2015 Emmy Winners

I’ve had so little interest in the Emmy Awards this year that, honestly, I didn’t even realize the ceremony was on this weekend until fellow blogger Shannon happened to mention it to me on Sunday afternoon. I didn’t make any predictions in advance, or even notice who’d been nominated. Should I be more excited that a couple of shows I like won the big prizes?

After its existence was brought to my attention, I watched a few minutes of celebrities roasting in the 106-degree Los Angeles heat on the red carpet. That was fairly amusing to witness so many vain actors and actresses struggle to maintain their composure as they sweated through their expensive tuxes and gowns, the women’s makeup melted off their faces, and their elaborate hairdos wilted. Beyond that, however, I couldn’t be bothered to watch the awards themselves. I had other work to do and just didn’t care enough. I figured that I could find out who won afterwards, and sure enough I did.

It seems that ‘Game of Thrones’ pulled an upset by winning the Drama Series trophy over the final season of ‘Mad Men’. This is a pretty big accomplishment for a fantasy series. At the same time, I find the win puzzling. The Emmy eligibility period for this year covers programming that aired from June 1st, 2014 to May 31st, 2015. For this show, that spans the last three episodes of Season 4 and the first eight of Season 5. Most fans will agree that Season 5 was a disappointment and the weakest to date. I wasn’t really enamored with the end of Season 4 either. Of all the times for this show to win an Emmy, this seems like the least deserving.

HBO also surprised on the comedy end, where the network’s brilliant political satire ‘Veep’ finally unseated the seemingly unstoppable ‘Modern Family’, which had won five consecutive times and appeared poised to dominate the category forever. Unlike ‘Game of Thrones’, the last two seasons of ‘Veep’ were very strong and I feel were deserving of the win.

If you did watch, how was the ceremony? Did the shows you expected to win do so? Which of your favorite shows were snubbed?

Outstanding Drama Series

Nominees:

  • ‘Better Call Saul’
  • ‘Downton Abbey’
  • ‘Game of Thrones’
  • ‘Homeland’
  • ‘House of Cards’
  • ‘Mad Men’
  • ‘Orange Is the New Black’

Winner: ‘Game of Thrones’

Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama

Nominees:

  • Kyle Chandler, ‘Bloodline’
  • Jeff Daniels, ‘The Newsroom’
  • Jon Hamm, ‘Mad Men’
  • Bob Odenkirk, ‘Better Call Saul’
  • Liev Schreiber, ‘Ray Donovan’
  • Kevin Spacey, ‘House of Cards’

Winner: Jon Hamm (1st Emmy)

Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama

Nominees:

  • Claire Danes, ‘Homeland’
  • Viola Davis, ‘How to Get Away with Murder’
  • Taraji P. Henson, ‘Empire’
  • Tatiana Maslany, ‘Orphan Black’
  • Elisabeth Moss, ‘Mad Men’
  • Robin Wright, ‘House of Cards’

Winner: Viola Davis (1st Emmy)

Outstanding Comedy Series

Nominees:

  • ‘Louie’
  • ‘Modern Family’
  • ‘Parks and Recreation’
  • ‘Silicon Valley’
  • ‘Transparent’
  • ‘The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’
  • ‘Veep’

Winner: ‘Veep’

Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy

Nominees:

  • Anthony Anderson, ‘Black-ish’
  • Louis C.K., ‘Louie’
  • Don Cheadle, ‘House of Lies’
  • Will Forte, ‘The Last Man on Earth’
  • Matt LeBlanc, ‘Episodes’
  • William H. Macy, ‘Shameless’
  • Jeffrey Tambor, ‘Transparent’

Winner: Jeffrey Tambor (1st Emmy)

Outstanding Lead Actress – Comedy

Nominees:

  • Edie Falco, ‘Nurse Jackie’
  • Lisa Kudrow, ‘The Comeback’
  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus, ‘Veep’
  • Amy Poehler, ‘Parks and Recreation’
  • Amy Schumer, ‘Inside Amy Schumer’
  • Lily Tomlin, ‘Grace and Frankie’

Winner: Julia Louis-Dreyfus (3rd win for this role, 7 Emmys in all)

Outstanding Limited Series

Nominees:

  • ‘American Crime’
  • ‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’
  • ‘The Honorable Woman’
  • ‘Olive Kitteridge’
  • ‘Wolf Hall’

Winner: ‘Olive Kitteridge’

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

5 comments

  1. Chris B

    Andy Sandberg’s opening monologue was pretty decent. Not every joke was a hit but he had one that was something like: “it’s kind of ironic Kim Davis came out of prison to Eye of the Tiger when you think about how many dudes have boned each other to that song”. I fucking howled with laughter.

  2. C.C.

    It is harder and harder to stomach every year the idea that multimillionaires throw multimillion dollar parties EVERY 12 MONTHS (!!) to celebrate THEMSELVES and how awesome they are.

  3. itjustWoRX

    I don’t watch any of these award shows except for the Oscars, and even then it’s not exactly must-see TV. So I’m with you on that. I’m also REALLY with you on the fact that while I’m happy to see “Game of Thrones” win so many awards…I’m quite baffled that the year they win Best Series (or whatever they call it), it’s arguably the worst season of the show thus far.

    I was also glad to see Olive Kitteridge clean up. It was such an excellent miniseries. It actually reminded me of another HBO miniseries that hasn’t been released on Blu-ray yet. “Empire Falls” was great stuff.

  4. William Henley

    I think I am with CC and itjustWorX. I actually doubt the ratings they report on some of these shows – I don’t know anyone who has watched an awards show in years. I recorded the Dove Awards last year, but its sitting unwatched on my DVR. I don’t think most people even knew the Emmy’s aired until the next day when news sources reported on it. In fact, it seems that the only people who watched this at all were reviewers, ET and CNN.

    Awards shows like Nickelodeon’s Kid’s and Teen Choice are at least fun, and with the Oscars, if its a good year and they got a decent host, they can be a bit fun. And with music awards shows you at least have music performances during the show (still I don’t know anyone who has EVER watched one). But the television award shows tend to be the the worst of all award shows – no decent hosts, are boring as hell, and really have nothing to offer viewers unless you want to watch bad fashion.

    Now, if they want to have awards banquets, then so be it. And show us a 60 second clip next day on the news reporting who won what.

    Sorry so bitter, but there was a time when me and others DID watch award shows. I think most of us stopped watching, when the Oscars turned to honoring artsy-fartsy movies that most people never heard of and the stars making political statements, then around the same time it became clear that the Razzies were rigged and a giant scam, and how many people’s tastes have changed (I honestly do not know anyone who would sit in front of a television for 3-4 hours anymore, unless it is background noise while playing on their laptop or cell phone – this includes sporting events – few people actually watch the whole event).

    Wow, so when I started this, I was just expecting to write I agree. I had no clue I had so much pent up rage toward awards shows.

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