Veteran shows dominated the awards at this year’s Emmys, which were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, with HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and “Veep” winning best drama and best comedy, respectively, for the second straight year. The night also saw a few big upsets in the supporting actors drama category, as Ben Mendelsohn won for Bloodline and Maggie Smith won for the final season of Downton Abbey. “Hillary in.” Writer Aziz Ansari, awarded for his Netflix show “Master of None”, joked about deporting Muslims and Hispanics. The entire series is streaming on Amazon Prime. The second season is on the USA Network website and streaming app. “Nice try changing your name to America. Give them auditions. Give them their story”, he declared onstage.
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But perhaps the strongest denunciation of Trump came from “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway, who likened the bombastic tycoon to Hitler.
HBO’s hit series “Game Of Thrones” officially has the most Emmy awards, beating out “Frasier” (37 wins) with 38 wins in total.
In the tightest race of the night, lead actress in a drama, Tatiana Maslany won for Orphan Black, pipping favorite Robin Wright (House of Cards) and last year’s victor Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder).
“Oh, my God. Please tell me you’re seeing this too”, said a stunned Malek, who participates in a hacking conspiracy in a series where it’s never quite sure what’s real and what’s imagined.
This year, however, the series lost in the drama acting categories, which were far from predictable.
Though the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday celebrated television’s best moments, the ceremony gave near equal time to celebrating its own newfound diversity – and joking about the Oscars’ lack of it. Tambor discussed the controversial nature of his role as a transgender woman, saying he would like to see more roles for transgender actors. Later in the evening, trans actress Laverne Cox took the stage to present an award and praised Tambor for his comment and thanked Jenji Kohan for taking a chance by including her on Orange Is the New Black.
“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”, Louise-Dreyfus said.
The presidential campaign was foremost in many minds.
And Kimmel kept the three-hour show moving, poking some jokes at the nominees, including Apprentice producer Mark Burnett.
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“Saturday Night Live” comedian Kate McKinnon, who plays Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, won supporting comedy actress, while Louie Anderson was named best supporting actor for playing the wholesome mother of Zach Galifianakis’ quirky clown in the FX comedy “Baskets”.
