Valerie Macon / AFP
This year’s Emmy Awards did something that should seem obvious, but turned out to be quite novel: The telecast, in contrast to so many recent awards shows—especially the borderline unwatchable Golden Globes—actually celebrated the medium it was rewarding. It was an awards show that actually seemed to like the fact that it was an awards show.
The show—from host Anthony Anderson’s opening, to the multiple reunions of iconic casts, to various set pieces, like the tribute to I Love Lucy—was all about the role that television has played in our lives, how integral it is in our formative memories, and how it has the power to transform and influence society. It’s become the instinct with awards shows to roast the industry or figure out ways to make the ceremony feel as little like an awards show as possible. It’s refreshing, then, for there to be a production that embraced the purpose of the ceremony, while also appealing to fans.
It was a peculiar Emmy Awards because of circumstance—Monday night’s show took place five months after originally planned, delayed to accommodate (and, one assumes, to support) the writers’ and actors’ strike. That meant the nominations were from an eligibility period that ended on May 31, 2023. The White Lotus, Dahmer — Monster, Fleishman Is in Trouble…these shows felt like they aired ages ago.