Oh yeah, absolutely, That is actress Sheryl Lee
Ralph belting out her joy after winning her first Emmy
award for Best Supporting Actress in NBC's Abbott
Elementary. Her acceptance singing brought the audience
to its feet during the 74th annual Primetime Emmy Awar
last night, man. So joining us now with a look at who
won and why is Matt Roush, senior critic and writer
TV Guide, welcome back to the show. Good to see you
again. So, first off, it was his first time hosting the
Primetime Emmys. So what do you think about comedian
Kenan Thompson How did he do as a host Well, he was
playful, I think that is the most generous thing you
can say about him, he was playful, he was, he kept the
tone light, but I don't think that he really had the
roof to really make the show pop in a way. And that
opening number with the dance sequence to the tv theme
songs given hip hop sort of an edge, It was kind of
unnecessary, It kind of felt like a halftime show being
wedged into his show. It was already overstuffed. I
mean, he's a likable guy. No question about it. And so
I think that he doesn't do himself any damage. But
during that bit, during, later in the show, when
Jimmy Kimmel was playing dead, I was like, oh
man, Jimmy Kimmel could have really nailed this night,
he could have had that sort of edge to him, that Kenan
lacked, I think so, it was, it was, it was a very
genial performance, but also forgettable. Yeah, I've
been seeing all uh Twitter is all about the Jimmy
Kimmel moment. There are some good and some bad
thoughts about that, but there were three shows. Yeah,
yeah, there were three shows that rose to the top in
the big awards. HBO's Succession of course, was the
most nominated show with 25 Emmys. They did pretty well.
Right. Oh yeah, definitely. Uh the thing about The
Emmys and this year in particular, it just felt like,
you know, the one thing that TV tends to hate is
repeats and this was definitely like a repeat anywhe
succession two times out of the last three years. It is
one last year's big comedy champs had last so one and
so yeah, there was a sense that as the night went on,
there were a few surprises and Sheryl Lee Ralph was
heads and shoulders above everybody else in terms of
surprise, number one, she's from a network show and
network broadcast. TV is almost invisible at the Emmys
Plus what she did on that stage was just so remarkab
There was a lot of elements of the night that were
about female empowerment. Lizzo had one as well, Oprah,
you know, kicked the night off giving out the first
award with this pep talk about, you know, believe in
yourself and that was a theme that carried through the
night, otherwise just who won, it was like, well who
won before is who's gonna, who wins now And that's a
little bit dispiriting when you see the variety of tv
that's out there. The fact is we're an embarrassment of
riches and television nowadays and giving their word to
the same show over and over again, just feels a little
bit lazy. Alright well Apple Tv's Ted Lasso also took
some top comedy honors for their second season. What
all did they come away with for those that may have
missed it Well, yeah, you said that Ted Lasso and
several of its actors one again, Jason Sudeikis and
Greg Goldstein who plays the foul mouth player and now
coach on the show. I mean it's a lovable show. No
question about it. But you know, you also have the
Abbot Elementary there from the network television that
won the writing award. Quentin Bronson really came int
her own this year. Sheryl Lee R
that award and there was a sense that maybe maybe maybe
network TV won't be quite so invisible going forwar
But no it didn't happen. And in drama, you know, with
Succession there was that thought that maybe Squid Game
could pull a parasite and be a non english language
series, global phenomenon that could win the drama
prize, but that didn't happen. Yeah, so it is
interesting seeing the dynamic between abc with, with
Abbott Elementary versus all the streaming platforms,
what are we, what are we looking at moving forward
Because Netflix did have a few good shows this year, of
course, Stranger Things Squid Game, Ozark for instance.
Which direction do you think we're going to head
towards Well, I think in the future, I mean, we're
always going to see this battle between HBO and Netflix
because they're the two dominant uh purveyors of
product really, and maybe prime video with the Lord of
the Rings, we'll see what happens there. But really, I
mean, Netflix just isn't with volume. They have so many
shows. HBO is more like a boutique, but each of their
shows really has impact. I mean, look at white lotus,
It swept the limited series category. Everything tha
could possibly win at one. And you know, there was
another really good work in there, like Dopes it from
you about the opiod crisis, there was some great
docudramas, but white lily just swept it. So I think
you'll see going forward still a battle between those
two giants and maybe maybe maybe someday another
network show can pop but they didn't even nominate.
This is Us for its final season on NBC. And that might
be the last great network drama. And that's kind of sad
to see it ignored that way. That is such a good point,
matt Roush, senior critic and writer for the tv guide.
Thank you so much for taking the time out. We
appreciate it. My pleasure. Thanks