“The People v OJ Simpson” triumphed at the 68th Primetime Emmys, winning five awards including best limited series, while fantasy drama “Game of Thrones” was honoured as the best drama for the second consecutive year.
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For the second year in a row, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” won best drama and the network’s “Veep” took best comedy.
“Veep” repeated as comedy and the HBO series’ star Julia Louis-Dreyfus won a fifth straight outstanding actress trophy in a landslide.
Rami Malek was named best lead actor in a drama series for his role in Mr. Robot, while Tatiana Maslany won best actress in a drama series for her performance in BBC America series Orphan Black.
John Travolta is flying high in more ways than one after The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story’s big night at the 2016 Emmy Awards.
“Television can bring us together, but television can also tear us apart”, he went on, easing into a back-handed tribute to “Celebrity Apprentice” impresario Mark Burnett, the man he said “is to blame for the Donald Trump phenomenon”.
BEST: Jay Z Lyric Becomes Instant Emmys Meme When The People v. O.J. Simpson star Sterling K. Brown quoted Jay Z during his acceptance speech for best supporting actor in a limited series/movie – “I got the hottest chick in the game rockin’ my chain” – who knew it would be the first of four references to the “Public Service Announcement” lyric?
“I would like to take this opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate”, she said during her speech.
“I think there’s great stuff on network, on streaming, on cable”, “Master of None” co-creator Alan Yang said backstage. “Our show started out as a political satire but it now feels like a sobering documentary”, she said while accepting her award. Transparent director Jill Soloway, who won for Outstanding Director in a Comedy Series, asked for an end to violence against trans women, closing with a battle cry of “Topple the patriarchy!”
“Thank you, Ellen DeGeneres, thank you, Hillary Clinton”, she said, naming two of the famous people she’s caricatured.
“If your show doesn’t have a dragon or a white Bronco in it, go home now”, host Jimmy Kimmel said only half joking in his opening monologue.
Lena Headey appears in a scene from “Game of Thrones”.
John Oliver won best variety talk series for his HBO series Last Week Tonight, beating fellow British nominee James Corden, who was nominated for The Late Late Show.
“There are more shows and roles than ever before and more diversity. here in Hollywood the only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity”, he said. “I wouldn’t be unhappy if I was the last cisgender male to play a woman on TV”.
Maggie Smith won best drama supporting actress for her role as the tart-tongued dowager couness in Downton Abbey.
“Saturday Night Live” cast member Kate McKinnon won the trophy for best supporting actress in a comedy for, officially, playing various characters. Along “O.J. Simpson” winners Brown and Vance, Egyptian-American Rami Malek beat veterans Kevin Spacey and Liev Schreiber to scoop his first Emmy for playing a socially inept computer hacker in “Mr. Robot“. Among them is “How to Get Away with Murder” star Viola Davis, who a year ago became the first woman of color to be honored as best drama series actress.
ACTOR, COMEDY SERIES: Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent“, Amazon.
Elsewhere, The Voice took home the award for outstanding reality competition series, beating Project Runway and Dancing With The Stars.
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Peter Dinklage missed out on a supporting actor trophy, as did co-star Kit Harington, the category’s favorite, with Ben Mendelsohn picking up the prize for Netflix family drama “Bloodline“.
