HBO repeated the rare feat it accomplished for the first time past year tonight at the Primetime Emmy Awards, winning both Best Drama Series with Game Of Thrones and comedy series with Veep.
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On a night when politics played large in the midst of an extraordinary 2016 USA election campaign, “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus also won her fifth straight Emmy for her role in the satirical White House comedy.
Of the 27 awards handed out in prime time, six apiece went to HBO and FX. For pay cable or streaming services, the awards glow can help attract new customers. Yet you’d hardly know those networks exist from watching Sunday’s awards. Indian-American Aziz Ansari also is nominated for his new Netflix comedy “Master of None“. “Give them auditions. Give them their stories”.
“Game of Thrones”, HBO’s dark fantasy, is now the most honored primetime series ever with a cumulative 38 Emmy awards – one more than the classic show “Frasier“. But the major surprises came for two first-time winners: “Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany” received the Emmy for outstanding actress in a drama, while “Mr. Robot” star Rami Malek was named best lead actor in a drama. “Oh, my God. Please tell me you’re seeing this too”, he said.
The competition escalated in recent years as newcomers like Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc poured money into programming, setting off a battle for top talent and the most buzz-worthy shows.
The Emmy ceremony will be hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel and broadcast live on ABC television.
-Regina King repeated for her role on American Crime, as did Jeffrey Tambor for his role as a transgender woman in Transparent.
An emotional Louis-Dreyfus noted that her father had passed away only a few days before. “I’m so glad that he liked Veep, because his opinion was the one that really mattered”, she said, choking up.
The American fought back tears as she collected the outstanding lead actress in a comedy series award. “Our show started out as political satire, but it now feels more like sobering documentary”.
The presidential campaign was foremost in many minds.
In his opening monologue, the host said he was holding Celebrity Apprentice producer Mark Burnett responsible for the “Donald Trump phenomenon”. Burnett cast Trump in the series “The Apprentice”, which broadened the NY businessman’s appeal.
Kimmel took a breezy approach to hosting, with some of his best moments coming in quips as the night progressed, as opposed to the more produced opening sequence.
Kimmel said he had some gluten-free options available, but he bid farewell to anyone with peanut allergies, joking that he was only able to afford one EpiPen. “I just wanted to see what you guys would do”.
Winning actors from the Simpson series couldn’t hide their excitement backstage.
Not to be outdone by Ellen DeGeneres, who ordered pizza for the Academy Awards audience when she hosted in 2014, Jimmy Kimmel provided food for Emmy Awards crowd Sunday. Acting victor Vance, who sweetly thanked his wife onstage, said he’s ready to hand over his trophy to her. “I’m sorry”, she said.
The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, the television drama based on the murder trial of OJ Simpson, was named outstanding limited series, while Sarah Paulson, Courtney B Vance and Sterling K Brown won awards for their roles in the show. “When you take women, people of color, transpeople, queer people, and you put them at the center of the story, the subjects instead of the objects, you change the world, we found out”.
John Oliver of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” won the Emmy for top variety talk series. The loss “makes a lot of sense”, Damon said.
It is the third time Dame Maggie has won an Emmy for her portrayal of Violet Crawley, but she has never attended the ceremony in person.
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Holding Smith’s trophy, Kimmel said it would not be mailed to the 81-year-old actress.
