HBO rules 67th Emmys
Emmy voters favoured heat, prestige and sentimental sendoffs on Sunday as an eclectic list of winners defied many expectations. But the undisputed champion of the night was HBO, which pulled off an unprecedented sweep of the drama (“Game of Thrones”), comedy (“Veep”), limited series (“Olive Kitteridge”) and movie (“Bessie”) at the 67th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
The issue of diversity was discussed during the telecast and it was evident in the winners list, with “How to Get Away with Murder” star Viola Davis making Emmy history as the first African-American to win a lead drama actress trophy. Regina King (of ABC's “American Crime”) and Uzo Aduba (of Netflix's “Orange Is the New Black”) also earned supporting trophies.
Two wins for “Transparent” also put the issue of civil rights for transgender people in the spotlight, thanks to emotional acceptance speeches from creator Jill Soloway, who won for comedy directing, and Jeffrey Tambor, who won for lead comedy actor.
The biggest surprise of the night may have been the dominance of “Game of Thrones”, which set an Emmy record for the most wins by a programme in a single year, besting the mark of nine previously held by NBC's “The West Wing.”
In addition to drama series honours, it scored wins for drama writing (for David Benioff and DB Weiss) and directing (David Nutter) — a recognition of the fantasy series' undeniable popularity and the scale of the production.
Political comedy “Veep” has long been an industry favourite but was seen as a dark horse for the top series win. The love extended to star Julia Louis-Dreyfus' fourth consecutive win for the role, plus wins for supporting comedy actor Tony Hale and for comedy writing.
“Olive Kitteridge” was Emmy-bait from get-go with its stellar cast, literary pedigree and Oscar-nommed Lisa Cholodenko at the helm. The four-hour mini won the most awards of any programme during Sunday's telecast with six. “Game of Thrones” collected the most trophies overall with 12, including four on Sunday and eight at the September 12 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
All told, HBO bagged 43 Emmy wins during this year's race, followed by NBC with 12, Comedy Central and FX Networks with eight apiece and ABC with six.
“Mad Men's” Jon Hamm was the sentimental favourite in the very competitive lead drama actor category and voters did not deny him the gold in his final season of eligibility. But the same did not hold true in the supporting drama actor race, where it was Thrones' Peter Dinklage who was called to the stage.
Allison Janney's win for supporting comedy actress for CBS' “Mom” set the tone early that Emmy voters were of a mind to recognise high-minded fare.
HBO's “Veep” came on strong early on with the win for comedy writing by the British trio of Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche, followed by Hale's win for supporting comedy actor.
Amy Schumer also added another accolade to her busy year. Comedy Central's “Inside Amy Schumer” was another victor for variety sketch series in the first year that sketch comedies were separated from talk-variety series.
Emmy host Andy Samberg, star of Fox's “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, opened the Fox telecast with a taped musical, “I Watched Every Show” -- that poked fun at everything from binge viewing to the debate over diversity in TV. The telecast featured a surprise appearance by comedian Tracy Morgan, who was severely injured in a car crash 15 months ago.
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