Emmys 2021: The best, worst, and weirdest of the ceremony
The Mike Pence fly sketch was bad, Conan O'Brien was good, and Rita Wilson's rapping was nothing short of odd
TV Features Emmys
From left: Debbie Allen (Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images), Cedric The Entertainer (Screenshot), and Conan O’Brien (Screenshot)
The 2021 Emmys will be remembered as the year when The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit helped Netflix cement its reign over the television kingdom, Conan O’Brien proved you can make great TV while not winning awards for making great TV, and someone in the writers’ room thought there were still a few more laughs to be wrung from a fly buzzing around Mike Pence’s head. After you’ve tallied up all the awards won by Ted Lasso and Mare Of Easttown and you’ve caught up with the history made by Michaela Coel and RuPaul, read on to find out what The A.V. Club thought was the best, the worst, and the weirdest of the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards.
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Also worst: Every time the ceremony came back from a commercial break, the announcer declared that the ceremony was on CBS.That’s right, CBS, the station that hosted the awards show, but also was the station that had, as far as I can tell, no nominees in any major categories.Yep, CBS.
Colbert’s on CBS.
When the majority of its demo has been asleep for 6 hours or switched to fox news’s 11 pm show
The election special that Colbert won for was on Showtime.
You said “CBS, the station that hosted the awards show, but also was the station that had, as far as I can tell, no nominees in any major categories”. Colbert on CBS was nominated in two other categories.
Also Showtime is owned by CBS.
I’m so tired of these fancy award shows always favoring regal British period piece crap like the Queen’s Gambit and The Crown. Zzzzz!!!!! Fantasy and Scifi like WandaVision and the Mandalorian never get a fair shake. The Oscars do this as well. There were some acceptations like Game of Thrones but that’s rare.
Anya Taylor-Joy’s character is from Kentucky.
“The Queen’s Gambit: ‘Real-Life Story’ Behind Hit Netflix SeriesThe show has a pretty stellar cast, with many British stars.”
It’s mostly regal British crap.
The show takes place in the U.S. and Russia and none of those Brits speak in their native accents. The novel it’s based upon is by an American. Call it prestige if you want, but it’s hardly regal British anything.
Which is why her ability to master chess and tying her shoes made for an awe-inspiring story.
I love sci-fi as much as the next guy, and would love for the genre to get more recognition, but the Queen’s Gambit was both fantastic, and had absolutely nothing to do with ‘regal British” outside of some of the cast being from there originally. For a guy that’s talking about the awards needing to be more open and inclusive to other genres, you’d should consider giving the idea a try yourself.
No comment about how every actor was white, huh?I get that The Crown was a favorite but when your second supporting male actor aka 7th in the depth chart wins over Michael K Williams, someone’s eyes should raise.
You know what Williams SHOULD HAVE won for? “The Wire”. In spite of the actors’ best efforts, ”Lovecraft Country” was a whatever show that didn’t deserve any awards.
I can barely remember any scenes with him this season (I think even the Australian prime minister had more memorable lines) and I commented elsewhere that I found that win in particular to be the most egregious. Or, as the great authoress Maya Wilkes would say, it was ‘classist and egregious’!
Did Philip even get a proper episode in season 4 of the crown? Or even a scene worth remembering? He was quite good in a sad and pathetic way in season 3 (if memory serves, that moon landing episode was particularly great). But aside from his funny line in season 4 that he immediately and 100% considered Anne his favourite child, he barely had anything worth a nomination in season 4. As opposed to Michael K williams, an actor who ripped out his heart and soul for every moment of Lovecraft.
He had a scene with Diana toward the end of the season that got some notice. Still, I’d guess he won mostly just because of the show he’s on and how long he’s been around.
I’m so tired of these fancy award shows always favoring regal British period piece crap like the Queen’s Gambit and The Crown. Zzzzz!!!!! Fantasy and Scifi like WandaVision and the Mandalorian never get a fair shake. The Oscars do this as well. There were some acceptations like Game of Thrones but that’s rare.
