‘Mrs. Maisel’ steals the show
‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Versace,’ ‘Barry’ also log honors
LOS ANGELES — A marriage proposal, a so-so performance from the “Saturday Night Live” cohosts and a disappointing number of diverse winners were among the highs and lows of Monday’s Emmy Awards ceremony on NBC.
“Game of Thrones” won the best television drama series Emmy Award. The HBO fantasy series won after a one-year hiatus in the category and was the leading nominee going into Monday’s ceremony. Peter Dinklage also won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama series.
It beat out other drama series “The Americans,” “The Crown,” “The Handmaid's Tale,” “Stranger Things,” “This Is Us” and “Westworld.”
The Amazon series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” took home the best comedy series award. The show stars newcomer Rachel Brosnahan as a 1950s mother and housewife who pursues a career in stand-up comedy and finds success by mocking her estranged husband.
The show had a massive night, winning four other Emmy Awards, including best comedy actress for Brosnahan, and best supporting actress for Alex Borstein. Writer-director Amy Sherman-Palladino also won two Emmys on Monday night. The series took an early lead at the Emmy Awards, which gently mocked itself for its own lack of diverse winners.
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” won the award for best limited se- Rachel Brosnahan takes home the Emmy for lead actress in a comedy series for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Oscars director Glenn Weiss, left, proposes onstage Monday to Jan Svendsen at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards. ries. Producer Ryan Murphy focused on the murder of the Italian designer by spree killer Andrew Cu- nanan. Darren Criss played Cunanan in the series, which is a follow-up to Murphy’s fictionalized retelling of O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. Murphy won an Emmy Award earlier in the evening for directing the series.
The best reality competition award went to “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a landmark win for a show that spotlights LGBTQ culture.
Claire Foy of “The Crown” and Matthew Rhys of “The Americans” won top drama acting Emmys as Monday’s ceremony spread its wealth around to streaming and cable but largely snubbed broadcasting and diversity.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” said Foy, honored for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix series.
In a ceremony that started out congratulating TV academy voters for the most ethnically diverse field of nominees ever, the early awards all went to white nominees.
“Let’s get it trending: #EmmysSoWhite,” presenter James Corden joked at the midway point, riffing off an earlier tribute to Betty White.
“I want to say six awards, all white winners, and nobody has thanked Jesus yet,” co-host Michael Che said, referring back to his earlier joke that only African-American and Republican winners do.
Then Regina King broke the string, with a best actress trophy in a limited series or movie for “Seven Seconds,” which tracks the fallout from a white police officer’s traffic accident involving a black teenager.
She was followed by Darren Criss, who won the lead acting award for the miniseries “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” and who is of Filipino descent.
Thandie Newton won best supporting drama actress for “Westworld,” and Peter Dinklage added a third trophy to his collection for “Game of Thrones.”
The ceremony had a real-life drama moment when winning director Glenn Weiss, noting his mother had died two weeks ago, proposed to his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen.
“You wonder why I don’t want to call you my girlfriend? It’s because I want to call you my wife,” Weiss said. She said yes, he put his mother’s ring on her finger and the crowd whooped and cheered.
Bill Hader collected the best comedy actor award for “Barry,” a dark comedy about a hired killer who stumbles into a possible acting career.
Henry Winkler, aka “The Fonz,” won a supporting actor award — his first Emmy — for “Barry,” four decades after gaining fame for his role in “Happy Days.”
The Emmys kicked off with a song, “We Solved It,” a celebration to the diversity of nominees sung by stars including Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson. The tune included that Oh was could become the first woman of Asian descent to win an Emmy. “There were none, now there’s one, so we’re done,” the comedians sang.
Oh played along from her seat: “Thank you, but it’s an honor just to be Asian,” said the Korean-Canadian actress.