On Sunday, Sept. 15, CBS rolled out the red carpet at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater for a night of celebrating old “Hacks” and stars in “Adolescence.” While likely to be memorable to its attendees, this year’s ceremony seemed to come and go in the collective consciousness of its viewers.
The leaves starting to turn and the brisk breeze in the air can indicate only one thing: awards season. While television’s biggest and brightest woke up early Sunday to begin red carpet preparations, I rolled out of bed slightly before 11 a.m. with no knowledge of the day’s events. Amid a leisurely discussion of the day’s plans, I was reminded by my TV-connoisseur suitemate that the Emmys were that night.
Perhaps my easy forgetfulness of the show’s existence should’ve been the first sign of what would be another mundane modern award show.
The broadcast began with an opening sketch recreating host Nate Bargatze’s “Saturday Night Live” sketch about George Washington’s hopes for the future of the United States, only this time reimagined as hopes for the future of television. Despite my initial intrigue at the choice to start with an SNL reference, beginning the night with an unoriginal sketch from a show facing a purge of its remaining reliable comedic talent was a rather lukewarm cold open.
Bargatze moved into his monologue, which, once he got past some awkward hiccups, introduced a through line that would plague the rest of the night. His ‘plan’ for keeping speeches brief was to start with a $100,000 donation to the Boys and Girls Club of America and subtract $1,000 for each second a winner spoke for too long. The idea got some laughs and showed potential as a clever shtick, but I’m assuming no one at CBS thought about whether or not it would hold up over a nearly three-hour broadcast.
Spoiler alert—it did not.
I will admit I was not as well-versed in the nominees for the Emmys as I usually am for other awards shows, such as the Oscars or Grammys, but the night seemed promising when “Severance,” a favorite of mine, took home several major awards in the first hour. Britt Lower’s award for Best Leading Actress in a Drama Series seemed inevitable if you watched the series. Tramell Tillman’s win as Best Supporting Actor was met with riotous cheers in my living room, and his heartfelt speech honoring his mother would’ve been an even more perfect moment, if not for the ridiculously ominous money tracker lurking in the corner. Nonetheless, the award cemented Tillman in television history as the first Black man to win for Supporting Actor in a Drama. A “Severance” sweep seemed imminent, and my excitement was surmounting.
That enthusiasm quickly diminished, however, as the ceremony seemed to drag from that point on. Comedies began to be awarded, and “Hacks” was receiving unanimous praise. Jean Smart, the show’s star, was ironically on stage before her name was even called to receive the award for the fourth year, and only the fourth season. For the first time, however, her co-star Hannah Einbinder also took home the gold and delivered the most talked-about speech of the night. She was cut for time by the donation tracker and also muted as she shouted, “go birds, fuck ICE, free Palestine!” Yet, by the logic of Bargatze’s brief-speech-plan, those few seconds of her speech were equivalent to thousands withheld from children in need. Ironic.
It was at this point in the broadcast that the donation tracker shtick really started to lose steam. In a room full of individuals who could donate far more than $100,000 to any charity without facing any financial burden, it felt pointless to rush every winner with a superficial “it’s for the kids.”
Owen Cooper of “Adolescence” was the only child truly being celebrated at the Emmys with his record-breaking win at age 15, beating out the likes of Javier Bardem and Peter Sarsgaard. His win was a highlight of the night, alongside Jeff Hiller’s surprise win for “Somebody Somewhere” and Cristin Milioti for “The Penguin,” who let out a triumphant yell as she rushed to finish her speech. The celebration of these television professionals is what the Emmys are all about, which makes it even more unfortunate that the show seemed to have forgotten that.
Between each award were presenter bits, none of which were memorable in the slightest. Instead, they all mulled on seemingly attempting a short stand-up routine, which felt cruel as the award recipients had oftentimes been practically pushed off the stage moments before.
The best kind of award show should feel like you missed an hour when you look away for only a second. In this case, however, I hoped I had missed an hour whenever I looked away for a second.
During commercial breaks, and sometimes during the show itself, I looked to see what people were saying online. Aside from the occasional rumor of whether Beyoncé would show up, red carpet posts, and pointing out the “Severance” easter egg in Britt Lower’s speech, most of what I saw were clips from past year’s Emmys, yearning for what once was.
As seems to be the case with most modern award shows, the 77th Emmys felt to be, as host Nate Bargatze said, “not a big one like [the] 75th or 80th, but it’s the one they gave me.”
Gone are the days of a viral awards show moment. The last time one I recall sparking significant discourse was the made-up Las Culturistas Culture Awards—Ben Platt’s Diet Pepsi cover dominated my social media for the entire week. This year’s Emmys failed to have a single moment rise to the occasion—and anytime it got close, that ominous money tracker made sure to cut it off. What we didn’t get was a memorable moment, like Ellen delivering pizza to celebrities in the audience, Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, Julia Louis Dreyfus making the Emmys her own comedy show, or Ricky Gervais using his hosting opportunity to drag the Hollywood elite in the same room. This was disappointing for an awards show that relies on comedy, as they can’t get by on dazzling musical performances typical of other award shows. Colman Domingo’s rhinestone suit left more of an impression than any joke.
More significant than its lack of viral moments, however, was the ceremony’s shallow “Pitt” (pun intended to the Best Drama Series winner) of insincerity. The broadcast made a weak attempt at plucking the audience’s heartstrings through the underwhelming reunions of “Gilmore Girls,” “Law and Order,” and “The Golden Girls,” as well as inviting presenters like Stephen Colbert, who was presumably invited to bring a political edge to the ceremony due to the recent cancellation of his late show. Instead, each moment just felt underdeveloped and messy.
The Emmys are no stranger to emotionally moving moments, as proven by Viola Davis’ historic speech in 2015 or Sheryl Lee Ralph’s speech just three years ago in 2022. Even in 2011, a comedic stunt became moving as all actresses nominated for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Comedy Series took the stage together pageant style—a moment of humor and camaraderie. It hasn’t been long since the Emmys have been great, but this year just severely missed the mark.
For a ceremony meant to showcase the best of television, it’s pretty ironic that this year’s Emmys would likely face cancellation if the broadcast were a pilot.
At the end of the day, the Emmys will return, and the Boys and Girls Club will get their $100,000 (actually $350,000 as Bargatze later revealed), but we as viewers will never get back those three hours. As live TV remains on life support and loses vitality by the year, it’s broadcasts like the Emmys that remain to be a draw. If the disappointment of this year’s awards continues, I wouldn’t be surprised to be watching the Emmys live on TikTok in a few years. For now, I hope someone figures out how to once again make the ceremonies three hours well-spent by the time the real awards season rolls around.
