Critic’s Notebook: Celebrating TV at the 75th Emmys

The only way there could have been less suspense at the 75^th Emmys — delayed several months by the writers’ and actors’ strikes — is if they’d announced the winners ahead of time.

Which it kind of felt they had — if you’d seen the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards earlier in this awards-saturated month. Was there even another show of merit besides Succession, The Bear, and Beef? All great shows (each represented on my own Best of 2023 list), but c’mon, Emmy voters, spread the wealth next time.

In lieu of nail-biters, the game and busy host Anthony Anderson served up a feast of TV nostalgia befitting a milestone ceremony, starting with a musical medley of theme songs backed up by a choir from Compton. There were many cast reunions, appearing on recreations of iconic sets like the Cheers bar, the Sopranos therapist office, All in the Family’s Bunker living room and Martin’s from another generation, Ally McBeal’s unisex bathroom (with requisite awkward dancing), I Love Lucy’s chocolate assembly line.

You’ve got to give this year’s show an A for effort. Perhaps a somewhat lesser grade for execution and writing — why not let Tina Fey and Amy Poehler tell some actual jokes on the Weekend Update set? — but all I ask most years is for an awards show to feel like a celebration of the art form it’s rewarding. And for the most part, that’s how the night felt, cramming in 27 awards among the high-spirited hijinks — with almost too many standing O’s to count. (Couldn’t blame the well-dressed audience for wanting to stretch their legs once in a while.)

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The first ovations were among the most impactful, greeting overwhelmed presenter Christina Applegate to salute her endurance while dealing with multiple sclerosis. “You’re totally shaming me [and my] disability by standing up,” she quipped, later noting, “We don’t have to applaud every time I do something.” Yes, they did. And then came one of the night’s true living legends, Carol Burnett, to announce the lead actress comedy winner (Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson, one of the very few non-Bear wins in comedy) and note the progress that has been made since her pioneering variety show went off the air 46 years ago. “It truly warms my heart to see how well men are doing in comedy now.” She hasn’t lost a beat.

The one serious miscalculation was to indulge Anderson’s frequent sidekick Mama Doris as a human play-off device. When Mama cut off repeat The White Lotus winner Jennifer Coolidge, right after she said, “I want to thank all the evil gays,” it’s not the actress who I wanted to give the hook. Thankfully, she kept her interruptions to a minimum. And when the invaluable John Oliver, winning what seems his 300^th Emmy for Last Week Tonight, refused to leave without being played off and started reciting the entire lineup of the Liverpool soccer team, the gimmick was properly deflated, although it was difficult to ignore the panic in some winners, most seeming to rush through their speeches.

A notable exception: Niecy Nash-Betts, who cried out to her own mama upon winning a supporting Emmy for her dramatic role in Dahmer-Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. “I want to thank me!” she cried in triumph, “for believing in me and doing what they said I could not do,” adding, “Go on girl with your bad self.”  So she did, accepting the award “on behalf of every Black and brown woman who has gone unheard yet overpoliced. … As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power, and baby, I’ma do it till the day I die.” Amen, sister.

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There were no direct callouts to politicians on the night of the Iowa caucuses, but the importance of airing on the night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday was not lost on the gathering. A clip of the civil rights leader’s “I have a dream” speech played over the closing credits, and inclusion and representation were key to the Governor’s Award presentation to GLAAD, the LGBTQ media advocacy group. When RuPaul accepted the fifth consecutive win for RuPaul’s Drag Race in the reality competition category, the much-honored host declared, “If a drag queen wants to read you a story at a library, listen to her, because knowledge is power and if someone tries to restrict your access to power, they are trying to scare you.”

Mostly, though, this year’s Emmys will be remembered for the way it remembered the history of TV, from the audience cheering the appearance of Dynasty’s ever-glamorous Joan Collins to the poignant use of the Friends theme song during the In Memoriam segment. For a night, we were in “Mister Anderson’s Neighborhood,” and at its best, it felt like home.