‘Schitt’s Creek’ is the perfect pandemic Emmy winner
As a non-hockey fan, I think I finally have an inkling of how Toronto Maple Leafs devotees might feel if their team ever again wins the Stanley Cup. Watching “Schitt’s Creek” sweep the Emmy Awards on Sunday night filled me with a wild joy and fierce pride that made me laugh and cry and want to scream to anyone who would listen about how excited I was.
On one hand, it seems a bit ridiculous to feel so proprietary about the show’s success considering all I’ve ever done is watch it and write about it a few times. On the other hand, holy Schitt! Just consider what this made-in-Canada TV series accomplished.
“Seinfeld,” the revered comedy that tops Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the best comedy series of all time, won 10 Primetime Emmy Awards throughout its nine-season run — one more than the total “Schitt’s Creek” haul for a single season — and it never swept the main comedy categories like “Schitt’s” did on Sunday night.
In fact, no TV series has ever done that, drama or comedy; not “Cheers,” not “Friends,” not “Veep,” not “The Big Bang Theory,” not even “M*A*S*H,” the finale of which was watched by 106 million people, a record no scripted show has ever come close to touching.
As the euphoria fades (which reminds me, congratulations to Zendaya for becoming the youngest Best Lead Actress in a Drama winner for HBO’s “Euphoria”), I don’t think it’s unpatriotic of fans to wonder why “Schitt’s Creek” did so well — beyond the obvious answer that it’s a terrific show that had a wonderful final season. But seven Emmys in one night, including total domination of the acting categories by Catherine O’Hara, Annie Murphy, and co-creators Eugene and Daniel Levy? Wow.
The younger Levy was a quadruple winner, adding writing and directing (with Andrew Cividino) to his wins as Best Supporting Actor and executive producer of the show
Consider that “Schitt’s” was up against other critical favourites in the Outstanding Comedy Series category, including “The Good Place,” which also aired its final episodes this year; “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which won in 2018 and had 20 nominations this time around to 15 for “Schitt’s”; and Issa Rae’s “Insecure,” which would have injected some welcome diversity into the proceedings had it triumphed.
Among those shut out in the acting categories were Rae, past winners like Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein of “Maisel,” and two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali for “Ramy,” as well as that series’ star, Ramy Youssef.
Obviously, I can’t divine what was in the minds of the various Television Academy voters, but I do have a theory and it has to do with what a crappy 2020 the world has been having.
As host Jimmy Kimmel said off the top of the awards broadcast, from inside a nearly empty Staples Center in Los Angeles: “What’s happening tonight is not important. It’s not going to stop COVID. It’s not going to put out the fires, but it’s fun. And right now, we need fun. My God, do we need fun.”
We also — as we were reminded by several winners, including Daniel Levy and Mark Ruffalo, who won Best Actor in a Miniseries for “I Know This Much Is True” — need love.
If you’ve watched “Schitt’s
Creek,” you don’t need me to tell you that love is at the core of the series — love of family, romantic love, love of self, love of friends and neighbours — as the Rose family loses everything, and slowly and steadily adapts to a smaller, more humble life in a small town. So maybe those Emmy voters — as worn out as everyone else with bad news about the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change-fuelled environmental disasters and deeply entrenched anti-Black racism and American political divisions with the presidential election fast approaching — wanted to reward a show that’s about “the transformational effects of love and acceptance,” as Daniel Levy put it in one of his acceptance speeches. TV writer Mary McNamara, in the Los Angeles Times, described “Schitt’s Creek” as perfect pandemic viewing.
“The story of a family coming to grips with reduced circumstances now feels like the parable of an age,” she wrote.
Perhaps “Schitt’s Creek” was also the perfect pandemic Emmys recipient, rewarded for its optimistic take on our shared humanity as much as for the excellence of its acting and writing and directing and costume design and casting.
Whatever led to such a stunning outcome for this madein-Ontario show, I couldn’t be more proud.
You can stream all six seasons of “Schitt’s Creek” on CBC Gem.