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Photo: courtesy of en.wikipedia.org
The 67th annual Emmy Awards happened last night, and we were thrilled to see a roster of unexpected, exceptional and talented nominees. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is usually predictably stodgy, but this year featured one of our favorite adorable dorks, Andy Samberg, as a host, as well as several edgy shows from HBO, including Veep, Olive Kitteridge, and Game of Thrones.
In fact, HBO dominated in several categories this year, taking home a total of 43 trophies. The only network to ever take home more awards from the Emmy’s was CBS, and that happened in 1974, when CBS was enjoying successful runs of both M*A*S*H and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Even so, CBS took home 44 trophies that year, only one more than HBO did last night.
Other notable winners included Amy Schumer for her hilarious, sharp and bracing social commentaries on Inside Amy Schumer, Comedy Central’s hottest new variety show, and Jon Hamm for his performance as Don Draper in Mad Men, AMC’s lauded drama series. We also want to give a nod of approval to Jeffrey Tambor of Transparent, and Uzo Aduba of Orange is the New Black.
The landscape of traditional television has changed dramatically in recent years, thanks to the proliferation of content providers, as well as the diversification of modes of distribution. Streaming services like Netflix bring competition to the more established broadcast networks, in addition to a diversity of voices. Actors and writers are becoming more vocal about the racism and sexism inherent in the industry, and minority artists are likely to continue to shake up the status quo as time goes on.
As host Samberg said, “The big story this year, of course is diversity.” His opening monologue was smart and entertaining. We also really enjoyed Viola Davis’ emotional acceptance speech for her performance as an edgy lawyer in the drama series How to Get Away with Murder. Davis is the first African American to ever win Lead Actress at the Emmy’s.
“Let me tell you something,” Davis said to huge applause. “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.”
It was an elegant, powerful and historic acceptance speech. We hope to see more talks about diversity in the entertainment industry during upcoming seasons of TV, across all the networks. And, of course, because it is no secret that the editorial team at Downtown Magazine are huge fans of Amy Schumer, we are just going to leave here acceptance speech: here.
-by Rachel Veroff