The 2017 Emmys' Tale

Stephen Colbert in New York City at Border's signing copies for his book I Am America (And So Can You!) The photographer dedicates this portrait of Stephen Colbert to Wikipedia editor Pete Forsyth of Portland, Oregon, who has improved Wikipedia in immeasurable ways. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was expected that the 69th Emmy Awards, held Sunday evening in Los Angeles and televised on CBS, would be an ongoing roast of President Donald Trump, what with the presence of host Stephen Colbert and the prevailing mood of defiance in Hollywood.  It was also expected that the proceedings turned out to be, well, expected if you know anything about the history of the Emmys.

The political tone was set early when Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary, turned up to make fun of himself.  Unfortunately for Spicer, Melissa McCarthy won an Emmy for a guest supporting role on "Saturday Night Live" by doing a better job of lampooning him than he ever could.

It continued when Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon won for supporting roles on "SNL", mainly for their sendups of Trump and Hillary Clinton, respectively.  The night ended with "The Handmaid's Tale", another one of those dystopian shows that depress the hell out of people, taking home the Emmy for best drama.  In between were comedy sketches and acceptance speeches driving home the point that--yes, we get it--Hollywood hates Trump.  So does most of America. 

Moving right along . . .

"Handmaid's Tale", a Hulu show which won the most Emmys overall this year (six), benefited from not having to compete with "Game of Thrones", which was not eligible this year.  For its star Elisabeth Moss, who won for actress in a drama series, this must have been payback for all those times she was denied an Emmy for her role in "Mad Men".

Julia Louis-Dreyfus continues to own the comedy category, winning for the sixth time as best actress.  Her HBO show "Veep", in which she plays a fictional vice president, won for best comedy for the third time.  What, no term limits?

The other big winner was the HBO miniseries "Big Little Lies", which won for best limited series.  Movie actors Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern won Emmys for best actress and supporting actress, respectively, giving credence to the notion that TV has always had an inferiority complex when being compared to films.  Once your name is in lights on the marquee, anything you did on the small screen pales considerably.

Trying to prove how much more diverse the Emmy are than, let's say, the Oscars, here's a partial list of winners:  Lena Waithe got a writing award for Netflix' "Master of None".  Donald Glover got two for acting and directing the FX comedy "Atlanta".  Riz Ahmed won for actor in a limited series for HBO's "The Night Of".  And Sterling K. Brown was rewarded as best actor in a drama for his role in the NBC weeper "This Is Us".

Brown did not get to finish his acceptance speech on stage because (A) some of the night's winners got more time to say their thank-you's than others, and (B) CBS didn't want to extend a show that was already three hours long.  Would this have happened if the Emmys were on NBC?

And a couple more things:

• Why does it take more than two people to present an award or to introduce an act?  Is is really that important to have reaction shots from the celebrities in the front row?
• Why do awards shows try to entertain us with pop stars crooning while the otherwise somber In Memoriam segment is in progress?  And isn't it inevitable that the producers would leave somebody out?
• You'll notice that many of the shows that won Emmys come to you from streaming services and HBO, which charge a fee for their exclusive content.  If you're considering cutting the cord, how much do you think you'll be paying for all that compared to cable?
• The Emmy telecast finished a distant second to NBC's "Sunday Night Football".  Why watch an awards show that nominates TV shows and actors you've never heard of, or could afford to watch?