2016 Emmy Winners

The Emmy Awards aired on Sunday and I barely even noticed. Once again, my interest in this ceremony was minimal. Nonetheless, I feel obligated to mention here that they happened.

I watched Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue, which was pretty funny, and walked into the room a couple of times here and there to catch a random presentation or joke. (Kimmel’s Bill Cosby gag was kind of brilliant.) Beyond that, I had better things to do. I decided that reading the list of winners afterwards was all the Emmy coverage I needed. I bet that some of you feel the same way, which is why I’m throwing this post together now.

‘Game of Thrones’ won the evening’s top prize, Outstanding Drama Series, for the second year in a row. I’m a big ‘Game of Thrones’ fan, but I feel like this is another case of the Emmys belatedly catching on to a popular program after it already peaked. Although Season 6 was generally an improvement over the lackluster Season 5 (which ironically won the show its first Emmy), it was still very uneven.

HBO’s ‘Veep’ also repeated its Outstanding Comedy Series victory. I don’t think this show has had a downturn, per se, but it’s five seasons in and some of the freshness has worn off. The show was rewarded last year, and I’d have preferred if something new could have gotten the attention.

Rami Malek was a surprise winner (well deserved) as Drama Lead Actor in ‘Mr. Robot’, and I have a couple friends who are probably over the moon right now about Tatiana Maslany finally being recognized for ‘Orphan Black’. On the comedy side of things, however, the main acting awards went to Jeffrey Tambor and Julia Louis-Dreyfus once again. This is Louis-Dreyfus’ third Emmy for the same role (eighth Emmy total) and Tambor’s second. There are other funny people on TV. ‘Transparent’ is arguably not even actually a comedy.

As far as aging men in drag go, I think even Louie Anderson was shocked when his name was called for Comedy Supporting Actor as Zach Galifianakis’ mother in the FX sitcom ‘Baskets’. It’s a shame that neither the show nor Anderson’s performance are particularly funny.

Outstanding Drama Series

Nominees:

  • ‘The Americans’
  • ‘Better Call Saul’
  • ‘Downton Abbey’
  • ‘Game of Thrones’
  • ‘Homeland’
  • ‘House of Cards’
  • ‘Mr. Robot’

Winner: ‘Game of Thrones’

Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama

Nominees:

  • Kyle Chandler, ‘Bloodline’
  • Rami Malek, ‘Mr. Robot’
  • Bob Odenkirk, ‘Better Call Saul’
  • Matthew Rhys, ‘The Americans’
  • Live Schreiber, ‘Ray Donovan’
  • Kevin Spacey, ‘House of Cards’

Winner: Rami Malek

Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama

Nominees:

  • Claire Danes, ‘Homeland’
  • Viola Davis, ‘How to Get Away with Murder’
  • Taraji P. Henson, ‘Empire’
  • Tatiana Maslany, ‘Orphan Black’
  • Keri Russell, ‘The Americans’
  • Robin Wright, ‘House of Cards’

Winner: Tatiana Maslany

Outstanding Comedy Series

Nominees:

  • ‘Black-ish’
  • ‘Master of None’
  • ‘Modern Family’
  • ‘Silicon Valley’
  • ‘Transparent’
  • ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’
  • ‘Veep’

Winner: ‘Veep’

Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy

Nominees:

  • Anthony Anderson, ‘Black-ish’
  • Aziz Ansari, ‘Master of None’
  • Will Forte, ‘The Last Man on Earth’
  • William H. Macy, ‘Shameless’
  • Thomas Middleditch, ‘Silicon Valley’
  • Jeffrey Tambor, ‘Transparent’

Winner: Jeffrey Tambor

Outstanding Lead Actress – Comedy

Nominees:

  • Ellie Kemper, ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’
  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus, ‘Veep’
  • Laurie Metcalf, ‘Getting On’
  • Tracee Ellis Ross, ‘Black-ish’
  • Amy Schumer, ‘Inside Amy Schumer’
  • Lily Tomlin, ‘Grace and Frankie’

Winner: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Outstanding Limited Series

Nominees:

  • ‘American Crime’
  • ‘Fargo’
  • ‘Roots’
  • ‘The Night Manager’
  • ‘The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story’

Winner: ‘The People vs. O.J. Simpson’

The full list of winners can be found on the official Emmys web site.

3 comments

  1. I thought Kimmel was pretty good as host, but can we please do two things with these awards shows:

    One: enough with the opening bits that puts your host in either movie scenes or scenes with other famous actors. It was fun when Billy Crystal first did it about 20 years ago…now it’s a tired gag.

    Two: enough with the stunts of “feeding” the audience. Ellen did it with pizza at the Oscars and it was amusing. Then Chris Rock did it will Girl Scout cookies. Less funny. Kimmel goes with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Maybe Kevin Smith will host next and pass out joints.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      Yeah, it’s kind of ridiculous. These anthology shows that change their theme every season are promoted by their networks as “limited series” despite being renewed for multiple seasons. American Horror Story and American Crime do the same thing.

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