70th Emmy Awards
October 2, 2018
A night of marriage proposals, political messages, and Betty White ensued on the 70th annual Primetime Emmy Awards that aired on September 17 in downtown Los Angeles, California. The awards show honored the best of national television and was hosted by Saturday Night Live cast members Michael Che and Colin Jost. Airing on an unexpected Monday night, this year’s Emmys was the least watched in the show’s history with 10.2 million viewers, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The show opened with a satirical song about diversity in Hollywood from Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson that featured Andy Samberg, Kristen Bell, RuPaul, Sterling K. Brown, Titus Burgess, and Ricky Martin. The hosts’ monologue followed, which included uncomfortable jokes about the controversial nomination for Rosanne that made Chrissy Teigen cringe in another iconic reaction that echoed her previous one from the 2015 Golden Globes.
In another entertaining moment from the show, Glen Weiss led a surprise marriage proposal to his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen, after winning the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special. The Emmys also honored 96 year old Betty White, who has won eight Emmys and has had 24 nominations, according to Variety.
Major awards winners include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for Best Comedy, Game of Thrones for Best Drama, and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. Best Actress awards went to Rachel Brosnahan for comedy, Claire Foy for drama, Thandie Newton for supporting drama, and Regina King for limited series or TV movie. Best Actor awards were won by Bill Hader for comedy, Matthew Rhys for drama, Peter Dinklage for supporting drama, and Darren Criss for limited series or TV movie. With 5 Emmys, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel won the most awards of the night, while Atlanta, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story had the most nominations of eight each, according to Time.
Most notably, however, was this year’s disappointing lack of diversity in winners despite having such a promising array of nominees. Shifa Mirza (11), a fan of several of the nominated shows, comments, “The Emmys and even other awards shows like the Oscars or the Golden Globes would be much more interesting to watch and support if Hollywood finally recognized as many diverse performers as they should.” The awards show certainly has room for improvement and will hopefully be all the more entertaining, surprising, and diverse next year.