Louis-Dreyfus used her victory to take a dig at GOP contender Donald Trump in a ceremony loaded with election-year asides. Overall, television’s biggest night of the year proved to be an eventful one yet again.
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HBO’s Game of Thrones won the Emmy for best drama series on Sunday night.
“Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth straight Emmy for her role in the satirical White House comedy on a night when politics played large in the midst of an extraordinary 2016 US election campaign. Only four awards out of the 27 presented at the ceremony went to programs that air on the four major English-language broadcast networks.
Streaming services did well right out of the gate.
Other trophies were sprinkled among USA, BBC America, AMC and Comedy Central – a stark illustration of the changing nature of television. Indian-American Aziz Ansari also is nominated for his new Netflix comedy “Master of None“. “Give them auditions. Give them their story”. “I’m sorry”, she said. The landmark series picked up 12 Emmys altogether, giving it 38 over six seasons surpassing the NBC sitcom “Frasier“.
“If your show doesn’t have a dragon or a white Bronco in it, go home right now”.
Other Emmy newcomers included Canadian Tatiana Maslany, a surprise best drama actress victor who beat out presumed front runner Robin Wright for playing a woman with multiple cloned personalities in “Orphan Black“.
“Oh my god. Please tell me you are seeing this too”, said a stunned Malek, 35. And with that he brought attention to a growing sentiment that transgender actors should be given more opportunities – especially as transgender characters become more common.
“Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don’t have to watch reality shows anymore, because we’re living in one”, he cracked. “I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television”.
Louis-Dreyfus then turned serious, visibly shaking and tearing up as she dedicated the award to her father, William Louis-Dreyfus, who died last Friday.
In accepting the award she apologized for what she called “the current political climate” in the US.
“I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics”, she said as she accepted her award.
“Our show started out as political satire, but now it feels like a sober documentary”, she said.
The presidential campaign was foremost in many minds. Burnett cast Trump in the series “The Apprentice“, which broadened the NY businessman’s appeal. Clinton tweeted later, with a clip of McKinnon impersonating her.
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.
“The People v. O.J. Simpson”, which earned the second-highest number of nominations, converted five to trophies Sunday.
Later Kimmel pondered whether Simpson, who is imprisoned at Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada, was “having a viewing party with the rest of the guys”.
“I want to thank my wife”. It was able to hold onto the acting categories from previous year, with Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon succeeding Mom’s Allison Janney in the supporting actress in a comedy series race, and American Crime’s Regina King repeating as supporting actress in a movie or miniseries.
“I’m so glad that he liked Veep“, she said, her voice breaking, “because his opinion was the one that really mattered”.
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John Oliver of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” won the Emmy for top variety talk series. “I was going to stare at the back of her head and experience happiness in a form that I hadn’t felt”. Elsewhere, Tatiana Maslany won Best Actress In A Drama, even though she probably deserves a dozen more Emmys for the work she does on Orphan Black. It was her third win for playing the role of a dowager and like always she didn’t attend the ceremony.
