The Emmys: The More Things Change . . .

 This year's Primetime Emmys, which were held on Monday night instead of the usual Sunday, was mostly a repeat of the previous year with "Succession" winning for best drama and "Ted Lasso" best comedy.  Same went for some of the main acting awards, including Jason Sudeklis winning best actor in a comedy for "Lasso", and Zendeya getting a second nod for best actress in a drama for "Euphoria".

There were a few Emmys passed out in the prime time telecast for the newbies, however.  "The White Lotus" won for best limited series, as well as its stars Murray Bartlett (supporting actor) and Jennifer Coolidge (supporting actress). Lee Jung-jae became the first Asian man to win an Emmy, taking home a best dramatic actor award for "Squid Games".

Among the familiar faces picking up Emmys:  Michael Keaton (actor, limited series) for "Dopesick", Julie Garner (supporting actress, drama) for "Ozark", Sheryl Lee Ralph (supporting actress, comedy) for "Abbott Elementary", Amanda Seyfried (actress, limited series) for "The Dropout", and Jean Smart (actress, comedy) for "Hacks".

Other winners announced included Matthew Macfayden (supporting actor, drama) for "Succession", and Brett Goldstein (supporting actor, comedy) for "Ted Lasso",  The Governors' Award went to actress and activist Geena Davis.

Among other things:  

• Late night comedy shows "Saturday Night Live" and "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" won Emmys for the umphteenth year in a row.  Maybe they should take a cue from Oprah Winfrey (who opened the show) and Ellen DeGeneres (whose long-running talk show has been replaced by either local news or Kelly Clarkson in most markets).  Both of them pulled their shows from future nominations after winning so many times.
• The award for best reality competition went to "Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls", which means morbidly obese women have replaced what we used to call drag queens (previous winner "RuPaul's Drag Race") as entertainment.  Quite a trade-off.
• "Abbott Elementary" was this year's Great Network Hope in a sea of cable and streaming offerings.  The ABC sitcom did win twice.  Once for Sheryl Lee Ralph, and a writing award for the show's creator Quinta Brunson.
• Kenan Thompson was just fine as Emmy host.  The producers were kind of overzealous in keeping the winners' speeches to 45 seconds.  And the opening number was the first that I can recall that needed a disclaimer for strobe lights.
• If you're not going to take the "In Memorium" segment seriously, with the pop singers and faraway camera pans, please take the list of those who died since the last awards telecast and show them on your website.
• NBC moved this year's Emmy telecast to Monday because Sunday night belongs to football.  Apparently, they forgot that ABC and ESPN were simulcasting the Broncos-Seahawks game at the same hour.  So much for blockbuster ratings.  Try Tuesday or Wednesday next time.