Given the technical undertaking this involved, I’m impressed that the Academy and the producers were able to pull it off with next to no snafus. Given the unprecedented nature of the ceremony and all the moving pieces it required, I certainly don’t begrudge them for playing it safe—but I could’ve used more high-wire…

An unanticipated benefit of Succession winning Outstanding Drama Series: We got to see Sarah Snook’s homemade Emmy.

The Succession situation in supporting actor feels like an instance of vote-splitting to me.

Zendaya is Emmy

When the Zoom call is stretching into its third hour.

Ru’s confetti moment: extending the Rip Taylor tribute from the in memoriam segment to the main ceremony. Read more

Wow, the special effects on Away are really something!

Randalpaca Park

I don’t know, Patrick—I feel like Letterman was essentially made for the odd rhythms, lack of audience response, and necessity-for-out-of-the-box creativity posed by the quarantine Emmys. Presenting the awards in those remote-triggered boxes felt like a vintage Late Night gag, too.

An Emmy has appeared in the at-home void where John Oliver has been doing Last Week Tonight since lockdown began. Oliver gives a heartfelt thanks to the family who lives just outside that void, who’ve allowed him to keep making the show and occasionally prompted him to say awkward things like, “Oh, dad’s just talking…

I’d like to thank the nation of Canada for taking COVID-19 seriously, thereby allowing the Schitt’s Creek crew to accept all their awards in the same space and lend some semblance of normalcy to this bizzaro ceremony. Read more

As we discussed on Push The Envelope, Murphy was the one Schitt’s Creek acting nominee who didn’t feel like a shoo-in—Daniel Levy’s acceptance-speech shout-out to Murphy seemed to acknowledge the stiff competition she was up against as well. But she carried it off, a cherry on top of what was (like my pick in this…

So that’s not only 5 for 5 for Schitt’s Creek, that’s 3 for 3 for Daniel Levy. Nice to be not mad about an Emmy landslide for once—nice to see all those seasons of little facial reactions rewarded here.

I will accept this Hank bit—excuse me, “Derek Magicjohnson”—as a small compensation for the lack of new Barry this year. Read more

Starting to look like I wore the right shirt tonight

It’s on-the-nose dystopian, but the tuxedo hazmat suit is extremely funny. Read more

The “every time we say ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ we have to put the words ‘Schitt’s Creek’ on the screen” rule is in effect, as in this Colbert clip:

The weird thing about this ceremony is how so much of it felt like a requiem for TV—or at least a type of TV, or the most recent era of it. Those extended tributes to Thrones and Veep, the way Michael Douglas described the Outstanding Drama Series nominees as (paraphrasing here) “so different from the TV we grew up… Read more

For me, the biggest upset is Game Of Thrones’ lack of momentum anywhere other than Dinklage’s win and (presumably) the last award of the night. I guess they’ll just have to content themselves with all the Emmys they won last week. Read more

And Game Of Thrones goes into the long night never having won in the lead actor or lead actress categories. Read more