Queen’s Gambit is not British. It’s mostly set in Kentucky.
Shhhhhh their blind indignation blinds them and makes them think the US still belongs to Great Britain.
I mean White people outnumber blacks 6 to 1. We make up 12% of the population. If 12% of the nominees were Black I guess we got our due? If 5% of the nominees were Asian then would that be fair? IDK anymore. Fuck awards. I just want a home without a subprime mortgage and a fair resell value. Let’s start there.
I mean why have people win for being good, everyone gets a award now.
“but when your second supporting male actor aka 7th in the depth chart wins over Michael K Williams, someone’s eyes should raise.”
Why?
So Debbie Allen is white ? he looks white too:
I said actor. I meant acting emmy. It was a lot of diversity, but then just straight white wins almost across the board, and straight across the board for the acting wins.
Whats your point? In a honest society people win by merit and award criteria, not by quota.
Here we go, he is changing the rules.You keep Tyler Perry a billionaire
I like the part when facts are thrown at you you change what you are saying
Yeah, sorry, I thought “No comment about how every actor was white, huh?” would be clear it meant acting emmys when the subject is, y’know, the emmys. But yikes you got me on flip flopping!
Does anyone watch award shows like this anymore who is under the age of 65? No one who is of sound mind gives a shit about who wore what and who won what. Its one of those old time Hollywood traditions that just needs to go away.
you’d be surprised at what folks will fill the empty voids in their life with when nothing of interest is happening at the moment for them. Award shows are practically sown into America’s culture.
I had it on in the background and from what I saw agree with the writeup – most of it was lukewarm at best.But the In Memoriam was jarring. We lost a LOT of TV icons this year.
Do you need to be so condescending just because some people may be interested in something you don’t happen to care for? Plus, last I checked, this was a pop culture website. You’re coming on a pop culture website and complaining that it’s covering pop culture.
I was in no way complaining about this site covering the awards show. I was simply stating that these awards shows where the rich and famous congratulate themselves are fucking dumb.And if you find the Emmys interesting then I feel sorry for you.
Its no different than watching Pro sports. You’re seeing an exhibition and celebration of artists at the top of their craft. Just because they’re rich doesnt mean they arent human
Exactly, seems like a drinking game for the Rich to watch. None of the shows are the ones real people watch anyway, just like the movies for the Oscars.
The Emmys have a lot more shows that people enjoy than the Oscars though. Ted Lasso is a goddamned gem, Schitt’s Creek won last year and thats basically a Canadian national treasure, The Crown is huge, same for most of the other shows nominated
Im over 40 and i never watched, i hate such awards, they pointless [rich famous people give other rich and famous awards to make them more rich and famous], politicized and extremely one sided, anyone an inch to the right has no place and forced out, its extremely “funny” when you think about the first part that i said.
Me and my friend group watch all the awards shows, Emmys, Oscars, Tonys, hell even the BBMAs. Its just fun. (we’re all in our mid thirties now but have been doing this since our mid twenties)
Except those 65 year olds raised 40 year olds who were taught to like awards shows and those 40 year old have teens whom they have indoctrinated to like awards shows. Which is why – it – doesn’t – go – away.
Scott Frank seemed very impressed with Scott Frank. It was embarrassing.
Given a lot of the crap he has on his CV, he’s likely enjoying his lightning in a bottle moment as long as he can.
He’s a two-time Oscar nominee and has been in the business for over 30 years. I don’t think he’s worried about this being a brief moment in the sun.
I had only read some comments on Twitter about his speech after the fact. So I watched it on YT to see what all the commentary was about, and it was definitely embarrassing to watch. I don’t know what his reputation is generally like as a person in Hollywood, but the first time he told the orchestra to pipe down was very unnecessarily harsh.
