herself as “bidialectical”, meaning she can speak with an American or a British accent as need dictates. So, let’s call her a 0.5 Brit, and let’s give Hobbs a 0.25.
All up, that makes it 12.75 wins out of 27 for the Brits, or a 47 per cent success rate. Yowsee.
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Has TV’s new world order just (and finally) been established?
By Karl Quinn
Is this the year Netflix finally asserted its dominance of the TV landscape? It may be a blip precipitated by the disruption to production and broadcast schedules wrought by COVID, or it may be the start of the new world order. Either way, Netflix comfortably topped its cable rival in the honour count this year.
HBO was the most-nominated broadcaster, with 130 nominations (across its cable service and its streaming platform, HBO Max). Netflix was just behind, with 129, with Disney+ (71) next, and NBC leading the pack of traditional broadcasters with 46 nominations.
Now the dust has settled, the dominance of Netflix is astonishingly clear: 44 wins (34 in the creative arts ceremonies throughout the past week, 10 during the main telecast). HBO/HBO Max nipped at their heels today, winning nine awards, but the overall tally of 19 is way behind. Disney+ (14 in all) and Apple TV+ (10, four of them – all for Ted Lasso – today) came next, with NBC (8) leading the broadcasters.
Wow.
Kate Winslet’s Emmys ‘date night’
By Michael Idato
Speaking backstage, actress Kate Winslet said her Emmy win was particularly poignant because the last time she won an Emmy - in 2011, for Mildred Pearce - she was so giddy having just met her husband that she made what she now describes as an “appalling speech”.
“When I was here 10 years ago, we had actually just met, we really had just met and I knew that I was going to spend my life with this man,” Winslet said. “So I came to the Emmys and I was just in such a whirlwind of having met him that I couldn’t even concentrate and I vividly remember making an absolutely appalling speech because I was just not on planet Earth. I’d fallen head over heels in love with this person.”
Winslet said the success of Mare of Easttown and other female-led dramas was a sign that the entertainment industry was changing in the wake of the #MeToo movement. “I am honestly starting to feel that, that the shifts are happening,” she said. “We’re finger-pointing a lot less at women in terms of how they look, their shape. We’ve stopped scrutinising them.”
Those changes have a follow-on effect, Winslet said. “Younger generations of women, who are not in our industry, start to feel okay within themselves too. And that’s more important than anything else. It’s up to us to be real and represent ourselves with integrity and authenticity. And to celebrate each other and not judging one another.”
Slept through the Emmys? Don’t worry, so did Helena Bonham Carter
By Michael Idato
If you fell asleep during the Emmys telecast, don’t feel too bad: you were in stellar company.
Speaking via a link backstage to the UK, The Crown writer and producer Peter Morgan noted that despite all the fanfare for the show’s clean sweep, one cast-member was not willing to get out of bed to watch the telecast.
“Helena Bonham Carter was never going to give up a night’s sleep,” Morgan revealed. “She’s fast asleep.”
Morgan said that the party in London where most of the cast and crew watched cheered loudly when their co-star Josh O’Connor, who was attending the Emmys in person in Los Angeles, won. “We miss him terribly but we all saw him and we were screaming and shouting when he won, the roof came off,” Morgan said.
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Wrong number: The Crown’s Josh O’Connor cut off
By Michael Idato
Speaking backstage, The Crown star Josh O’Connor confessed he had not spoken to his co-stars in London because of a technological gaffe: when he left his hotel for the Emmys he pocketed his US mobile phone but not his UK one.
“I suddenly realised the entire cast and crew of The Crown have my UK number and not my US number, so when I get back to the hotel, I will text them,” he said. “It’s been such an amazing night for us. We’re very appreciative.”
O’Connor said the cast were unusually close. “It’s so special, I have been really fortunate in my career to work with unbelievable people,” he said. “One of my first TV show, The Durrells, it was like a family, and we’ve always stayed in touch. I feel the same with The Crown. To see them out there made me feel emotional.”
So, who’s happy and who’s not?
By Karl Quinn
As anyone who has ever watched an awards ceremony will know, just to be nominated is the greatest honour. But as anyone who has ever been nominated and missed out knows, losing sucks.
So, whose cheeks are most puckered after the 73rd Emmy Awards? Whose hopes and dreams lie dashed on the floor, and who is going to be dancing a merry jig until the wee hours, and who even cares if it’s a school night?
Well, in terms of simple mathematics, The Queen’s Gambit is maybe the clearest winner, taking home the gold in 11 of the 18 categories in which it was nominated. The big win is as outstanding limited or anthology series, though creator Scott Frank will be basking in his directing win (and in the knowledge that he scored the most outrageous overrun on the acceptance speech front too). But most of its wins came in the craft and technical categories, with the biggest snub being Anya Taylor-Joy missing out as best actress despite almost single-handedly (or double-eyedly) carrying the show across six of its seven episodes. Then again, she was up against Kate Winslet, so no shame there.
Speaking of Winslet, Mare of Easttown scored four wins from 16, but three of those were in the prestigious acting categories: best actress (Winslet), best supporting actress (Julianne Nicholson), best supporting actor (Evan Peters). That sounds like a win to me.
Optimism wins, says Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis
By Michael Idato
Speaking backstage, Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis said the series is a lesson in the power of positive thought. “[Doing the series] I have learned that optimism is a better way to go, even though pessimism can sometimes get an easy laugh,” he said.
The series was one of the night’s big winners.
Sudeikis confirmed that Apple TV+ had commissioned another season of 12 episodes, but when asked to speak, in Ted Lasso’s voice, the character’s thoughts about the win, he replied jokingly: “That’s pretty expensive to get me to do that.”
But he did offer these thoughts on behalf of Ted: “I think he would be happy that we were in the mix as much as we were, and that so many departments were spot-lighted and the fact that we walked away with a few of the trophies,” Sudeikis said.
“I think Ted would be more thrilled about the rewards of getting to do good work with people he likes than the reward for having done it.”
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Who were the big winners?
By Michael Idato
After a year that turned TV upside down, the 73rd annual Emmy Awards played an each-way bet, pouring its glory on the awards-laden British historical drama The Crown and two first-time nominees, the comedies Ted Lasso and Hacks.
The Crown made a stunning sweep of all seven drama categories, while Ted Lasso and Hacks divided the comedy spoils, with Ted Lasso taking series, lead actor, supporting actor and actress, and Hacks taking lead actress, directing and writing.
But there was no glory for Australia, whose biggest Emmy hope, actress Yvonne Strahovski, was nominated in the supporting actress in a drama category for The Handmaid’s Tale. Strahovski delivered a dazzling performance but was fighting in one of the night’s toughest categories.
From a field that also included Helena Bonham Carter and Emerald Fennell, from The Crown, and Samira Wiley from The Handmaid’s Tale, the award ultimately went to Gillian Anderson, whose portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Crown was one of the year’s most talked-about performances.
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