During Sunday night’s Emmy telecast, a successful television writer and showrunner posted something akin to, “I wish the people writing and hosting the Emmys liked television.” We couldn’t agree more. There was a massive disconnect from what the production and the programs and performances the Television Academy voters were embracing. What saved a by-the-numbers telecast with a host who at times appeared not to want to be there and some terrible presenter copy, was a flurry of upsets, historic moments, and incredible speeches.
READ MORE: “The Studio,” “The Pitt” and “Adolescence” Dominate The 2025 Emmy Awards
The big winners were pretty much expected after the precursor Creative Emmy Awards last weekend. And, “The Studio,” “The Pitt,” and “Adolescence” took the major prizes (there was some minor tension on if “Severance” might pull out Drama Series, but no). And the energy in the room indicated the attendees and Television Academy voters were anxious to coronate those favorites. They eventually got to celebrate wins for Noah Wyle, Stephen Graham, and Owen Cooper, among others, but the show itself? Well, it didn’t start off badly…
BEST: ‘SNL’ Boys Give Mr. Farnsworth A Hand
Nate Bargatze is a terrible actor, but his “SNL” buddies Bowen Yang, Mikey Day, and James Austin Johnson helped get his well-written “Mr. Farnsworth Explains Television To His Colleagues” sketch across the finish line (inventor Philo Farnsworth was known as the “father of television”). It was the only genuinely funny exercise Bargatze had the entire show. When asked if there is a network for white people, Farnsworth remarks, “Why, CBS of course!” “Will there be a network for Asians?” Farnsworth quickly changes the subject. When Johnson’s character suggests that “So there are no ads” with streaming, Farsworth admits, “You pay the fee and there are ads.” Johnson, “That seems unfair to the customer.” “We don’t say that to the customers.” And kicks him out of the room. And when the subject of the Emmys comes up, Yang asks, “Like an Oscar?” Bargate hesitates and replies, “It’s a good one.” It ended awkwardly, but there was hope for a brief moment that Bargatze would use his friends to make the show a fun watch. Nope.
BEST: Standing Ovation For Stephen Colbert
The first of two great Colbert moments began when the “Late Show” host came out at the beginning of the ceremony to hand out Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Not only did he earn a standing ovation, but the crowd was chanting “Stephen! Stephen!” The love was so strong from the audience that he had to tell people to sit down. But Colbert, who was shockingly given one last season by CBS for the no. 1-watched late-night talk show on television, had his zingers ready. “While I have your attention, is anyone hiring? Because I got 200 well-qualified candidates tonight who will be available in June.” It was a sign of things to come.
WORST: The Boys and Girls Club embarrassment
This is Bargatze’s schtick? To play with the donation clock all night long? And why did we waste time with J. B. Smoove proping up kids from the club when speeches are being cut? And who thought having the ticker displayed on screen next to the talent when they went over was a good idea? Tacky as…Listen, giving to charity is a great idea, but this was a passive-aggressive bit that disrespected not only the charity but the winners in their one moment in the spotlight. And it just got worse and worse as the night went on. We knew it would be a mess when Bargatze mentioned it in pre-show interviews last week, but it turned into one of the biggest creative mistakes in Emmy broadcast history.
WORST: Nate Bargatze
A super popular stand-up comedian, Bargatze was always a questionable choice to host. He’s not industry enough to even throw out casual jokes regular viewers would chuckle at, and he’s never demonstrated consistent acting talent. Shockingly, his opening monologue was almost entirely setting up the aforementioned bit, which either he or the producers thought would get winners to keep their speeches short. And as it started to fail, he began to flounder. At one point, he even joked he’d never be doing this again. Honestly, we actually had sympathy for Bargatze until we realized he and the production had no intention of giving up on the penalty clock bit. He also seemed embarrassed – and not in a comedic way – that it was going so badly (at one point the total fell from $100,000 to $30,000 or so). We’re not even sure James Franco has this bad a run when he co-hosted the Oscars with Anne Hathaway.
