Emmys 2020 as it happened: Schitt's Creek, Succession major winners as awards go virtual

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Emmys 2020 as it happened: Schitt's Creek, Succession major winners as awards go virtual

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What worked at the virtual Emmys, and what didn't

By Karl Quinn

Well, that was something wasn't it?

I'm not sure about you, but going into this I actually had very little idea how this was going to work. Would people be gussied up, would the Wi-Fi drop out, would Schitt's Creek sweep the board, would Succession storm the barricades?

Schitt's Creek and Succession were two of the big winners at the Emmys on Monday.

Schitt's Creek and Succession were two of the big winners at the Emmys on Monday.

The answers: some; no; yes; and kind of.

First, some numbers. Succession won seven awards from 18 nominations, including the biggest award of the night (well, their night), outstanding drama series. In my view, it's well deserved; I thought season one was great, but season two was even better – the best thing on TV in 2019, I reckon.

Schitt's Creek did even better, winning nine* of the 15 awards for which it was nominated, including all seven on this, the big night (it also won for best casting and best contemporary costume). It's been called the little show that could, and today it was the little show that did.

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Watchmen had been the leading nominee, with 26 nods, and it finished with 10, which is a very respectable tally. The Mandalorian picked up five from 15, while The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, which had won eight awards in each of its first two seasons, picked up just two this time around from a whopping 20 nominations.

It wasn't a great year for the Australian contingent. Sarah Snook (Succession), Hugh Jackman (Bad Education), Cate Blanchett (Mrs America) and Toni Collette (Unbelievable) all missed out in acting categories, while Blanchett was also overlooked as producer for her compelling feminist drama. Writer Tony McNamara missed out for The Great, and director Jessica Hobbs – born in New Zealand but a 20-year veteran of the Australian television industry (she started on Heartbreak High) – was overlooked for her work on The Crown. But as my colleague Michael Idato rightly noted elsewhere in this blog, their work is excellent and testifies to the fact there is indeed truth in that truism that to be nominated is acknowledgement enough. (Though winning surely feels better.)

It was a gently but persistently political ceremony, with repeated calls for tolerance, love, acceptance and support. No one said "vote Democrat" but plenty of people said "vote", and the subtext in the lead-in to November's presidential election was clear enough. And arguably, the direction of the awards reflected that.

But for mine, the big winner on the night was the awards themselves. In Jimmy Kimmel, the event had the consummate host, equally capable of delivering what's scripted as he is of deviating as circumstances demand. He's a smart guy, funny, and seemingly well-liked by his colleagues in the industry, many of whom were happy to join in the gag (kudos to Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston in particular).

Some of the pre-recorded bits were flat though, and how could you not feel for Randall Park and Sterling K. Brown, who were asked to deliver some pretty lame material without the benefit of either a well-lubricated live audience or a well-timed laugh track. Tough gig that.

The big takeaway though is that this can work. And with Grammys and AACTAs and Oscars all ahead of us, there's a good chance we'll be seeing more of this sort of thing before too long.

And with that, farewell. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time.

* I originally wrote that it had won eight, shamefully overlooking the award for best contemporary costumes it picked up last week. If you've seen Moira's outfit in the finale, you'll know the win was truly deserved.

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Unthank you very much, says Succession creator Jesse Armstrong

By Karl Quinn

"This is the big one, the last award of the night," says Kimmel. "In my experience this is where things sometimes go askew." (He was hosting the Oscars in 2017 when La La Land was mistakenly read out as best picture.)

Sterling K. Brown comes on stage and appears to think he's there to accept the award for This Is Us. Turns out he's just there to introduce it. It's meant to be funny, but isn't. "That was embarrassing," he says. Yes it was. But in fairness, it's not helped by the fact they didn't have the canned laughter there to help us realise it was meant to be a comedic bit.

The award actually goes to Succession.

Cut to a hotel room somewhere, where creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong begins by saying "this is a very nice moment..." And then the phone starts ringing. It's room service. Seriously.

He gets back to it.

"For being robbed of the opportunity to spend time with our peers and the cast and crew I think maybe I'd like to do a couple of unthank yous," he says.

"Unthank you to the virus for keeping us all apart this year. Unthank you to President Trump for his crummy and uncoordinated response. Unthank you to Boris Johnson and his government for doing the same in my country. Unthank you to all the nationalists and sort of quasi-nationalist governments in the world, who are exactly the opposite of what we need right now.

"And unthank you to the media moguls who do so much to keep them in power. So, unthank you."

And with that, it's over.

Not perfect, but far from a disaster. Well done, Television Academy. In spite of – or perhaps because of –everything, you've given us an Emmys to remember.

Give them a hand, Australia's Emmy class of 2020

By Michael Idato

Australia mounted its biggest Emmy campaign on record in 2020, with nominations spanning 14 categories, but only winning in one: Greig Fraser took home the cinematography single-camera (half-hour) Emmy.

Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Sarah Snook, Tony McNamara and Toni Collette walk away from the 2020 Emmys empty-handed.

Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Sarah Snook, Tony McNamara and Toni Collette walk away from the 2020 Emmys empty-handed.

But those who say that the nomination in itself is an honour are right. Congratulations to Australia's Emmy class of 2020.

  • Greig Fraser, cinematography for a single-camera series (half-hour) for The Mandalorian (Disney+)
  • Antonio Gambale, music composition for a limited series, movie or special and original main title theme music for Unorthodox (Netflix)
  • Martyn Zub, sound editing for non-fiction programming and sound mixing for non-fiction programming for Beastie Boys Story (Apple TV+)
  • Patrick Clair and Raoul Marks, main title design for Westworld (HB0)
  • Paul Mitchell, main title design for Watchmen (HB0)
  • Hannah Gadsby, variety special and writing for a variety special for Douglas (Netflix)
  • Justine Seymour, contemporary costumes for Unorthodox (Netflix)
  • Tony McNamara, writing for a comedy series for The Great (Hulu)
  • Cate Blanchett, lead actress in a limited series or movie for Mrs America (FX)
  • Hugh Jackman, lead actor in a limited series or movie for Bad Education (HBO)
  • Toni Collette, supporting actress in a limited series or movie for Unbelievable (Netflix)
  • Sarah Snook, supporting actress in a drama series for Succession (HBO)

It's the big one! The Emmy for outstanding drama series goes to... Succession!

Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession

Winner: Succession

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Succession breeds success ... to a point

By Karl Quinn

In its first season, the magnificent series about a media family in which the mogul (Brian Cox) pits his three kids against each other to see which one is best suited to take the reins flew a little under the radar (though it did still manage two Emmy wins from five nominations). In its second, the slow-build word-of-mouth grew to a roar, and its audience of admirers swelled to an army.

Going into this ceremony, it was considered one of the favourites, with 18 nominations. So, has it been a successful Emmys for Succession? Yes and no.

Australian Sarah Snook is brilliant in Succession but there was no Emmys win for her today.

Australian Sarah Snook is brilliant in Succession but there was no Emmys win for her today. Credit:

Jeremy Strong as elder son Kendall Roy is a deserving winner in the lead actor category. The always-wonderful Cherry Jones won earlier in the multi-day awards for guest actress, and the show also picked up awards for casting and editing. Now there are awards for writing (for series creator Jesse Armstrong, who also won last year) and directing (for Andrij Parekh, who dedicates his award to all the kids out there with names that people struggle to pronounce).

But then there are the misses.

Maybe suffering from the split-vote syndrome that hit Watchmen earlier, the three men nominated as best supporting actor from the show – Nicholas Braun (who plays the doofus nephew Greg), Kieran Culkin (as younger son Roman) and Matthew Macfadyen (the superbly pathetic Tom) – cancelled each other out, and the award went to Billy Crudup for The Morning Show.

But the biggest disappointment is in the best supporting actress category, where Australia's Sarah Snook, who plays Logan's daughter Siobhan (Shiv) Roy, was hotly fancied. But the award goes to Julia Garner for Ozark.

She's a worthy winner, but still. Snook-dog is so damned good in Succession. Her time will surely come.

The one with Michael Bluth...

One of the good things about a virtual telecast? The tech trickery. Here we've got Arrested Development's Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) hanging out with Phoebe, Rachel and Monica from Friends (Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox) despite them not actually being in the same room.

Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series is... Julia Garner

Laura Dern, Big Little Lies
Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale
Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
Julia Garner, Ozark
Sarah Snook, Succession
Thandie Newton, Westworld

Winner: Julia Garner, Ozark

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Billy Crudup wins outstanding supporting actor in a drama series

Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Mark Duplass, The Morning Show
Nicholas Braun, Succession
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Matthew Macfadyen, Succession
Jeffrey Wright, Westworld

Winner: Billy Crudup, The Morning Show

Another big win for Succession: outstanding directing for a drama series

Benjamin Caron, The Crown – Aberfan
Jessica Hobbs, The Crown – Cri de Coeur
Lesli Linka Glatter, Homeland – Prisoners of War
Mimi Leder, The Morning Show – The Interview
Alik Sakharov, Ozark – Fire Pink
Ben Semanoff, Ozark – Su Casa Es Mi Casa
Andrij Parekh, Succession – Hunting
Mark Mylod, Succession – This Is Not For Tears

Winner: Andrij Parekh, Succession – Hunting

Outstanding writing for a drama series: another win for Succession

Thomas Schnauz, Better Call Saul – Bad Choice Road
Gordon Smith, Better Call Saul – Bagman
Peter Morgan, The Crown – Aberfan
Chris Mundy, Ozark – All In
John Shiban, Ozark – Boss Fight
Miki Johnson, Ozark – Fire Pink
Jesse Armstrong, Succession – This Is Not For Tears

Winner: Jesse Armstrong, Succession - This Is Not For Tears

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