Emmy 2023: best and worst moments of the awards ceremony

by — January 16, 2024 in Recent news
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The 2023 Emmys are finally here. In 2024.

Delayed from September due to the double strike of Hollywood actors and writers, the late ceremony, presided over by Anthony Anderson, took place on Monday night at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. On a night in which the broadcast competed with coverage of the Iowa caucuses and an NFL playoff game, and just a week after the Golden Globes honored many of the same shows, the Emmys made for enjoyable viewing , although rarely necessary.

Most of the awards went to favorite artists and shows, with “Succession,” “The Bear,” “Beef” and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” dominating. (“Better Call Saul”, nominated for 53 Emmy Awards throughout its six seasons, failed to win a single statuette). Still, the show had some surprises.

There was Niecy Nash-Betts’ impassioned speech, Elton John’s newly minted EGOT status and presenter Joan Collins’ timeless ardor. “Succession” winner Kieran Culkin used his speech to ask his wife for another child. Ebon Moss-Bachrach celebrated her best comedy win for “The Bear” by giving her co-star Matty Matheson a long kiss. And Anderson’s mother, Doris Bowman, died as the night’s shadow co-host, booing winners who took too long in her speeches.

Here are some of the highlights and highlights of the night. —Alexis Soloski

Most of them, at least. It’s nice when an awards show allows for a bit of suspense that opens an envelope. This year, the Emmys had almost none. With very few exceptions, three series swept the awards: “Succession” for drama (six Emmy Awards); comedy “The Bear” (six Emmy Awards); and “Beef” for limited or anthology series or films (five Emmy Awards). Add two for “Late Night With John Oliver,” the eighth consecutive time it has won an Emmy in a variety series category and for variety writing, and that was pretty much the list of winners.

To a large extent, these awards felt deserved. Who could not honor a devastating episode like “Connor’s Wedding” from “Succession”? Who would overlook Ali Wong? And those “Bear” actors deserve something nice: that show is stressful! But with each minute and each prize, the results seemed more certain. These Emmys rewarded the first season of “The Bear,” and a second has already aired, which, in many ways, improves on the first. But since “Succession” has ended and “Beef” is a limited series, the upcoming Emmys may offer a few more surprises. — Alexis Soloski

The renamed best talk series category was left open this year after the Television Academy moved John Oliver to the best scripted variety series category. (Which he won, naturally.) Most expected Stephen Colbert, Oliver’s former “Daily Show” colleague, whose “Late Show” has been the most-watched late-night program for several years, to take the trophy. But it was “The Daily Show” that he won. The Comedy Central standby dominated this category during Jon Stewart’s tenure, but had never won while Trevor Noah was its host. And, in some ways, he still hasn’t: Although it was Noah who accepted the award and gave the speech, he left the show in 2022. (Former “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood mouthed “Please hire a host” onstage while Noah gave his speech.) It was yet another example of the strange time warps that made these delayed Emmy Awards even more confusing than usual. — Jeremy Egner

Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me,” “Married With Children”) has made few public appearances since revealing a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Her turn at the Emmys, presenting the award for supporting actress in a comedy series, reaffirmed why she is so missed. Leaning on a handsome companion and a cane, she cried before the applause the audience gave her, then cut the emotion short by saying: “You are totally embarrassing me for my disability by standing up.” She was spiky, sardonic, lemon-sour, even through tears, she was as funny and complicated as any of the characters she has played. She may not have won for “Dead to Me,” but her presence was a victory for the ceremony. — Alexis Soloski

Niecy Nash-Betts is regularly among the best performers on any show she appears on, and the Emmys were no exception. Upon accepting the position of “Dahmer,” Nash-Betts gave a fiery speech in which she dedicated her victory to the struggles of “unheard, but over-policed” black and brown women, “like Glenda Cleveland, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor ”. She continued: “As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power. And, honey, I will do it until the day I die.” She also said that what to imagine has crossed the minds of many previous award winners: “And you know who I want to thank? I want to thank myself for believing in me and doing what they said I couldn’t do..“Monday night he did it. — James Poniewozik

