Cut for Time: Recapping the 77th Emmy Awards

Following the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 6 and 7, CBS aired the final night of the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 14. Live from the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles and hosted by stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze, the ceremony honored outstanding series, actors, writers, and directors across 26 categories organized by genre (comedy, drama, and limited series/anthology). Featuring several tributes, surprises, and an unpopular running gag, the show provided multiple wins for the teenage psychological drama “Adolescence,” the Hollywood satire “The Studio,” and the embattled medical drama “The Pitt.” Overall, “The Studio” came away with the most wins (13), with “The Penguin” and “Adolescence” following with nine and eight awards, respectively.

The night’s biggest show, “Adolescence,” took home all but one of the awards for limited series, the omission being that for Outstanding Lead Actress, which went to Cristin Milioti (Sofia Falcone in “The Penguin”). Of special note was Owen Cooper’s win for Outstanding Supporting Actor; the 15-year-old made history as the youngest male recipient of an Emmy. “The Studio,” which also made Emmy history with its impressive haul of trophies over both weekends, broke the record for the most awards won by a comedy in a single year, securing wins in many categories, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Lead Actor. It was a big night for Seth Rogen (who directed, co-wrote, and starred in the show), as, according to him, he’s never won anything in his life. 

Other comedies—notably not “The Bear,” a “comedy” show which has swept the category in the past— were graced with awards. For Outstanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actress, Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder put two on the board for “Hacks.” Beating out Colman Domingo (“The Four Seasons”) and Harrison Ford (“Shrinking”), Jeff Hiller grabbed a surprise win for “Somebody Somewhere.” In the drama genre, Tramell Tillman had a historic win as the first Black recipient of the Outstanding Supporting Actor award, and “The Pitt” winners Katherine LaNasa (Outstanding Supporting Actress) and Noah Wyle (Outstanding Lead Actor) used their speeches to shout out real-life healthcare professionals. Other notable wins include Britt Lower (Outstanding Lead Actress, “Severance”), Stephen Graham (Outstanding Lead Actor, “Adolescence”), and Adam Randall (Outstanding Directing, Slow Horses). Stephen Colbert’s win for Outstanding Talk Series was an ironic twist, as CBS recently announced the cancellation of his late-night show, calling it a “purely financial decision,” though the timing leads one to wonder if it had more to do with Paramount’s upcoming merger and Colbert’s criticism of the company.

Also given was the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for philanthropic efforts and altruism, which this year went to Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. The award was introduced by Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego, who used the time to recognize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and its work. In perhaps the second most political speech of the night (behind Einbinder’s “Go Birds, f— ICE, free Palestine!”), Abrego seized the opportunity to remind of the power of storytelling on shaping culture for the public good, highlighting the recent defunding and imminent shutdown of the CPB (which funds NPR and PBS)—the “silenc[ing of] yet another cultural institution”— and citing works such as “MASH,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “South Park.” 

Of course, no awards show is complete without snubs. Certain acclaimed shows, with copious nominations, won few, if any, awards Sunday night. For example, “Severance” only received two awards of the nine it was nominated for that night, and eight of the 26 it had over both weekends. Fans of “The Last of Us” found their favorite show nearly absent from the night’s proceedings; despite 16 nominations, the show’s only win was for sound editing at the Creative Arts awards. Even worse, “The White Lotus,” a social satire from HBO, received only one award (Cristobal Tapia de Veer, Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music) out of its 23 total nominations.

Tributes during the night included those for the 50th season of “Survivor,” the 35th anniversary of “Law and Order,” the 25th anniversary of “Gilmore Girls,” and the 40th anniversary of “Golden Girls.” The “In Memoriam” section, accompanied by an affecting rendition of “Go Rest High on That Mountain” performed by Vince Gill and Lainey Wilson, honored the “lasting impressions” of late industry colleagues, with Phylicia Rashad opening the segment with a heartfelt tribute remembering her on-screen son and “The Cosby Show” co-star, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who tragically drowned in July. The tribute also honored the passings of Jonathan Kaplan, Ozzy Osbourne, David Lynch, Valerie Mahaffey, Michelle Trachtenberg, Maggie Smith and many others. 

Not all of the lasting impressions left at the awards show were pleasant. Nate Bargatze’s hosting has been much maligned, leaving some wondering, as Bargatze himself did in his opening monologue, “Why is he hosting?” NPR called his jokes “tedious” and described his comedy as a “low-energy affair” with “poor execution.” Critics were especially disparaging of his “comic” way of keeping the trains running on time. In a somewhat bizarre (and in my opinion, verynearly funny) move, Bargatze announced that he would be donating $100,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, with one caveat: each award winner would have only 45 seconds to give their speeches. Every second over would deduct $1,000 from the donation; every second under would add $1,000. (The ending amount on the board was tens of thousands of dollars in the red, but the show ultimately donated $350,000 to the clubs.)

While effective (the show only ran a few minutes over), some found the repetition of the bit unfunny and detrimental to the show. Writing for Variety, Aramide Tinubu commented that Bartgatze’s stunt caused the speeches to feel awkward and rushed, and opined that the timekeeping was a “(bad) joke.” Similarly, Daniel D'Addario called Bartgatze’s interjections “inane” and pointed out the unfairness of presenters having unlimited time to speak, while award winners had the highlight of their careers overshadowed and limited by a sub-minute time constraint. From what I can tell, the audience reaction was more positive; at the very least, the attendees seemed to find the bit humorous. 

Regardless of jokes that didn’t land and presenters, according to Tinubu, “dron[ing] on and on,” the telecast averaged 7.42 million viewers, the most the Emmys have had since 2021. Perhaps Abrego was right; maybe showcasing impactful television shows can “bend [the…] arc of history towards justice.”