The Best and Worst Moments of the 2017 Emmys

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/arts/television/emmys-best-worst-highlights.html

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The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards were dominated by a number of captivating women and one powerful man.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu, about a slave-class enduring a misogynist dystopia, and “Big Little Lies” on HBO, about privileged wives and mothers and their domestic struggles, were the big winners at television’s top honors. “Veep,” HBO’s acid political satire about a female politico, was named top comedy for the third year in a row. And its star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, won best actress in a comedy for the sixth consecutive year.

President Trump, meanwhile, was the butt of many of the jokes, from Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue onward. The ceremony was also a big night for a TV stalwart — “Saturday Night Live” — and a notably diverse pool of winners.

Below are some of the most memorable moments from the Emmy Awards ceremony. — Jeremy Egner

Stephen Colbert has become the late-night ratings king by leaning heavily on Trump jokes, so it was no surprise that he did the same in his first stint as Emmy host. The fizzy opening song-and-dance number, which positioned TV as an escape from the world President Trump has wrought, featured prime-time stars like Anthony Anderson, Allison Janney, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and FX’s animated Archer, a hip-hop interlude by Chance the Rapper and a troupe of tap-dancing female and male “handmaids.”

“The world may be the worst we’ve ever seen,” Mr. Colbert sang. “But it’s never been better on your TV screen.”

The sequence gave way to a monologue that set a Trump-bashing tone for the evening, as Mr. Colbert mocked the president less for his leadership than for being a former reality star who still resented the fact he was never awarded TV’s top prize.

“If he had won an Emmy, I bet he wouldn’t have run for president,” Mr. Colbert said. “So in a way this is all your fault.” —Jeremy Egner

Sean Spicer was the star of one of 2017’s buzziest shows, a short-lived comedy-drama that blurred the lines between fact and fiction. The Emmys couldn’t resist calling the former White House press secretary out to parody his own performance (with Melissa McCarthy in the audience).

“This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period!” he said, recalling his stone-faced exaggeration about Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. (“That really soothed my fragile ego,” said Stephen Colbert.) It was jarring, on a night wall-to-wall with jokes and earnest speeches about the Trump administration, to see one of its alumni trotted out like a reality-TV breakout character. But if the appearance was an attempt to rehab Mr. Spicer’s public image, the price was admitting that his credibility was now a punch line. — James Poniewozik

He wasn’t in the building, but President Trump had a large presence at the Emmy Awards.

“However you feel about the president — and you do feel about the president — you can’t deny that every show was influenced by Donald Trump in some way,” Mr. Colbert said in his opening monologue.

After Mr. Colbert razzed President Trump for never winning an Emmy for “Celebrity Apprentice,” Alec Baldwin, who won best supporting actor in a comedy for his portrayal of Mr. Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” picked up the theme.

“I suppose I should say at long last, Mr. President, here is your Emmy,” he said.

In some cases, the references were coy. Julia Louis-Dreyfus said “Veep” writers had scrapped a story line about impeachment “because we were worried that someone else might get to it first.” Tatiana Maslany, introducing the best actress in a drama category, said the Claire Underwood character from “House of Cards” would be a great president because “she doesn’t tweet.”

When Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin presented together, forming a reunion of their 1980 movie, “Nine to Five,” Ms. Fonda noted that in the movie, they “refused to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.” Ms. Tomlin added: “And in 2017, we still refuse to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.”

Others were even less subtle. Donald Glover, who won best actor in a comedy, directly thanked the president in his acceptance speech.

“I want to thank Trump for making black people No. 1 on the most oppressed list,” he said. “He’s the reason I’m probably up here.” — Daniel Victor

Donald Glover and Lena Waithe both made history with their wins; Mr. Glover is the first African-American to win in the best comedy series director category, for “Atlanta” and Ms. Waithe is the first African-American woman to win in the best comedy series writer category. (She shared the award with “Master of None” series star and co-creator Aziz Ansari.)