The only good “king of comedy” is the one no longer with us (i miss bernie mac soooo much)
Bernie Mac was a comic giant walking the earth. From the first time I saw him on Def Comedy Jam, I never saw a stand-up appearance, tv show, or movie he was in without cracking a big smile. He gave us so many gifts.
Rupert Pupkin won’t be happy to hear this.
I’m so tired of these fancy award shows always favoring regal British period piece crap like the Queen’s Gambit and The Crown. Zzzzz!!!!! Fantasy and Scifi like WandaVision and the Mandalorian never get a fair shake. The Oscars do this as well. There were some acceptations like Game of Thrones but that’s rare.
We heard you the first time, relax.
I wanna make sure the most people possible read it.
I want my opinion to be spread around the most.
The lead character in Queen’s Gambit was from Kentucky. Period piece crap, agree to disagree.British period piece crap is just factually wrong.
And she drives a Corvair! https://jalopnik.com/that-popular-netflix-series-the-queens-gambit-has-some-1845563322
“The Queen’s Gambit: ‘Real-Life Story’ Behind Hit Netflix SeriesThe show has a pretty stellar cast, with many British stars.”
It’s mostly regal British crap.
What say you?!
I say you seem mentally ill.
I just find it weird that Americans who celebrate tax dodging and independence from Britain are so fascinated by their society.
It’s typical of white society in America. They give brown people something as a way to appease them and think well we gave you what you wanted… now let’s go back to the whiteness. They did this with President Obama. I’ve run into white people who have told me, you had a black president. What more do you want? You got your chance. So here with award shows it’s, okay you happy now brown people? Can we now go back the norm of just giving white people awards.
White people – These n words are never satisfied.
Shut up
Remember to keep in mind the Law of Small Numbers when it comes to variation from year to year.
You are giving way too much thought into a meaningless awards show that no one really gives two shits about.
Idk, if they post that same reply to every commenter on this article, they my actually get nothing accomplished.
So your reaction to someone saying they care about a thing is to call that thing meaningless and say no one cares about it. Cool. Very logical and cool.
Relax and try to make sense of what you’re saying
How many ethnic minorities do you think win acting awards in China, Korea, India, Nigeria etc?
So, by your logic, nominated people of color have to win the award even if a white performance is better. It’s a performance contest not a checks and balance of racial equality. It’s pretty rich people giving themselves awards, black, white or other, that’s what it is.
You are racist and divisive. People win by merit, not by quota.People like you want the opposite to happen.
No, I call out racism and some can’t handle it. So they try to reverse racism.
You are putting a LOT of words into peoples’ mouths.
was so happy to see michaela coel win for I May Destroy You. And her speech seems to have ignited a fire in struggling television and film writers.i love conan, and his salute was great. i wish he hadnt gone up with colbert’s group. the guy he kept throwing his arm around and rocking back and forth did not look impressed.
I mean I guess if I were up there and getting upstaged by Conan I might be a bit annoyed as well, but fuck it because Conan’s silly behavior was the most fun part of the show.
Conan was pretty much the only entertaining thing compared to all the terrible scripted bullshit with Jeong being “locked out” schitt’s creek bit about not having anything to say and the boring remix of just a friend, a rapper who’s most famous TV appearances include yo gabba gabba and crank yankers.
In multiple post-show interviews, Colbert said that he had asked Conan to come up with them if the Late Show won, and Conan even asked him if he was sure he wanted that.
You can even see Colbert gesture to him in as hes going up to the stage.
Bob Einstein not in the memorial segment. That’s sad in itself. Cedric doesn’t do live awards shows well at all.
The Crown is the type of the TV show that regardless of the quality and diminishing returns will make Emmy voters feel smart about voting for it, hence the kind of lazy voting that rewards whats-his-face over Michael K. Williams. Emmys are notorious for this kind of lazy voting. Bleh.
