Emmy Awards 2020: Winner’s announced on television’s biggest night
Emmy Awards 2020 winners: Schitt’s Creek SWEEPS comedy categories as sitcom takes home first SEVEN gongs of the night as television’s biggest night kicks off
Schitt’s Creek opened the 72nd Annual Emmy Awards in historic form as it swept the comedy categories en route to winning the first seven gongs of the night.
It all culminated when the Pop TV sitcom took home Outstanding Comedy Series as it was the first time the comedy categories have been swept since Modern Family in 2014.
The series beat out Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dead to Me ,The Good Place, Insecure, The Kominsky Method, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and What We Do in the Shadows.
Wow factor: Schitt’s Creek opened the 72nd Annual Emmy Awards in historic form as it swept the comedy categories en route to winning the first seven gongs of the night including Outstanding Comedy Series
It all began with Catherine O’Hara earned the very first awards of the night which was presented by Jennifer Aniston and host Jimmy Kimmel.
She faced stiff competition in the Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category including Christina Applegate (Dead to Me), Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Linda Cardellini (Dead to Me), Issa Rae (Insecure), and Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish).
Golden: Catherine O’Hara won the first award of the night as she faced stiff competition in the Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category including Christina Applegate (Dead to Me), Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Linda Cardellini (Dead to Me), Issa Rae (Insecure), and Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish)
Wow factor: Jennifer Aniston presented the first gong of the night
Catherine said: ‘Thank you for nominating me, and for topping off this fun evening with a trophy treat. I’ll forever be grateful to Eugene and Daniel Levy for giving me the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age, my age, who gets to be fully her ridiculous self.
‘They gathered the most fun-loving people in Toronto, and led us to be the best we can be for each other. But I must pay an especially big tribute to Debra Hanson, our wardrobe whisperer. And my makeup angel, and to our hair wrangler. Every day, they made me who I thought I was. And I would be an ungrateful person not to share it with them.’
‘It was an honor to be in your company’: Eugene Levy was next as he won Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Schitt’s Creek
Sweet: As Schitt’s Creek was created by Eugene and his son Daniel – who was next to win an award – he made sure to credit his child during his speech as he said: ‘That brings me to my multi Emmy nominated partner, Daniel Levy’
Catherine’s big win only began Schitt’s Creek’s massive night as the sitcom, which aired on Pop TV, took home the first five awards of the night.
Eugene Levy was next as he won Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
The 73-year-old Canadian actor beat out heavy competition including Anthony Anderson (Black-ish), Don Cheadle (Black Monday), Ted Danson (The Good Place), Michael Douglas (The Kominsky Method), and Ramy Youssef (Ramy).
Surprised: Daniel, 37, won in the Writing In A Comedy Series category against Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil (What We Do In The Shadows), Tony McNamara (The Great), Stefani Robinson (What We Do In The Shadows), Michael Schur (The Good Place), Paul Simms (What We Do In The Shadows, and David West Read (Schitt’s Creek)
As Schitt’s Creek was created by Eugene and his son Daniel – who was next to win an award – he made sure to credit his child during his speech as he said: ‘That brings me to my multi Emmy nominated partner, Daniel Levy.
‘Who took our show and brilliantly guided it to this little Emmy party tonight. Thank you, son. Thank you, academy. And to my fellow Emmy nominees, it was an honor to be in your company. Thank you.’
Daniel, 37, won in the Writing In A Comedy Series category against Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil (What We Do In The Shadows), Tony McNamara (The Great), Stefani Robinson (What We Do In The Shadows), Michael Schur (The Good Place), Paul Simms (What We Do In The Shadows, and David West Read (Schitt’s Creek).
Jimmy Kimmel is the host of the event as he kicked off the show without an audience and instead canned audio and video from prior Emmy shows.
The 52-year-old then revealed that there was not actually an audience in attendance and that he was all alone as he poked fun at President Trump’s recent Nevada rally: ‘Of course I’m here all alone. Of course we don’t have an audience. This isn’t a MAGA rally, it’s The Emmy’s.’
This year’s Emmys honoring the best in television has already been radically different as producers scrambled to create Hollywood’s first major pandemic-era awards show.
The coronavirus has turned Tinseltown upside down, bringing productions to a halt even as stay-at-home orders around the world send binge-watching through the roof.
Adding to the unpredictability on a night of firsts, 130-odd nominees who were sent cameras to hook up in their own living rooms have been encouraged to get creative with their speeches.
There will be no red carpet and no star-studded audience. A-listers are invited to trade gowns and tuxedos for pajamas.
‘Ratings have been flagging for award shows for years… This is, if nothing else, an opportunity to mix things up, to do an award ceremony in a way unlike any other that’s been done,’ said IndieWire TV awards editor Libby Hill.
‘Even if Sunday night is a complete disaster, it’s at least going to be an interesting disaster. And that’s really all you ask for in 2020.’
Capturing this year’s somewhat anarchic zeitgeist, Watchmen leads the charge with a whopping 26 nominations, primarily in the limited series categories.
The eerily prescient comic book adaptation that debuted last October confronts historic US racism, police violence and even mask-wearing. It also wowed critics and audiences alike.
Watchmen speaks so specifically in so many unprecedented ways to the moment in which we’re living right now,’ said Hill.
Shining star: Tracee Ellis Ross was one of the first presenters of the night
‘I think people will probably get pretty tired of hearing Watchmen’s name getting called… it’s as much of a lock as we have right now.’
With HBO’s record-breaking Emmys juggernaut Game of Thrones having finally mounted a dragon and soared off to Westeros, the awards in the drama series categories promise to be more fiercely contested this year.
‘It’s a relief for HBO that they have Succession hitting at the right time,’ said Deadline awards columnist Pete Hammond.
The critically adored show about a powerful family’s back-stabbing battle for control of a dynastic media empire won a writing Emmy in its first season, and has amassed 18 nominations this time.
Flying solo: Jimmy Kimmel is the host of the event as he kicked off the show without an audience and instead canned audio and video from prior Emmy shows
Like prom night: The 52-year-old then revealed that there was not actually an audience in attendance and that he was all alone as he poked fun at President Trump’s recent Nevada rally: ‘Of course I’m here all alone. Of course we don’t have an audience. This isn’t a MAGA rally, it’s The Emmy’s’
Social distancing: Kimmel kept quite the distance between he and presenter Jennifer Aniston
Uh oh: They lit the Emmy envelope on fire in a garbage can
But it is tied with Ozark, a dark money-laundering tale set in the American heartland from Netflix, which despite landing a record 160 nominations this year is still desperate to win its first major series Emmy.
Lurking in the background are British royals saga The Crown and Star Wars tale The Mandalorian, which boasts lavish Thrones-esque production values and has already scooped five Emmys in technical categories this week for newcomer Disney+.
Comedy this year appears to be a toss-up between previous serial winner The Marvelous Mrs Maisel- Amazon’s quirky tale of a 1950s housewife who becomes a standup comic – and Schitt’s Creek.
Keeping it clean: There were sanitizer stations in the shape of the Emmy Award
Sprawling: The event was held inside the massive Staples Center arena in Downtown Los Angeles as it is shown before showtime
The latter, a Canadian comedy about a privileged family forced to live in a rundown motel, failed to earn a single nomination in its first four years, but became a sleeper hit after airing on Netflix and signed off with a heartwarming final season.
Aside from the awards themselves, the night will honor the career achievement of Tyler Perry.
The African-American entertainment mogul has championed greater diversity in Hollywood, and this year paid funeral costs for black victims of police violence including George Floyd.
Taking all precautions: All attendees were subjected to COVID-19 tests including Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross.
