With 2017 being an amazing year for television, one would think that the highly anticipated 70th Primetime Emmy Awards would be a night of fun and laughter. Instead, it was a boring, bad-joke, washed up evening that didn’t need to be aired.
The ceremony opened with Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson from Saturday Night Live doing a musical number titled “We Solved It” about this year having the most diverse nominees.
Yet out of the entire night, only three people of color won an award: Regina King for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series, Thandie Newton for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and RuPaul for Outstanding Reality-Competition Series. The Emmys clearly didn’t “solve” anything. The night just proved that the Television Academy still refuses to recognize and give recognition to actors, actresses, producers, shows, and writers who are diverse and pushing the envelope in television.
The Television Academy also hasn’t “solved” how to have an entertaining and fulfilling broadcast. No shade to the hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che and the Saturday Night Live crew but they aren’t funny enough to keep people entertainment for three hours. They can barely do it on their own show.
Along with their being a lack of diversity amongst the winners, several actors, actresses, shows, and writers were snubbed. Starting with Atlanta. Season two of Atlanta was critically acclaimed, specifically the “FUBU” and the “Teddy Perkins” episodes. The writing was phenomenal. But it didn’t get any awards for the night. The same goes for Black-ish. Season four tackled so many conversational topics that affect Black families in a comedic and captivating way. As far as comedic series go, it was the strongest nominated. But of course, it was snubbed and lost to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a show about a White woman.
Anthony Anderson, Issa Rae, and Sandra Oh are just a few more who were snubbed of awards. Who is selecting the winners for the awards? Whoever it is clearly doesn’t have taste and is clueless. There are diverse people in the television industry doing amazing things. It should be no reason why they are not recognized more.
Aside from Ryan Murphy and the cast and crew wining their well-deserved awards for the performances and hard work on The Assassination of Gianni Versace, one of the best parts of the three-hour long snore fest was Glenn Weiss proposing to his girlfriend. He proposed while accepting the award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special. Hearing him pour his heart out in front of everyone at the ceremony and those who watched was heartwarming. The bar has definitely been set.
Another part of the evening that stood out was Michael Che’s Reparation Emmys segment. During this pre-taped clip, it showed Che handing out Emmys to African-Americans who have been killing it in television for years but never received the recognition they deserve such as Marla Gibbs, John Witherspoon, Kadeem Hardison, and Jaleel White. While the Black Conjugation is very appreciative of this, it shouldn’t even have to be created. African-Americans have been dominating television for years with amazing performances. The recognition of these performances should’ve happened years ago.
It’s time for the Television Academy to practice what they preach. If they are going to have a diverse group of nominees and want more views, people of color need to actually win and host.
Do better, Television Academy. Do better.