I enjoyed season 4 of the crown, but a lot of the straight sweep was baffling. Claire Foy won guest actor for a literal cameo of her reading a speech at a desk. Menzies did absolutely nothing of note this season, but somehow beat Williams. Gillian Anderson was kind of over the top but so damn fun as Thatcher that I was happy she won.
Conan was the last great Emmys host. His bit with Bob Newhart in a sealed box is an all-timer.
If Jennifer Coolidge isn’t nominated next year, she should host the Emmys. Cedric was affable and lightly funny. But whoever wrote his bit scenes should stick to SNL.
There was some distracting camera direction where one cut was done seemingly erroneously and then a second later positioned back to the intended subject.
Olivia Colman was bleeped during her Emmy speech – apparently she said the following:
And I figured it would happen but I’m bummed about A Black Lady Sketch Show losing the Variety Series award. Well, better watch Ted Lasso, I May Destroy You, and Hacks now.
If SNL writers wrote his sketches they would’ve actually been funny. This was just awful, every one of his sketches was bad
I had a bad reaction to the “headgear” worn by Emma Corrin. It looked exactly like the horrible rubber swim-caps we were forced to wear in the 1950s. I hated it.
No one wants to talk about how Bo Burnham was robbed by an old recording of Hamilton from the back of the theater?
OTOH, Hamilton finally got some recognition
Fuck all the Hamilton nominations, I swear to god
Hey Erik, Did you not recall Rita Wilson rapping Naughty By Nature on Instagram last year and then her doing a mashup video So her appearance, sure, it was most likely a send of Glenn Close doing Da Butt at The Oscars but it wasn’t just about that, either.
Yeah, there were a lot of people just shocked at how well Rita Wilson did her Naughty by Nature bit.It might not have completely worked out as a performance piece for the Emmys to the degree Close did on the Oscars, but I wouldn’t call it particularly weird either.
Funny you thought the Close bit worked.
I bet Chet Hanks is sad his mom is a more famous rapper than he is.Poor guy just can’t get a break,
Now we know where Chet gets it from…
Football or Emmys.Football.Well, that was an easy decsion.
I watched Family Matters on Cartoon Network. No idea why it was airing either.
I held my own Emmys last night. Conan O’Brien won all the awards.
Hard hard pass on the hair bonnet.
But when “Por Ti Volare” is swelling for the third time and you’re just getting around to your “Anya Taylor-Joy’s eyes” joke
I like Last Week Tonight but it doesn’t need to win every year. During this past year especially during election time I turned to Colbert, Meyers and Noah on YouTube.
“Weirdest: The Crown is Netflix’s first outstanding series winner”
Why is that weird? What Netflix show has been EMMY FOR BEST *WHICHEVER GENRE* SERIES good?
Kevin Spacey smarming it up to the camera? The jailhouse soap opera?
I mean, give me a break, it’s not like Netflix is some super prestige network. It’s still mostly second-run shows and direct-to-video level movies that drive viewership.
Conan got screwed over again , and know by a fake news show that is a copy of Daily Show with a guy with a comical voice.
I know as a whole the bits were awful but props must be given to the lone good one – Cedric vs. his TV wives: really glad they thought to include Terri too and I would love for the three/four of them to have a moment in an actual sitcom format.
Yea I thought this was cute and I thought the Schitt’s Creek one was fun as well
Is it me, or was there a palpable level of iciness between Peter Morgan and Gillian Anderson last night? Are things on the rocks again?
There should be a against nominating shows more than once in the same category. Like I swear the only reason Ted Lasso won so much was because it was nominated 4 times in every category.
The Mandalorian should have won best drama. I’m completely serious.“However, The Mandalorian is in a class by itself. That’s an
example of money well spent and really good storytelling. This season
was better than the first. The end of the second season is a genuine
“wow” moment.”- Hollywood Reporter, ‘Brutally Honest Emmy Ballot’ article:https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/brutally-honest-ballot-emmys-2021-1235013811/
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