CNN –
After a four-month delay caused by the Twins actors and writers strike in Hollywood, the 75th annual Emmy Awards finally saw a night of nostalgia and near-sweeps, with “Succession,” “The Bear” and “Beef” respectively Categories played the main role.
“Succession” and “The Bear” each took home six awards on Monday, followed by “Beef” with five. The HBO drama picked up its third Emmy in four seasons for its farewell year, having only missed out on a win in the final season of another HBO heavyweight, “Game of Thrones.”
Succession completed his total with wins for Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook – both of whom moved up to the top category this year after previously signing on as supporting players. They gave teary-eyed acceptance speeches (Culkins after a kiss from fellow nominee Brian Cox) and were joined by two-time winner Mathew Macfadyen, who was also praised for writing and directing.
Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images
Kieran Culkin accepts the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama for “Succession.”
“The Bear” now ranks as this year’s most awarded program with a total of 10 awards, including four previous wins at the Creative Arts Emmys, focusing primarily on technical areas such as cinematography and sound.
One of the runners-up in this regard was another first-year series that went home empty-handed on Monday: “The Last of Us,” which took home eight Creative Arts Emmys, including nods to guest stars Nick Offerman and Storm Reid.
With “Succession” and “The Last of Us” as hosts, HBO easily won the battle for bragging rights among individual programming providers – a feat the network has achieved all but once in more than 20 years, punctuated by the record-breaking ones Netflix's 44 Emmys in 2021. (The two were also tied in 2018.)
In total, HBO Max took home 31 awards this awards cycle, followed by Netflix with 22 and FX with 16. The streaming services Apple TV+ and Disney+ followed with ten and nine, respectively. (CNN and HBO are both part of Warner Bros. Discovery.)
Still, the evening stood out in several ways, including its diversity with a number of black and Asian winners, the latter thanks to the Netflix limited series “Beef,” which picked up five awards on Monday, including stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who write and direct. With three technical wins at previous Emmy Awards, the show has garnered a total of eight awards.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Ali Wong hugs “Beef” co-star Steven Yeun after winning the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Anthology Film at the Emmy Awards on Monday. Wong also won for her performance in the series.
“It's like MLK Day and Juneteenth rolled into one!” Host Anthony Anderson joked a little more than he did in the middle of the night.
The producers also came up with a novel gag by having Anderson's mother inform the recipients that her acceptance speeches were coming to an end instead of the usual playoff music. But as the show unfolded and raced quickly through the categories, the imperative to speed up the celebrations seemed to fade.
Emmy producers attempted to appeal to the nostalgia associated with the 75th anniversary by hosting mini-show reunions throughout the telecast in the form of host pairings and nods to the medium's history. The show got off to an emotional start, with a standing ovation for Christina Applegate (who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis) and TV legend Carol Burnett, as well as moving acceptance speeches from Quinta Brunson and Ayo Edebiri for “Abbott Elementary” – a rare television series still capable to compete for awards – and “The Bear.”
Brunson was the first black woman in more than four decades to be recognized as a leading actress in the comedy since Isabel Sanford of “The Jeffersons.”
Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images
Quinta Brunson accepts the award for Lead Actress in a Comedy at the Emmy Awards on Monday.
Edebiri was quickly joined by Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach for “The Bear,” the FX show that breezed through this month's awards season, while both drama spin-offs went to repeat winners: Jennifer Coolidge picked up another Emmy for “The White Lotus,” this time competing as a drama series; and Macfadyen, who opened the evening with “Succession.”
Niecy Nash-Betts also gave the event a strong political tone by accepting her award for “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” on behalf of black women who have been “unheard and overly policed,” citing several prominent examples of the latter.
Despite switching categories after seven consecutive wins in the late-night variety competition, “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” continued its winning streak in the category over “Saturday Night Live” and also took home the trophy for the eighth consecutive year as an author. The move opened the door for a new late-night king, “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah,” in Noah's final season as host of the Comedy Central series, about 13 months after his farewell show.
Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images
John Oliver, winner of outstanding scripted variety series for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” speaks onstage at the Emmy Awards on Monday.
Another repeat winner, “RuPaul's Drag Race,” strutted away with its fifth reality competition Emmy.
In a history-making moment, Elton John also joined the elite EGOTs – those who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony – for his Disney+ farewell concert special.
Because of the postponement, the Emmys somewhat awkwardly followed the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards in quick succession. The awards, airing on Fox this year, also compete with the NFL playoffs — by far the most popular show on linear television — rather than a regular-season football game, which could further lower ratings.
The Emmys were last postponed in 2001 after the September 11 attacks. The Television Academy announced the nominees in July and conducted the voting before the originally scheduled broadcast in September.
Several screenings emphasized the importance of writing, and the “Last Week Tonight” team thanked others in Hollywood for rallying around the Writers Guild of America during the strike.
The academy presented its Governors Award to GLAAD, the advocacy group for LGBTQ images in the media. Its president, Sarah Kate Ellis, pointed to the influence of television and called such storytelling “the antidote” to that community's bigotry and villainy.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Jesse Armstrong, center, and the “Succession” team accept the award for outstanding drama series.
In his two acceptance speeches, “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong also cited News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch as a frequently cited inspiration for the show – on Fox, a network owned by the company – and joked that the series was America's partisan political issue I have overcome the gap.
“This is a show about family, but it's also a show about when partisan politics, when partisan reporting becomes intertwined with divisive right-wing politics, and after four seasons of satire, as far as I know, that's a problem we've now solved.” “He said. “So we can leave the stage now.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong day for the Emmy Awards. They were honored on Monday.