The 2024 Emmy Awards Were A Landmark Year And A Heartfelt Ceremony
Awards shows are self-congratulatory parties that rarely feel like they're actually made for the audiences at home, but the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards actually felt like a worthy celebration of the artform of television. Because it's a special anniversary year, they made the effort to really pay tribute to the television we love and the people who create it, and it made for a relatively safe but extremely heartfelt 2024 Emmy awards. It was an incredible night for diversity, with numerous well-deserved, historic wins for people of color across a range of categories, and everyone actually seemed like they were having a good time.
The Golden Globes are more meme-worthy, but the Emmys feel like the Oscars of TV, just with less irritating self-importance. Sure, the Emmys detail the impact of television on us all, but since TV has always been cinema's little brother, there's a bit more deprecation and self-awareness. Now if we could just figure out how to add a musical number or two, we'll really be cooking. There were more hits than misses for this year's awards, and that alone feels worth celebrating! You can check out all of the winners here, but for a breakdown of what went down, read on!
An interesting alternative to traditional hosting
Anthony Anderson is a frustrating pick for Emmys host, mostly because he has a long history of sexual assault allegations and yet continues to have an active career. Even if you can somehow manage to set that aside, he's also just a very bland host. He's not a comedian, so his jokes aren't sharp and his bits are all exceptionally safe. Thankfully, in lieu of having him try to stall for time (or worse, putting him in ill-conceived skits), the time between acceptance speeches is mostly filled by the presenters.
The presenters were all legends of television history, from shows like "Married... With Children," "Martin," "The Sopranos," and more. The love for television and the people who make it is refreshing when so many awards shows try to see like they're above the art they're supposed to be paying tribute to. This kind of thing would work every year, not just for the big 75th anniversary.
There's a "Cheers" reunion here, for heaven's sake, and if that doesn't make you smile, you might be dead inside. Honestly, there are so many great reunions and mini-tributes that there's bound to be something for everyone. The cast of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" even got to have a hilarious moment, which makes me the happiest Emmy reviewer on the planet. They may not have ever been nominated despite being the longest-running live-action sitcom of all time, but at least they got to stand onstage and point that out!
Replacing the playoff music was... a choice
One of the most baffling decisions of the night was the one to replace the standard music that plays off speeches that go overlong with Anthony Anderson's mom. While it's kind of a funny idea in theory, in practice it just comes off as awkward and rude. Anderson's mother apparently co-stars with her son on the Fox game show he hosts, "We Are Family," but their cute banter doesn't translate well to the awards show format. The first interruption came during Jennifer Coolidge's acceptance speech, and it was extremely uncomfortable for everyone involved.
The one big exception to the rule when it comes to Anderson's mom playing people off was when John Oliver won for "Last Week Tonight" and intentionally went long, listing British football players until she told him to wrap it up.
Massive wins for people of color
There were some amazing wins for people of color, including Best Actor and Actress in a Limited Series wins for Steven Yeun and Ali Wong for "Beef," a Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy win for Ayo Edebiri for "The Bear," and a Best Competition Show win for RuPaul for "RuPaul's Drag Race." Niecy Nash-Betts won for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for the Ryan Murphy "Dahmer" series, taking the stage to give an impassioned speech for Black women everywhere, speaking out about police violence against Black women like Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. It was probably the most politically-tinged speech of the night and it seems like people were really told to mind their p's and q's about any potentially controversial comments. RuPaul also shouted out drag queens in libraries because "knowledge is power," but that's as incendiary as anything got.
On the historic side, Quinta Brunson won Best Actress in a Comedy for "Abbott Elementary," the first win by a Black woman for that award in 43 years, while Trevor Noah is the first Black person to ever win for Best Talk Series for "Last Week Tonight with Trevor Noah." It's lovely to see diverse representation both onscreen and off, and the Emmys did it right this year.
The rest of the show
Other highlights include the fact that Elton John is now an EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and Tony) and chef-turned-producer-turned-actor Matty Matheson's wild acceptance speech on behalf of the team behind "The Bear" that included a shout-out to his kids and an open-mouthed smooch from co-star Ebon Moss-Bachrach. There wasn't much chaos to be had this year, but that little bit was a lot of fun.
The only other lowlight was the "In Memoriam" segment, which featured a live performance that morphed from "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth that morphed into the theme song from "Friends" as Matthew Perry appeared on the final slide. His loss is tragic and immense, but it's honestly disrespectful to the rest of the people being honored in the segment and the transition was jarring. No one wants that.
The cameras seemed to know who to find for the best reactions (when in doubt, go to Ayo Edebiri!) and the show ended right on time, which seem like givens but definitely aren't at other awards shows, which is all pretty excellent.
The 75th Emmys didn't reinvent the wheel, but they didn't need to, and we got a satisfying and lovingly crafted show as a result.