Get the latest gossip
Sweeps, Speeches and Well-Earned Nostalgia: Variety’s Critics Review the Highs and Lows of the 75th Emmy Awards
The 2023 Emmys — held in January 2024 due to the strikes — were a genuinely endearing celebration of television’s storied history and the dawn of a new post-'Succession' era, Variety’s critics write.
But the broadcast didn’t feel trapped in the past, either, nor did it become overly sentimental — but for any Gen Z fan of “Wednesday” who happened to decide to watch the Emmys for the first time, the show could have also served as a useful history lesson. While “Succession and “The Bear” took home the bulk of the awards, “Beef,” which has an Asian-led cast, had a great haul, including Emmys for Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who won for lead actress and actor in a limited series, respectively. There was strength in numbers as RuPaul brought up the entire Season 15 cast to share in the fifth win by “Drag Race” for reality competition, a point driven home by his rousing speech that forcefully yet tactfully called out the backlash against gender-nonconforming people: “If a drag queen wants to read you a story at a library, listen to her, because knowledge is power; and if someone tries to restrict your access to power, they are trying to scare you.” The in-memoriam montage, soundtracked by Charlie Puth, was appropriately wide-ranging, making space to honor behind-the-scenes players unknown to a general audience as well as major shared losses like Norman Lear, Angela Lansbury and Matthew Perry, whose name arrived last to give the “Friends” actor’s tragic death its own well-deserved moment.
Or read this on Variety