The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards aired Sunday, Sept. 22. This Emmy event was the lowest-rated Emmy broadcast in the history of the event, but it was not short on surprises. We saw awards given to Emmy veterans; however, some newer shows held their own, shocking television viewers and fans alike.
“Fleabag” seemed to be the hottest show at the event, practically stealing every award. “Fleabag” is a British comedy television show that is available on Amazon Prime Video, and in their first year at the Emmys, they had a lot to celebrate. The show took home Best Comedy, Best Writing for a Comedy Series, Best Directing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. The episode that won Best Writing and Directing for a Comedy Series was Episode 1, which was written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and directed by Harry Bradbeer. The actress that took home the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Fleabag is Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She plays Fleabag in the comedy series who is a young woman living in London trying to navigate through life and love. Waller-Bridge also appeared in some films such as “Solo: A Star Wars Story” as L3-37 and will appear in the latest James Bond film “No Time to Die”. Phoebe Waller-Bridge was also nominated in the 2019 Emmy Awards for Best Drama Series as she is the executive producer of “Killing Eve.”
“Game of Thrones” was the show to take home Best Drama Series, and this award will mark a total of four Best Drama Series awards for the show. This Emmy veteran also took home Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage), Best Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series, Best Main Title Design, Best Special Visual Effects, and that’s only half! The drama series took home a total of 12 Emmy awards, tying with its record from 2015 for most Emmy Award wins in a single season. In total, “Game of Thrones” has been nominated for 160 Emmy Awards and has won 59, making it one of the most successful Drama Series in the history of the Emmys. However, they are still only second for the most successful series, behind Saturday Night Live.
TV personality RuPaul took home some awards for his reality game show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” The TV show follows 14 drag queens who compete for the desired title of America’s Next Drag Superstar and the $100,000 cash prize that goes along with it. The Emmys “RuPaul’s Drag Race” took home were for Best Host for a Reality or Competition Program, Best Competition Program, Best Costumes for Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming, and Best Hairstyling for a Multi-Camera Series or Special.
“Queer Eye” was also a series that earned themselves some Emmys that night. The show is a reboot on Netflix that follows a team of homosexual professionals in different fields of the workforce who offer home and lifestyle changes to people in need of them. The reality show won Best Structured Reality Program, Best Casting for a Reality Program, Best Directing for a Reality Program, and Best Picture Editing for a Structured Reality or Competition Program.
For variety talk series, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” won four Emmys, including Best Variety Talk Series. The other three consist of Best Writing for a Variety Series, Best Picture Editing for Variety Programming, and Best Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series. The other variety series that won big is no rookie to the Emmys. “Saturday Night Live” won 5 Emmys of 18 nominations it received. The show took home Best Variety Sketch Series, Best Directing for a Variety Series, Best Production Design for a Variety, Reality, or Competition Series, and others.