Anthony Anderson opened the Emmys with an ode to the shows that animated his living room television while he was growing up, kicking off a 75th anniversary ceremony that spent a lot of time looking back at the history of television. Taking the stage and hanging up his fur coat “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” style, Anderson took to the piano, beginning with the theme song from “Good Times,” the 1970s Norman Lear sitcom that Anderson said , taught him about “the importance of family.” He added: “There is no ‘Good Times,’ no ‘blackish,’ no ‘adult,’ no ‘mixed,’” referring to the comedy for which he is best known and the spin-offs that followed. He continued with the theme of “The Facts of Life” and, with the help of Travis Barker on drums, a performance of “In the Air Tonight”, which appeared in “Miami Vice”. The theatrical comedy, although brief, It allowed Anderson to avoid the kind of moments that plagued Jo Koy’s monologue last week at the Golden Globes, where an opening routine with jokes about celebrities in the room and top-nominated movies fell flat. — Julia Jacobs

Playing with winners who ramble in their acceptance speeches? Rude. Anthony Anderson making his mother scold the talkative ones? Bright. Anderson, who often includes her mother, Doris Bowman, in her act (and on the game show “We Are Family,” which she co-hosts) recruited her as a “playoff mom,” a job she took hard enough seriously enough to reprimand her. own son when her introduction lasted too long. “I want to go to the after party,” she said. “Hurry up.” He interrupted Jennifer Coolidge (who would dare her?) and silenced John Oliver when he goaded her by exaggerating her speech to the Liverpool football players. Kieran Culkin kept her speech brief. “I don’t want to be yelled at,” he said. When Anderson put on a latex suit for a part of “American Horror Story,” she spoke up to tell him to wash it off. Good advice and apparently a great improvisation. — Alexis Soloski

Typically, when awards “pay homage” to a medium, it’s a momentum-killer and a bit of a depressing piece of work. But the cast reunion segments here were light: brief and, more importantly, built into the proceedings. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler reunite… to present an award! Hey, it’s some people from the cast of “Cheers”… here to present an award! Throw in a little dance number from some “Ally McBeal” alumni for good measure. (Wonder how exactly the guest lists were put together? I know.) The sets did a lot of the heavy lifting, so even the flatter segments still evoked fond memories. — Margaret Lyons

The Emmys are usually held in September; Due to the Hollywood strikes, this ceremony was delayed four months. This meant delays in shows like “Better Call Saul” and “Dead to Me,” which ended in 2022, as well as having to keep track of which seasons the night’s winners were actually celebrated for. “The Bear” scored several wins on Monday night, for example, just as it did at the Golden Globes a week earlier. But the Globes were for the show’s most recent season 2, while the Emmys were for… season 1, summer 2022. Hopefully by fall, the TV space-time continuum will have been fixed. — James Poniewozik

For those of us watching at home, it was agony not knowing what dirty, provocative words we missed in so many of the speeches. Only the people at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles heard what Kieran Culkin did to Pedro Pascal’s shoulder, the obscenities Brett Goldstein unleashed, and what RuPaul said silenced him for several seconds. Lip readers of the world, or any available assistants, please let me know. — Alexis Soloski

Elton John scored an EGOT on Monday night, joining the select group that has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony when he won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special for his televised farewell concert at Dodger Stadium. . John has won five Grammy Awards, a Tony Award for Best Original Score for “Aida,” and two Oscars for songs from “The Lion King” (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight”) and “Rocketman” (“( “I’m Gonna) Love Me Again.”) With his Emmy for “Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium,” which aired on Disney+, John became the 19th person to win an unofficial but is an enduring source of online fascination. The fairly elite club includes Audrey Hepburn, Rita Moreno, Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and Viola Davis. John, 76, did not attend the ceremony. the Emmys.— Julia Jacobs

Six seasons. Seven Emmy nominations for best drama series and a whopping 53 nominations in total. And how many Emmy Awards did “Better Call Saul” win? Zero. I had to check it several times; It just didn’t seem possible. And yet, it is true. AMC’s prequel series to Emmy-winning crime drama “Breaking Bad” had five more chances to win something on Monday night (he had already failed in his two Creative Emmy nominations earlier this month). Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn’s wins for best supporting actor and actress seemed at least plausible. Instead, the show holds the record for most Emmy nominations in history without winning. Slippin’ Jimmy’s last chance has slipped away. — Austin Considina

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