I used to have a major award show fetish. I watched them all religiously, from the pre-show to the final award, and loved every second. With age this indiscriminate appreciation began to wane, as the flaws became painfully apparent (the wooden writing, the awkward red carpet interviews, great performers being routinely shut out), but now I watch them mainly to make fun of them and hopefully see people I like have their talent recognized. Last night's Emmy Awards followed the trend of previous ceremonies with tone-deaf hosting, a few snubs and a couple of surprising (but totally deserved wins). Read on for the best, the worst, and the side eye worthy of the 2016 Emmy Awards.
The Worst: As far as hosts go, Jimmy Kimmel was neither the best not the worst. It’s best to just try and forget everything about it. Generally white men joking about the lack of diversity does poorly, but it was everywhere last night.
The Best: In her acceptance speech, director Jill Soloway ("Transparent") gave a shout out to the trans community and called for us to stop the violence committed with alarming regularity against trans women. She concluded with “topple the patriarchy”, making all the white men in the audience very uncomfortable.
The Best: These Emmy’s were the most diverse we've ever had. In the opening hour Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari won for writing "Master of None" episode “Parents”, and Yang called out Hollywood’s abysmal record of Asians in television.
The Best: The regal and adorable Constance Wu (star of the stupidly not nominated) "Fresh off the Boat", who presented alongside her costar Randall Park.
The Side-Eye Worthy: Jeffrey Tambor won another Emmy for Amazon series "Transparent" and called on Hollywood to “give transgender talent a chance”. He went on to say that he wouldn’t “be unhappy to be the last cis-gender man” to play a trans woman on television, which is the least he can do considering he is playing a trans woman on television and winning awards for it.
The Best: Leslie Jones came out onstage with a bunch of white dudes no one actually knows but who are apparently tasked with keeping Emmy results a secret to humorously address her Twitter harassment and the hacking that resulted in nude photos being released. Leslie is clearly a better person than I am and good for her for continuing to roll in opportunities despite other people's attempts at tearing her down.
The Worst: Tracee Ellis Ross (who looked absolutely stunning in her Ralph Lauren gown) was passed over for a historic Emmy win in favor of Julia Louis Dreyfus. Ross has been hilarious since Girlfriends and is definitely a joy on Black-ish. A win would have been well deserved for her.
The Best: But Julia Louis-Dreyfus did win, and "Veep" is hilarious so I'll live.
The Best: No one looked a mess this year (I’m choosing to ignore Mandy Moore's weird, ruffled thing) If you follow award show fashion, you know it’s incredibly rare that no one totally screws up in the wardrobe department. And while I'm sure someone did, they never graced the stage so as far as I'm concerned they don't exist! But Kerry Washington ("Scandal") was definitely the best.
The Best: The "Stranger Things" Kids (Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin). First of all they are by far the cutest, most endearing kids I’ve ever watched in anything, and them helping pass out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches was too cute. But they could probably do anything and please me.
The Side Eye Worthy: John Mayer in the band for…some….reason.
The Best: Sarah Paulson accepted her Best Actress in a TV Movie or Limited Series trophy with kind words for Marcia Clarke, the lawyer she portrayed in "People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story." Clarke’s portrayal in the media during the trial was needlessly harsh and critical, and Paulson not only became friends with Clarke while researching the role but brought her along as her plus-one at the ceremony, telling her, “I’m glad to be able to tell you I’m sorry."
The Best: Closing out his Best Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series speech, Courtney B. Vance shouted out to wife Angela Basset — “to the woman who rocks my chain. This is for you girl!”
The Side Eye Worthy: Vance said that after fellow "American Crime Story" actor Sterling K. Brown won and said the same of his wife. It was followed by "Sherlock" showrunner Steven Moffat thanking his wife with “the woman who rocks whatever that was”, and then EW picked it up as the “hottest new way to refer to your significant other” as if black people haven’t been doing that forever, starting with Jay-Z about Beyonce approximately a million years ago.
The Best: Laverne Cox, resembling an Emmy statue herself.
The Side Eye Worthy: Matt Damon (who doesn’t even do TV) appearing onstage for a bit with Jimmy Kimmel. It was a better written exchange than just about anything else the Emmy’s pulled together this year, but Matt Damon is on my Side Eye list after his whitesplaining in "Project TV" and his whitewashed role in "The Great Wall."
The Most Side Eye Worthy: Beyonce’s "Lemonade" losing in all the categories it was nominated in including Best Directing to…"Grease: Live."
The Best: "Mr. Robot" star Rami Malek winning the Emmy for Best Actor in A Drama Series.
The Best: Tatiana Maslany winning Best Actress in a Drama for "Orphan Black" (in case you don't know, she plays pretty much everyone), and it was well deserved even with her being in a massively talented category with Viola Davis and Taraji P. Henson.
The Best: Maggie Smith not showing up. She's Maggie Smith. Despite Jimmy Kimmel's not-funny-enough jokes about the matter, she has better things to do.
Now that I look over this list it seems the only thing that really sucked about the Emmys was
