5 Key Takeaways from the 2024 Emmy Awards: NPR

Presenters Eugene Levy and Dan Levy speak during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

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There wasn’t a single show that topped all the others at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards. Instead, there were a few shows that swept most of the major categories without too many surprises (there was maybe one). Hosts Eugene and Dan Levy did their best to keep things moving, and as always, everyone was very appreciative. Here are some takeaways from the ceremony and Emmy season.

Shōgun was the gripping historical drama that swept the top categories. More could follow.

The team of Shogun receives the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.

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Shogun is this year’s biggest Emmy winner, after 14 awards last weekend at the Creative Arts ceremony and four on Sunday night: The show won best drama series, in addition to honors for lead actor Hiroyuki Sanada, lead actress Anna Sawai and director Frederick E.O. Toye. Sweeping historical epics aren’t as popular as they once were, and time and time again FX and Hulu have been praised for being willing to support an expensive period drama that was mostly in Japanese with subtitles. It will be interesting to see if there are any efforts in the next few years to continue these sweeping epic series like the ones that aired in the ’70s and ’80s, like North and South or The Thorn Birds.

It’s difficult to host an exciting awards ceremony when the last one is too soon.

The last Emmy Awards were only in January this yearafter it was delayed by the actors’ and writers’ strikes. So we just have all the celebrations of popular shows, the salute to the people who are there, The bear And Hackingand discussions about how important television is to people. It might seem like there’s not that much difference between a year and 8.5 months, but it actually felt like we had just done that, and it felt a little lifeless because of that. Not because there’s anything wrong with the winners, but just because… you know, we had just done that.

Baby Reindeer has won big and its creator is hoping it will prove its point.

Richard Gadd, winner of the outstanding limited or anthology series for Baby reindeer.

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The Netflix series, created by Richard Gadd, won awards for Lead Actor, Supporting Actress, Screenplay and Outstanding Miniseries. It could be in the in the middle of a legal dispute from the woman who says she inspired the stalker played by Jessica Gunning, but that didn’t bother Emmy voters, who gave Gadd three chances to speak. He took the opportunity to point out that the show had no established intellectual property, had no established stars, and still became a hit. It would be nice to think that Netflix – and other networks – are learning the lesson that taking risks can pay off.

Hacks have been a huge success and The Bear may have encountered a category problem.

Jean Smart won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in Hacks.

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The bearwhich caused a stir at the Emmys in January, did very well in the comedy categories. It won for lead actor (Jeremy Allen White), it won for supporting actor (Ebon Moss Bachrach), it won for supporting actress (Liza Colón-Zayas), and it won for directing for the episode “Fishes.” (Remember, these are awards for the second season, not the last.) The only acting category in which The bear She did not win in the leading actress category, with Ayo Edebiri losing to Jean Smart after winning in the supporting actress category last year.

It was something like a sign of things to come during the ceremony: Hacking also received the Critics’ Award for Best Comedy Screenplay (for the episode “Bulletproof”). And then, unlike the last Emmys, The bear did not win the award for outstanding comedy series; Hacking did. Given that the monologue by moderators Eugene and Dan Levy included a biting joke about the widespread feeling that The bear doesn’t really fall into the comedy category anyway, and given the number of laughs it generated, some people who were happy to reward the show’s great achievements may have ultimately been hesitant to give the award for Outstanding Comedy Series to something they don’t consider a comedy.

The joke between the awards ceremonies was… okay?

TV dads Damon Wayans (left), George Lopez and Jesse Tyler Ferguson presented the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

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As with many awards ceremonies, Emmy night also featured a few scenes between the awards. That evening featured several groups of actors who had a connection to each other: TV moms, TV dads, TV doctors, TV lawyers, TV coaches. There was even a pair of Ron Howard and Henry Winkler on the occasion of the 50th (!!) anniversary of Beautiful days. But those moments somehow always seem to be less than the sum of their parts, and this year was no exception. There are a lot of TV dads; simply picking three and having them appear together on a set that looks like a living room to deliver patter that sounds exactly like the patter at every other awards show doesn’t really give credit to anything except the person who booked the talent for the show. Points to Winkler pounding on the jukebox on the diner set to make it play, just like Fonzie used to do. That was fun.