The Emmys Pull Off A Good Show As ‘Schitt’s Creek’ And ‘Watchmen’ Shine

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Eugene Levy accepts his award for lead actor in a comedy series for Schitt’s Creek as his son (and creative partner) Dan Levy looks on at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards.





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ABC via Getty Images



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It’s worth noting that there were other awards that went to comedies that weren’t part of this broadcast — Insecure won one for editing, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel won one for music supervision, and Eddie Murphy and Maya Rudolph both won for guest appearances on Saturday Night Live. But on the main broadcast, it was all Schitt’s Creek, which did make for an awkward beginning. It didn’t help that it came at the expense of a couple of very beloved shows, including Insecure and The Good Place, both of which have also been nominated and not won in previous years.

Things picked up a little as they moved on, although it was still a night with some pretty dominant properties. Watchmen won big with the top prize for outstanding limited series, plus well-earned awards for actress Regina King, supporting actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and writing by Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson. Other winners in limited series were Uzo Aduba for her great work as Shirley Chisholm in Mrs. America and Mark Ruffalo for HBO’s I Know This Much Is True.



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In the drama field, Succession was the big winner for drama series. It also managed to avoid the danger of splitting votes between Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox, and Strong emerged the winner. Succession also won for writing and directing. It did not, however, go on a tear of the kind that Schitt’s Creek did. Zendaya won for her very well-regarded turn in HBO’s Euphoria, a welcome win for a younger actor who took the opportunity in her acceptance to acknowledge activism among her peers.

Vote-splitting may have led to the three Succession actors in the supporting actor category losing out. But winner Billy Crudup did have something working for him: He was the one consistently terrific thing about the high-profile but creatively shaky Apple offering The Morning Show. In the supporting actress category, Julia Garner won for Ozark, a show that’s been a consistent awards performer for Netflix.



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Some other winners: Saturday Night Live for sketch series, Last Week Tonight for talk series, and RuPaul’s Drag Race for reality competition series.

Sunday night wasn’t necessarily an argument that every awards show should be made with all the winners at home. But it was certainly an argument that not every awards show has to look like the dry, fake-laughter-filled productions we get in every other year. One day, the crowds will return. But perhaps some of these innovations would be worth keeping.