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Emmys 2017: All of the news from TV’s biggest awards night

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The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, organized by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, will take place tonight. Stephen Colbert host the event, which will honor the biggest and best shows in TV from the past year.

Follow along for all the news and commentary on tonight’s winners and losers.

  • Shannon Liao

    Sep 21, 2017

    Shannon Liao

    The Emmys showed that peak TV may help solve cinema's diversity problem

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Governors Ball
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    Hollywood’s weaknesses involving diversity and representation have come under fire in recent years, and no single flashpoint exemplified these issues like the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. In 2015, activist April Reign called out the Academy Awards on Twitter when all 20 acting nominees were white. Her hashtag went viral, and essentially defined the way many view the entertainment industry’s awards ceremonies: as bellwethers for its larger, institutional issues when it comes to race and gender.

    So it should be considered good news that the 69th Emmy Awards ceremony this past Sunday was, in many ways, an example of diversity in action. Lena Waithe became the first black woman to win the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, while The Handmaid’s Tale’s Reed Morano became the first woman to win the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series in 22 years. Donald Glover became the first black director to pick up the Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series award, and Riz Ahmed was the first South Asian man to ever win an Emmy acting award.

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  • Bryan Bishop

    Sep 18, 2017

    Bryan Bishop

    Hulu’s Emmy wins mark its emergence as a major entertainment player

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Press Room
    Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

    Going into the 69th Emmy awards Sunday night, online streaming services were poised to make a statement. Original programming from Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Hulu earned more than 125 nominations this year. Netflix earned 92 of them on its own, buoyed by huge showings for Stranger Things and The Crown. With Game of Thrones out of the running due to its release dates falling outside the Emmy window, the door was open for Netflix to finally take home the biggest prize of the evening: Outstanding Drama Series.

    Instead, a very different dynamic unfolded over the course of the ceremony. Stranger Things was shut out completely, as was HBO’s Westworld, the most-nominated show of the Emmys. House of Cards was ignored, and Netflix’s wins were in smaller categories: John Lithgow’s supporting turn in The Crown, or Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe’s comedy-series writing award for Master of None.

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  • Bryan Bishop

    Sep 18, 2017

    Bryan Bishop

    The Handmaid’s Tale wins Outstanding Drama at the Emmys

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Show
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    The Handmaid’s Tale won the Emmy award for Outstanding Drama Series Sunday, capping off an award-laden run that also saw the show take home prizes for Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Outstanding Directing, Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and Outstanding Writing. It was an impressive showing for the series, and an even more important statement from Hulu, which has been trying to establish its original-content bona fides in the face of critical successes from Netflix and Amazon.

    The show was up against a field of impressive television shows in a category dominated this year by streaming services. Netflix’s The Crown, House of Cards, and Stranger Things were all nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. On the cable side, HBO’s Westworld and AMC’s Better Call Saul were also up for the award, as was NBC’s family drama This Is Us. Stranger Things and Westworld were two of the most-nominated shows this year, with Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s science-fiction drama earning 22 nominations, and 18 nominations going to the Duffer brothers’ ode to Stephen King and Steven Spielberg. In the end, however, both Westworld and Stranger Things were shut out on Sunday evening.

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  • Shannon Liao

    Sep 18, 2017

    Shannon Liao

    Elisabeth Moss wins Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy for The Handmaid’s Tale

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Show
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    Elisabeth Moss won her first-ever Emmy Sunday night for her performance as Offred in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Moss took home the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series after five nominations but no wins in that category, dating from her time starring in Mad Men. Moss, who watched her director, writer, and supporting costar win Emmys this year, got to walk to the stage herself just before The Handmaid’s Tale won Best Drama.

    Moss started off her speech by saying, “Um, so crazy! Okay, I probably don’t have much time. I’m going to go with — who do I go with?” She decided to go with Hulu, MGM, and then a whole slew of cast and crew names. In particular, she thanked Reed Morano, who just won an Emmy for directing The Handmaid’s Tale, saying, “Thank you Reed especially, for teaching me what it means to be balls to the wall.” She also thanked her mom for teaching her how to be kind.