BEST: Stephen Graham
He may be British and live in the U.K., but Stephen Graham has been working in the Hollywood industry for a long time. His first “studio” production was “Gangs of New York,” and he’s starred in a ton of other Hollywood films since. And his television credits are pretty major: “Band of Brothers,” “Empire,” four seasons of “Boardwalk Empire.” He has a lot of friends in the business who were waiting for him to have this moment. Now, not only is he part of a masterpiece of contemporary television in “Adolescence,” but he is also a three-time Emmy winner. When he won Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series, and his co-stars and colleagues attacked him with hugs? That was all you needed to know.
BEST: Hannah Einbinder
On her fourth try, the “Hacks” star finally won the Supporting Actress in A Comedy Series Emmy, but used her speech to make a point. After humbly admitting that, after pretending not to care for years, that winning was “punk rock,” she noted, “Go Birds, F**k ICE and Free Palestine!” In this terrible political environment, that takes guts even for a room that agreed with her on at least two of her three shout-outs.
BEST: Television Academy didn’t take the bait
So, CBS or their producers tried to dress the Emmys up in a Middle America conservative curtain. Beyond Bargatze, country singers saluting “Golden Girls”? We love Reba McEntire, but outside of Blache, those ladies were northern transplants living in…Miami. And the In Memoriam? Heavens (More on that in a minute). The entire show laid it on thick, but the Television Academy voters didn’t get the memo. Almost all the winners were vocally liberal, super progressive, and/or Queer. The fact that the Television Academy leadership bowed so much to this direction from the network is beyond disappointing. At least Television Academy Foundation Chair Chris Abrego gave one of the most impassioned pleas for diversity we’ve seen from anyone on network television since January. That was something at least.
BEST: Surprise, Surprise
In a year where there were supposed to be few upsets, there were a ton. Jeff Hiller, delightfully shocked in Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for “Somebody Somewhere,” Britt Lower took Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for “Severance” over “Matlock’s” Kathy Bates in a super tight race, Alan Randall shocked in Directing for a Drama Series for “Slow Horses” (perhaps the most obvious example vote splitting between “Andor,” “Severance,” and “The Pitt” we’ve seen in years), Stephen Graham upset Colin Farrell for Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series and “The Pitt’s” Katherine LaNasa shocked taking Supporting Actress in a Drama Series over “The White Lotus” standout Carrie Coon.
WORST: Bleeps and Cutaways
We’ve been doing this way too long, but we cannot remember an award show that had this many bleeps and cutaways to hide bleeps in our lifetime. Granted, some winners were genuinely swearing, and Jon Stewart did give Bargatze the middle finger, but usually, you’ll still get shots of them speaking. Thankfully, the Television Academy and other outlets have the original feeds without the censorship.
WORST: Vince Gill and Lainey Wilson for the In Memoriam
CBS’s attempt to make this telecast the Country Music Awards was…insane? How about the Grammys? Why not go down that road? Why would you have two country stars sing Gill’s “Go Rest High On That Mountain,” a blatantly Christian ballad, for an In Memoriam of talents of all religions? And why on earth was Wilson wearing a cowboy hat? A terrible, messy choice.
BEST: Stephen Colbert gets a well-deserved roar
That Bryan Cranston wry smile. That hesitation. He knew the crowd was ready to explode. When “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” won Outstanding Talk Series for the first time on its eighth nomination, there was a roar from an Emmy audience we’ve never heard before. It was a triumphant moment with Colbert giving a short but moving speech. He recalled Spike Jonze visiting him a decade ago, asking him, “What do you want this show to be about?” Colbert said he wished he could do a late-night comedy show about love. “At a certain point, and you can guess what that point was, in some ways we were doing a Late Night comedy show about loss and that’s related to love because sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense you might be losing it.” He proclaimed his love for America and told the audience “be brave and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.”
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