It was a sly reference to the narration his alienated and occasionally hallucinating character provides USA’s “Mr. Robot”, but it was also a fine summary of Sunday night’s telecast in its ability to reflect the changing nature of television.
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Emmy victor Sarah Paulson, who played Marcia Clark in the celebrated show, actually brought the head prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial as her plus-one to the awards. “What’s been really great about Netflix is they give us a lot of freedom and they trust us to pursue what our personal stories are”.
The previous weekend saw Thrones scoop nine awards at the Creative Arts Emmys.
The show beat the previously most crowned program, sitcom “Frasier”, by just one prize, surpassing its impressive 38 trophies.
Yet the series’ top actors went home empty-handed.
“House of Cards” star Kevin Spacey, who has never won an Emmy, missed out again for outstanding actor in a drama, which went to Rami Malek, the star of cyberspace security thriller “Mr. Robot”.
“Oh, my God. Please tell me you’re seeing this, too”, said a stunned Malek, who plays an emotionally troubled engineer caught up in a risky hacking conspiracy on the USA Network series.
The top comedy acting awards were more predictable.
Louis-Dreyfus used her victory at the Jimmy Kimmel-hosted ceremony, which was witnessed several starts making sharp political jabs, to take a dig at GOP contender Donald Trump.
There were also two wins for another comedy series, Transparent: Jeffrey Tambor was named Best Comedy Actor and the show picked up one of the directing awards. His “Seinfeld” co-star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, won her eighth Emmy.
“I’d also like to take this opportunity to personally apologise for the current political climate, ” she said. “When Trump builds that wall, the first one going over is Mark Burnett”, Kimmel said mocking Trump’s plan to build a wall between Mexico and the United States.
“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.
What followed was Kimmel catching rides with everyone from late night host James Corden to politician Jeb Bush and even a dragon from “Game of Thrones”. Burnett cast Trump in the series “The Apprentice”, which broadened the NY businessman’s appeal.
The only mention Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton received during the night was a quick thank you from Clinton impersonator Kate McKinnon, who won for her role on “Saturday Night Live”.
Jerry Seinfeld, attending the Emmy Awards for the first time in 18 years, was nominated for “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”.
Jimmy Kimmel didn’t need to roast the audience – he had enough zingers throughout the night to keep the show moving smoothly, even if some walked a fine line. “I wonder if he’s having a viewing party with the rest of the guys”.
Winning actors from the Simpson series couldn’t hide their excitement backstage.
Ben Mendelsohn of “Bloodline” won best supporting drama actor. But she knew who to credit.
“There, I’ve saved us 22 minutes”, Kimmel told the audience.
Regina King claimed the award for supporting actress in a limited series for American Crime, her second trophy for the programme. “And I’m glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone and tell you I’m sorry”.
The Bourne actor strolled onstage, munching an apple and asking Kimmel if he won the award which went to John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight.
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“It’s all I’ve been thinking about for the past 48 hours, that I’d be looking at the back of Beyonce’s head for four hours and she hasn’t turned up”, he said.