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  • Shannon Liao

    Sep 18, 2017

    Shannon Liao

    Donald Glover wins Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy for Atlanta

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Show
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    Donald Glover won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his acting in Atlanta, his second Emmy win of the night. 2017 marked his first Emmy nomination. He was also nominated for outstanding writing, and won a second trophy for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for his work on “B.A.N.,” an experimental episode of Atlanta, presented as a broadcast from an alternate universe’s version of Black Entertainment Television. Glover is the first black director to win an Emmy for work on a comedy series, and the first black man since 1985 to win an Emmy for lead acting in a comedy series. In Atlanta, Glover plays Earnest “Earn” Marks, a dad and a college dropout whose cousin becomes a famous rapper.

    Glover started his acceptance speech, “Yo.” He continued with, “I’m so happy. Wow. Thank you guys so much. This is nuts. I really want to thank the academy again, all of you guys in here.”

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  • Lizzie Plaugic

    Sep 18, 2017

    Lizzie Plaugic

    The Handmaid’s Tale wins the Emmy for Best Directing for a Drama Series

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Arrivals
    Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

    Reed Morano just won the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for her work on the pilot of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. This is Morano’s first Emmy win. The filmmaker, who started her career as a cinematographer, made her directing debut with the 2015 feature film Meadowland, before moving to television with shows like Billions and Halt and Catch Fire.

    In her acceptance speech, Morano thanked Margaret Atwood, show creator Bruce Miller, and the rest of the Handmaid’s Tale cast, singling out Elisabeth Moss for her performance as Offred. “Lizzie is my ultimate inspiration, and this is as much her as it is me,” Morano said.

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  • Kaitlyn Tiffany

    Sep 18, 2017

    Kaitlyn Tiffany

    Netflix’s Black Mirror wins Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series

    Image: Netflix

    Netflix’s Black Mirror won its first Primetime Emmy award tonight, with Charlie Brooker taking home the award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special for the season three episode "San Junipero.” The 61-minute episode won Outstanding Television Movie earlier in the week at the Creative Arts portion of the awards.

    “San Junipero,” which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, is a love story between an awkward beach town tourist (Mackenzie Davis) and a local party aficionado (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). The episode was critically acclaimed and received a GLAAD Award in April.

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  • Kaitlyn Tiffany

    Sep 18, 2017

    Kaitlyn Tiffany

    Netflix’s Master of None wins Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Show
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    Lena Waithe and Aziz Ansari won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Sunday night for “Thanksgiving,” an episode from the second season of Netflix’s Master of None.

    The episode was one of the most talked-about pieces of comedy this year. Praised for its empathy and attention to detail, the episode followed Waithe’s character Denise and Ansari’s character Dev over a decade of Thanksgiving dinners with Denise’s mother (Angela Bassett). The holiday was used to mark major milestones in a relationship strained by Denise’s identification as gay and her mother’s regressive attitudes.

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  • Shannon Liao

    Sep 18, 2017

    Shannon Liao

    Ann Dowd wins Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in The Handmaid’s Tale

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Show
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    Ann Dowd took home an Emmy Sunday night for her supporting role as Aunt Lydia in Hulu’s original series The Handmaid’s Tale. It was the first Emmy win for the actress, and just her second nomination.

    The Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category was a diverse group this year. Dowd beat out her co-star from The Handmaid’s Tale, Samira Wiley, and other actresses including Uzo Aduba from Orange is the New Black, and Millie Bobby Brown, who played “Eleven” in Netflix’s Stranger Things.

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  • Kaitlyn Tiffany

    Sep 18, 2017

    Kaitlyn Tiffany

    Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale wins Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

    handmaids-tale
    Image: Hulu

    Hulu took home the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series tonight, won by Bruce Miller for “Offred,” the pilot of The Handmaid’s Tale.

    The streaming service made a poor showing at last year’s awards, netting just two nominations and no wins. This year it received 18 nominations, 13 of which were for the critically acclaimed adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s classic 1985 dystopian thriller.

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  • Kaitlyn Tiffany

    Sep 18, 2017

    Kaitlyn Tiffany

    Stephen Colbert brought out Sean Spicer for his Emmys opening monologue

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Show
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue at tonight’s Emmy Awards was packed with jokes about the president, whom he referred to as the biggest TV personality of the year, citing as his influences House of Cards, the new American Horror Story, and all of late night television.

    Colbert also detailed Trump’s history of accusing the Emmys of being rigged against him — which he tweeted before his presidential run and discussed in one of last fall’s presidential debates — and of mocking 2014 host Seth Meyers for having “marbles in his mouth.” The camera cut to Meyers, who spit out a bunch of marbles. That was probably the high point of the bit, which then turned to a special guest: former White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

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  • Shannon Liao

    Sep 18, 2017

    Shannon Liao

    John Lithgow wins the Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Show
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    John Lithgow won an Emmy Sunday night for his performance as Winston Churchill in the Netflix drama The Crown. Lithgow has now won a total of six Emmys, including several for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in the late 1990s in 3rd Rock from the Sun, and another Emmy in 2010 for a role in Dexter. The win gives Netflix, which earned 92 Emmy nominations this year, a quick start to the evening.