Ms. Waithe’s speech was especially poignant: “And last but certainly not least, my L.G.B.Q.T.I.A. family. I see each and every one of you. The things that make us different. Those are our superpowers. Every day when you walk out the door, put on your imaginary cape and go out there and conquer the world, because the world would not be as beautiful as it is if we weren’t in it.” — Gilbert Cruz

Zoe Kravitz played the sprite on the Emmys red carpet. Her slender, varicolored gown, embroidered in tufts of feathers and whipped up expressly for her by Dior haute couture, provided one element of the look. Her close-cropped hair and cat-eye makeup did the rest, bringing to mind a raffishly updated Audrey Hepburn or waiflike Mia Farrow. Strings of Tiffany diamonds were an incongruous match for Ms. Kravitz’s scattered tattoos, her look flirting with the cutting edge. Still, “it was quite magical, Ms. Kravitz said, “and fairylike, I thought.” — Ruth La Ferla

To little suspense, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her sixth consecutive award for best lead actress in a comedy for her role as Selina Meyer in “Veep.”

Ho-hum. We’re used to that. But this time, the win allowed her to set or tie some major records.

She is now the record-holder for most wins by an actor playing one character, passing Candice Bergen for “Murphy Brown” and Don Knotts for “The Andy Griffith Show.” Factoring in earlier wins for “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Seinfeld,” she tied Cloris Leachman’s record of eight prime-time acting Emmys.

In her acceptance speech, she called playing Selina Meyer the “role of a lifetime and an adventure of utter joy.” HBO has said the show will end in 2018 after its seventh season. — Daniel Victor

With the absence of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” from this year’s Emmy race, it was a great night for Hulu and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the series based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel. It won best drama (beating out Netflix’s “The Crown,” “Stranger Things” and “House of Cards”), best actress in a drama (the excited and foul-mouthed Elisabeth Moss), best writing in a drama (the showrunner Bruce Miller), best directing in a drama (Reed Morano) and best supporting actress in a drama (Ann Dowd, who pronounces the word “Hulu” unlike anyone else).

The series, which felt topical and resonant (depending on your political views), represents Hulu’s first genuine hit and will certainly increase the streaming service’s profile among both cord-cutting users and stars and creators looking to place new series. While Netflix and Amazon Prime are still better known, Hulu is the first of the big three streamers to win best drama.

There was one major oversight however: How do you get Margaret Atwood onstage and not have her talk? Terrible. — Gilbert Cruz

“Saturday Night Live” tends to shine in an election year. But even after the 2016 campaign wrapped, the show’s appetite for political humor stayed as strong as ever. And clearly, it was Emmy catnip: The show cleaned up this year, winning all four guest and supporting comedy performance Emmys, as well as the awards for directing for a variety series and best variety sketch show.

Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin all won for their political impressions, with Ms. McKinnon even thanking Hillary Clinton in her acceptance speech. Dave Chappelle won for his guest hosting on the first “S.N.L.” after the election. And Mr. Chappelle won over Tom Hanks and Lin-Manuel Miranda; Ms. McKinnon over Leslie Jones and Vanessa Bayer. Emmy voters had Trump on their minds. — Margaret Lyons

— Sterling K. Brown, after being named best actor in a drama for “This Is Us.” His enthusiastic and entertainingly fannish victory speech continued even after the music swelled and the producers cut his microphone. (He completed it backstage afterward.) — Jeremy Egner

The good news is that the wonderful “Big Little Lies” deservedly won a boatload of Emmys. The less good news is that talk of a Season 2 seems inevitable, even though the show was clearly never intended for any such thing.

As far as limited series go, the show came just shy of a batting a thousand: Jean-Marc Vallée won for directing, Nicole Kidman for lead actress, Laura Dern for supporting actress and Alexander Skarsgard for supporting actor. The only category it lost in was for writing, with David E. Kelley losing out to Charlie Brooker of “Black Mirror.” Reese Witherspoon probably should have beat Ms. Kidman, but she still got to give her speech when accepting for best mini-series, because she was one of the show’s executive producers.

“Big Little Lies” is the quintessential HBO show: Huge stars, lavish production, major buzz and genuine quality. Is it any wonder it followed in its brethren’s award-laden footsteps? — Margaret Lyons