The Emmy Awards, the most prestigious night in television, celebrated the year’s small-screen accomplishments for the 68th time last Sunday in a landslide victory for HBO series Game of Thrones and Veep.
The most well-known branch of the Emmys is put on by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS), and is broadcasted live on CBS. Categories include Comedy, Drama, Limited Series: Movie, Reality, Short Form, and Variety.
The show opened with a video of host Jimmy Kimmel—who was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Variety Talk Series—trying to get a ride to the Emmys as he hitches a ride with characters from the night’s nominations including The People vs. O.J. Simpson, Modern Family, James Corden of the Late Late Show, and Veep. Finally, Game of Throne’s Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke, gets Kimmel to the Emmys on the back of a fire-breathing dragon.
With eleven total nominations and two wins, The comedy Veep boasts of the most nominees and a big win as the Outstanding Comedy Series of the year. Taking home the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series award, Veep’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus dedicated her win to her recently deceased father.
Coming in a close second for nomination was the Amazon Original Series Transparent with seven nominations and two wins: Outstanding Lead Actor for Jeffrey Tambor, and Outstanding Directing by Jill Soloway. On Transparent’s placement in the comedy category, Kimmel said,“Transparent was born a drama, but it identifies as a comedy.”
Other nominated shows in the Comedy Category were Black-ish, Master of None, Modern Family, Silicon Valley, Transparent, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Shameless, The Last Man on Earth, Getting On, Inside Amy Schumer, Grace and Frankie, Baskets, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Key & Peele, Mom, Saturday Night Live, Girls, The Big Bang Theory, and Catastrophe.
With a whopping twenty nominations and three wins, Game of Thrones swept the Drama category, winning Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Drama Series awards. Consequently, the HBO fantasy series dethroned the reigning champ, Frasier, for the most Emmy wins and nominations with its 110 nominates and 38 wins over Frasier’s 108 nominations and 37 wins.
“We love Fraiser, and he had a long run,” said Game of Thrones’s screenwriter, producer, and director D.B. Weiss, during an interview after the ceremony. “We’re sure that someone will come along and take this from us. We just hope that it doesn’t happen until we’re all dead.”
Coming in just behind Game of Thrones in this year’s nominations was House of Cards which received 19 nominations but zero wins.
Other nominated shows in the Drama category were Better Call Saul, Downton Abbey, Homeland,, Mr. Robot, The Americans, Bloodline, Ray Donovan, Empire, How to Get Away With Murder, Orphan Black, The Affair, UnREAL, The Good Wife, Horrace and Pete, Masters of Sex, and The Knick.
Broken records and added diversity in this year’s Emmys gave credit where credit is due; awarding years of excellence in television entertainment.