Emmys 2021: The Crown and Ted Lasso triumph – as it happened

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A mixed bag of an evening that started with a lot of promise and ended with a lot of predictability. The most diverse set of acting nominees the Emmys has ever seen ultimately led to an all-white set of acting winners, most of whom are from The Crown.

What was most frustrating about the night, and it’s not the first time the TV Academy has done this, is that the ceremony was presented to us as if it was a diverse year with a black host (a likably loose Cedric the Entertainer), presenters of colour and references to diversity yet ultimately, it evaporated into more of the same. There were some signs of progress - RuPaul became the most awarded person of colour ever, Michaela Coel was the first black female winner of best writing for a limited or anthology series and, for the first time, two women won the comedy and drama directing trophies in the same year - but not quite enough.

There were deserving acting winners though - Kate Winslet and Julianne Nicholson for Mare of Easttown and Jean Smart for Hacks - but the dominance of Ted Lasso and The Crown felt a little too safe and a sign that those two shows might be dominant yet again this time next year, the Emmys known to stick too their faves time and time again.

Normality has returned, not just to the structure of awards ceremonies but also who they choose to reward. Here we go again.

And here’s the full news wrap:

And here’s that Scott Frank speech that no one was into:

And here was one of the best speeches of the night, courtesy of Debbie Allen:

Here’s a look at Seth Rogen’s viral intro for one of Ted Lasso’s many wins:

Despite a record number of diverse nominees, there wasn’t a single acting winner of colour, an embarrassment for the TV academy during a ceremony that constantly referred to the importance of diversity.

Actors who were considered strong contenders included Billy Porter and MJ Rodriguez for Pose, the late Michael K Williams for Lovecraft Country, Michaela Coel for I May Destroy You and Bowen Yang for Saturday Night Live. #EmmysSoWhite to start trending in 3, 2, 1 ...

The skits tonight were more miss than hit but there was some novelty to this one which brought together famously unrewarded TV stars:

So as briefly mentioned before, the biggest winner of the evening was ultimately Netflix, scooping 44 in total (taking into account the Creative Arts Emmys too). The Crown was the streamer’s first best drama series win, a major milestone.

A record for Hulu tonight but, errrr, not a great one. The streamer’s grim drama The Handmaid’s Tale set the record for the most Emmy losses in a single season, with 21 nominations and 21 losses.

A major takeaway from tonight is that despite a major uptick in nominations for genre shows like WandaVision (23), Lovecraft Country (18) The Mandalorian (24) and The Boys (6), there’s still a reluctance to actually reward them. No genre show scored any of the major awards tonight, with just a few technical wins back at the Creative Arts Emmys.

Given the combined fanbase, it’s led to some predictable anger on Twitter with many bemoaning the staid nature of the kinds of shows that tend to do well at the Emmys - period dramas - and wondering if there’s ever going to be a breakthrough.

If you need to remind yourself of the many winners of the evening then here’s a full list:

At least one person who will not be cheersing the success of the Netflix chess drama: