Awards shows often give tribute to how much excellence there is in their medium. Andy Samberg kicked off this year’s Emmy Awards with a musical tribute to, simply, how much there is.
Riffing on the au courant topic of “peak TV” — this year, we’re on track for over 400 scripted series, the most ever — Mr. Samberg’s opening video imagined him locking himself into a “viewing bunker” to binge a year’s shows. It was a breezy take on the all-too-familiar choice between living life and watching it. “You might have seen the Eiffel Tower or the mighty Sphinx,” he sang. “But I saw Robert Durst confess to murder in ‘The Jinx’!”
Both in format and winners, the 67th Primetime Emmys reflected an overflowing TV box. The acting categories often had seven or eight nominees. Though perennial powerhouse HBO dominated, the winners came not only from broadcast or cable but Netflix and Amazon — once a bookstore, now a TV outlet — which took acting and directing awards for “Transparent,” its gorgeous family dramedy about a transgender senior citizen coming out to her adult children.
As if to make room, this year’s process opened the vote to a broader swath of the membership, on the theory it might balance the more conservative tastes of the past smaller voting panels. Or put more simply: that maybe, finally, “Modern Family” would not win best comedy again. (It didn’t. HBO’s acid-tongued political satire “Veep” did.)
Any Emmys is a battle of the past and the future, caught between awards that actually recognize the last season and those that are essentially gold watches. Jon Hamm should have won years ago for his indelible performance as Don Draper in “Mad Men,” and finally did for the show’s final half-season. “The Daily Show” cleaned up for Jon Stewart’s last season on air. (“Thank you very much,” Mr. Stewart said. “You will never have to see me again.”)
On the other hand, Viola Davis won best actress in a drama for her smoldering performance in the freshman “How to Get Away With Murder” — the first African-American actress to win the award and a fitting cap to the season’s strides in diverse casting. As Ms. Davis noted — in a speech that was a captivating performance itself — “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” (Another potent appearance: the comedian Tracy Morgan, presenting the final award after his recovery from a grievous automobile accident.)
Emmy Red Carpet Fashion
CreditMario Anzuoni/Reuters; Mark Davis/Getty Images; Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Mr. Samberg, generally an amiable, get-along performer, gave a delightfully sharp-edged monologue. He poked at Hollywood’s self-congratulation over diversity (“Racism is over! Don’t fact-check that!”) and did not spare the mighty shows that fell over the past year. (After saluting shows that ended their runs, he added, “We also said goodbye to ‘True Detective,’ even though it’s still on the air.”) But his savvy material also reflected how narrowly sliced TV’s viewing audiences have become. Mr. Samberg tweaked FX’s much-praised, little-watched, experimental comedy “Louie” and spoofed the final scene of boutique drama “Mad Men.” And he mimed an amorous act on the posterior of an oversized Emmy statuette, mimicking a sex scene on the cult-hit HBO comedy “Girls.” Like much great TV today, Mr. Samberg was excellent, and not for everyone. (Conservatives, for instance, were the targets of many jokes in the evening.)
Emmys 2015: Viola Davis
Ms. Davis became the first African-American woman to win best lead actress in a drama, for “How to Get Away With Murder.”
By FOX on Publish Date September 20, 2015. Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters.There was a kind of karmic balancing, then, that best drama went to a more massive hit, HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” (Even if for a weaker season that had serious issues with sexual violence against female characters.) And it says something about the wild state of TV today that the “conventional” choice was a premium-cable drama involving dragons.
The most deserved award not given out, though, was a Purple Heart for the overcommitted TV viewer. As if to add insult to inundation, the broadcast featured an un-spoiler-alerted montage of series-finale scenes. Maybe it was a swipe by broadcaster Fox, reliant on live-TV ads, against viewers who, like Mr. Samberg in his bunker, wait to binge.
Or maybe it was a kindness, freeing up their time. The next Emmys, after all, are only a year away, and I bet you’re already behind. Get back to work.