    Lithgow beat out other nominees, including Jeffrey Wright in Westworld and Michael Kelly in House of Cards, but acknowledged the actors in his acceptance speech. “I feel so lucky to have won this in the company of my fellow nominees. Some of you are my friends and former cast-mates,” Lithgow said, adding that “The Crown just keeps on giving, and this is just the last of its gifts.”

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  • Bryan Bishop

    Sep 18, 2017

    Bryan Bishop

    Emmy winners 2017: the complete list

    69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Show
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    The 69th Emmy awards have come and gone, and the night ended up being a very big deal for streaming services — well, one streaming service in particular, at least. In total, online platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu racked up more than 120 Emmy nominations this year, with Netflix’s Stranger Things coming in as one of the most-nominated shows of the year. (It earned 18 different Emmy nominations, second only to Saturday Night Live and HBO’s Westworld, each of which tied at 22 nominations.)

    But as it turned out, it was actually a very quiet night for both Stranger Things and Westworld, with each show getting shut out over the course of the ceremony. Netflix still had a decent showing, with The Crown and Master of None picking up some awards, but the real winner was The Handmaid’s Tale. Hulu’s series won a number of big awards, including Outstanding Drama Series. The other big winner was HBO’s Big Little Lies, which ended up winning five awards in total over the course of the evening, including Outstanding Limited Series.

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  • Sep 17, 2017

    Verge Staff

    Emmys 2017: Start time, live stream, and what to expect

    An Alternative View Of The 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
    Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

    The 69th annual Emmy Awards take place tonight at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. Stephen Colbert is hosting for the first time ever, but there’s a lot more to know than just the venue and the host (this isn’t a dinner party, and you don’t need to bring a dish).

    Read on for everything you need to know before tuning in tonight.

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  • Jul 13, 2017

    Nick Statt

    Netflix is rapidly taking over the Emmys

    Stranger Things
    Netflix’s Stranger Things racked up an impressive 18 nominations, including a Supporting Actress one for Millie Bobby Brown portrayal of Eleven.
    Photo: Netflix

    This year’s Emmy nominations are out, and one thing is abundantly clear: Netflix is now an entertainment powerhouse, close on the heels of HBO. The company nabbed a record 93 nominations for its original streaming content, nearly double what it earned last year, and just 17 shy of HBO’s eye-popping 110. While House of Cards has arguably overstayed its welcome on the awards show circuit, Netflix has nonetheless used that program and many others — including The Crown, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Master of None — to climb the nomination ranks.

    Back in 2016, Netflix came in third in overall nominations behind FX, which earned its recognition largely on the strength of Fargo. The year before, Netflix hung out at the bottom of the nominee list, behind Fox, FX, NBC, CBS, and ABC.

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  • Kwame Opam

    Jul 13, 2017

    Kwame Opam

    Netflix will take HBO head-on at this year’s Emmy awards

    69th Emmy Awards Nominations Announcement
    Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

    The rivalry between HBO and Netflix will be on full display at the 69th annual Emmy awards. Veep star Anna Chlumsky and S.W.A.T.’s Shemar Moore were on hand with Television Academy Chairman and CEO Hayma Washington to host today’s nomination presentation, which covers TV shows, limited series, and movies aired between June 1st, 2016 and May 31st, 2017. Stephen Colbert, who’s already a nine-time Emmy winner, will host the awards on ABC on September 17th at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater, meaning viewers can expect a strong dose of political humor to go with their watch parties. You can check out a partial list of major nominees below; the full list is available on the Emmys website.

    The biggest question going into this ceremony is which collection of series will fill the void left by Game of Thrones. The HBO behemoth is absent from this year’s festivities because it premieres this Sunday. Without dragons in play, the field opened up considerably. Even though HBO leads the pack with 110 total nomination, thanks to heavyweights like Westworld, Big Little Lies, and The Night Of, Netflix isn’t far behind with 91 nods. In fact, the streaming network is overrepresented in the Best Drama category, with three contenders in The Crown, Stranger Things, and House of Cards.

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