So, those Emmy Awards – wait, where could you see them again? Oh yes, NBC, in the US you need a cable connection for at least $25 a month; or a TV package like YoutubeTV for $65. Or a streaming service like Disney+, which owns the Hulu platform, which includes live channels like NBC, for $13. Or NBC’s own streaming service Peacock, currently on sale for two dollars. It’s complicated, and that’s why the 74th Emmys are symbolic of the state of the entertainment industry: It’s a party in chaos, and one that they don’t necessarily celebrate want – but got to.
It was fitting that Oprah Winfrey, the undisputed queen of US TV, wanted to throw a party at the beginning – and for this she received what is probably the most embarrassed applause of her career and was told by Emmy winner Michael Keaton (best supporting actor for Dopesick): “I do Face hurts from all the fake laughter.”
Anyone who has ever tried to find a show or a film for the evening knows the problem. It’s like TV zapping back then, except that now you’re not annoyed about the offer, but about yourself: Where are the series that everyone is always raving about and that you can watch when you want and where you want? goodness gracious again.
It’s a search that at some point is reminiscent of the seventh circle of hell, because you fight your way from platform to platform and don’t find anything – and then after two hours of searching you start something that you curse after 15 minutes because it’s such a grudge is. What all providers are trying to do is lure viewers with recommendations, and that’s why they’ve recently not only plastered the giant billboards in Los Angeles with Emmy-nominated shows, but also blasted their platform homepages with Emmy categories.
It might get worse now. Anyone who finds just one platform now, after the award, that Not proliferates on the start page with a winning production, please report it to the SZ.
So, the winners: “Ted Lasso” (comedy series), “The White Lotus” (best short series), “Succession” (drama).
Best Actor: Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”), Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”), Zendanya (“Euphoria”), Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”), Jean Smart (“Hacks”).
Supporting Actors: Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”), Brett Goldstein (“Ted Lasso”), Jennifer Coolidge, Murray Bertlett (both “The White Lotus”), Matthew Macfayden (“Succession”), Julia Garner (“Ozark”) .
“Hundreds of series are produced – and then only five get an award,” said presenter Kenan Thompson. That was the Sword of Damocles hanging over the event in downtown Los Angeles: Winning the Emmys isn’t cause for joy, it’s cause for relief.
The gold rush mood has turned into one in which people are trying to preserve the claims. That’s why it’s counted: twelve trophies for pay-tv group HBO, four for AppleTV, three for Netflix, two for Hulu, one for Amazon Prime and a total of three for traditional TV. It costs $123 a month to see the 25 winners; which is why, in the cancel-at-anytime age and times of massive inflation, it’s even more important to have award-winning stuff on your platform that a lot of people are dying to see. Winner therefore: HBO.
Please don’t get me wrong: It’s fantastic productions that have been honored – and there were fantastic moments that evening: Sherry Lee Ralph, for example, who was honored for her wonderful role as an elementary school teacher in “Abbott Elementary”, did not give an acceptance speech , but sang “Endangered Species” by Dianne Reeves. Entertainer Lizzo, in the greatest awards gown since J-Lo at the 2000 Grammys, said after winning the smash hit talent show Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls: “These women need a platform – women who are so fat , black and beautiful are like me.” Geena Davis, honored for her contributions to the industry: The actress initiated a study on equality in Hollywood that has made and will continue to make change – by collecting data on whether the industry is indeed inclusive.
However, this award is always an occasion to take a look at the industry, and the Washington Post: “Streaming is in an existential crisis, viewers are noticing that.”
That means: The Emmy Awards are currently the most important event in the entertainment industry – but not because art or at least mass suitability would be appreciated; it’s about finding a way to stand out in the ocean of mediocrity and often below-average into which the industry has drifted, which is now doing exactly what it’s been doing on TV for decades: telling people what they should watch .
What happened to the promise: quality storytelling whenever the customer wants to see it, without advertising, without additional tiers for profit? “Ted Lasso” and other series now have fixed broadcast times again, Netflix wants to introduce advertising, and of course this search for the evening program doesn’t take so long because there’s too much good – there’s just too much. “The promise was wishful thinking or a lie,” says Adam Conover, creator of Adam Ruins Everything. “We’re moving in a direction where it’s going to be worse than before – for everyone, including the viewers.”
Maybe you have to stop seeing such events as an honor, but as a guide for the next TV evening – because series that you should definitely see actually won. What a lot of people do in the US and why in the Washington Post-Article the crisis for producers is declared: take out a subscription, look away from everything that is worthwhile – and take out the next short subscription after a month. With good planning, you could see all the Emmy winners for $123 a year.