With so many close races it was obvious there would be some upsets at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards, but no one expected this many. Netflix’s “The Crown” scored unexpected Directing and Best Actress in a Drama Emmys for Stephen Daldry and Claire Foy, respectively. And “The Americans” took the Drama Writing and Best Actor statues for series showrunners Joe Weinberg and Joel Fields; and Matthew Rhys. Clearly, the winners and their speeches made the night because the Lorne Michaels produced event was something of a bore.
READ MORE: Complete list of Winners and Nominees of the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards
We’ll get to it soon enough, but having the Emmys infused with “SNL” talent likely only works if you have the right hosts and comedic actors appearing on stage. NBC will be thrilled the show basically ended on time and it will be interesting to see if there was an uptick in ratings by moving it from its traditional Sunday night airing to Monday. That being said, the Television Academy has to be wondering why Kenan Thompson was the last “star” presenter (Did someone cancel at the last minute? Was this a gift from Michaels to his longtime “SNL” star?) and why Michaels’ writing staff couldn’t bring the laughs after having all summer to work on the telecast.
Keeping all this in mind, here’s a rundown of the Best and Worst of the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Best: “We Solved It”
Not everyone loved it, but the “We Solved It” opening number with Kate McKinnon, Keenan Thompson, Kristen Bell, Sterling K. Brown, RuPaul, Andy Samberg and John Legend was at the least well written. Zingers like recognizing the Emmy audience as “From Democrats to liberal Democrats” to Sandberg’s “Is there any room in this song for a straight guy on TV?” to the introduction of “The one of each dancers” was a good example of how having the “SNL” writers take over the show could be a good thing. Then again, as for the hosts… – Gregory Ellwood
Worst: Colin Jost and Michael Che
Let’s see, their monologue was flat and featured some very dated jokes. Their bits with Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen bombed (more on that later) and their ad libs were weak (they couldn’t even come up with a good one-liner after Glenn Weiss proposed to his wife on stage). Che’s “Reparation Emmys” was a great idea and had a few laughs, but wasn’t as funny as it should have been. Jost and Che’s chemistry on “Saturday Night Live” has been seriously questioned and they didn’t do anything in this context that changed that opinion. – GE
Best: Henry Winkler finally gets his Emmy
42 years after his first nomination and on his sixth try Henry Winkler finally gets his first Emmy Award. The 72-year-old actor best known for playing the Fonz on “Happy Days” received a euphoric standing ovation and couldn’t hold back his excitement. After going through a quick laundry list of people to thank the TV legend told his kids, “You can go to bed now, Daddy won!” -GE
Best: Alex Bornstein’s reveal
Bornstein’s win in the Best Supporting Actress category was a pseudo-surprise (“SNL’s” Kate McKinnon was the frontrunner), but when she stood up she took a moment in the aisle to take of her silk top, throwing it to the side like the diva she is. It’s a moment that will at least be added to this writer’s favorite gifs.– GE
