The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards aired Sunday September 20th on the FOX network. This years host was former Saturday Night Live alum and current star of Brooklyn Nine-Nine Andy Samberg. While his opening monologue may have been somewhat lacking, he appeared to get more comfortable as the night progressed. Samberg was most in his element during the pre-recorded skits, which felt reminiscent of his old Lonely Island digital shorts.
The outstanding comedy series award, which had previously been taken by Modern Family for the past five years, now belongs to HBO’s political humor-based Veep. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale also took Emmys for Veep in the outstanding lead actress and supporting actor categories. Amazon’s progressive series Transparent won outstanding lead actor and directing in a comedy series. Both Jeffrey Tambor and Jill Soloway spoke of the transgender community in their acceptance speeches, drawing attention to housing discrimination for trans people. Allison Janney collected her second Emmy award for supporting actress in the series Mom.
Game of Thrones took home a record breaking 12 wins, including the coveted outstanding drama series award. Jon Hamm finally received his first Emmy for badly behaved adman Don Draper from the seventh and final season of Mad Men. Viola Davis, the first African American to ever win the outstanding lead actress in a drama series category, delivered a truly stirring speech. Davis thanked the others in the category and spoke of the importance of opportunities in roles for black women. Outstanding supporting actress Uzo Aduba of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black gave emotional thanks after accepting her Emmy.
What’s the best piece of television that you may not have heard of this year? Apparently it’s HBO’s mini-series Olive Kitterage, based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Strout. Olive Kitterage swept the limited series or movie category by earning outstanding lead actress Frances McDormand, lead actor Richard Jenkins, supporting actor Bill Murray, best direction, and best writing.