Primetime Emmys 2023

►🏆 Usual suspects 🏆 Succession was named best drama series, and The Bear was named best comedy series at the 2023 Primetime Emmy Awards, which were handed out Monday night. In addition, Beef was named best limited or anthology series, while RuPaul’s Drag Race won best reality competition program. Last Week Tonight With John Oliver won best scripted variety series, and The Daily Show With Trevor Noah was named best talk series. The winners. 

—Snubs, shutouts and surprises. Better Call Saul's final season, nominated for seven Emmys, failed to win any, meaning the acclaimed AMC failed to score a single award from 53 Emmy nominations over its six-season run. Ted Lasso, The Last of Us, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Barry, Wednesday and Only Murders in the Building were also shut out on Monday night. The snubs. 

—Maxing out. On the backs of wins for Succession and The Last of Us, HBO and its streaming counterpart Max led the list of winners at the Emmys. While the TV Academy ceased breaking out wins by platform, THR tallied up all the trophies from two nights of Creative Emmys as well as the Primetime ceremony and HBO and Max easily topped rival Netflix with 31 statuettes. Netflix finished second — again — with 22 wins thanks in large part to Beef’s sweep of the limited series category. The scorecard.

—"Though there is more TV out there than ever before, your average TV Academy member is not able or willing to consume more of it." THR's executive editor of awards coverage Scott Feinberg dissects Monday night's results, and asks how, near the height of the “Peak TV” era, with some 500 scripted shows currently on TV, did just three shows — Beef, The Bear and Succession — manage to sweep their respective genres at the Emmys? The analysis.  

Emmys Overcomes Predictability With Polish and Emotion

►"The producers knew they had to have actual ideas for how to fill three hours and, in that, they generally succeeded." In his review of the Emmys telecast, THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg writes that the producers pulled off an engaging show despite being screwed by circumstance (the delayed show) and voters (continually picking winners from the same small group of shows). Host Anthony Anderson sang, played the piano, bantered with his mother and wore a rubber suit for a smartly planned and well-produced night of awards honoring usual suspects Succession, Beef and The Bear. The review. 

—A year to remember. THR's Rebecca Sun writes that the 2023 Emmys were the most diverse ever. Five of the 12 acting Emmys handed out on Monday night — pushed four months to MLK Day as a result of the 2023 strikes — went to performers of color, tying the record set at the 1991 ceremony. Unlike in 1991, artists of Asian descent contributed to the diversity of the results. The analysis. 

—The kiss, the kiss! The 75th Emmy Awards were filled with plenty of highlights, from historic wins to emotional tributes and a long, sultry onstage kiss. Some of them included Ali Wong and Quinta Brunson wins serving as Emmy milestones, Elton John joining the very exclusive EGOT club, and Matty Matheson getting a kiss on the mouth from The Bear co-star Ebon Moss-Bachrach. THR's intrepid team put together some of the night’s unforgettable moments. The memorable moments. 

—Ovations, flubs and everything the cameras missed. With so many A-listers at the Emmys, the cameras could only catch so much for viewers at home. THR's Mikey O'Connell has put together all the notable moments the cameras missed: "People freaking SCREAMED when Katherine Heigl came out. Like, legit “you get a car!” response from at least 10 women."  The missed moments. 

—The real MVP. Anthony Anderson's mother Doris Bowman had a stellar first Emmys. Instead of the award show’s notorious play-off music, Bowman took the role of letting people know when their acceptance speeches were going over the allotted time, and she did her job so well that the broadcast ended exactly when it was supposed to. The story. 

Best Dressed Stars at the Emmys

►Hollywood glamour. Ayo Edebiri in Louis Vuitton, Selena Gomez in Oscar de la Renta and Rachel Brosnahan in Atelier Versace were among the stars capturing the style spotlight on TV's biggest night, writes THR's Laurie Brookins, while Colman Domingo once again proved he should be the fashion MVP for the 2024 awards season. The looks. 

—A new member. Elton John is the latest member of the EGOT club, scoring his first Emmy for best variety special (live) for his Farewell From Dodger Stadium special. John is the 19th person to become an EGOT winner, after Viola Davis became the 18th last year when she won a Grammy. He has won five Grammys, an Oscar for best original song in 1994 for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and in 2000, he won a Tony Award for his Aida score. The story. 

—Lovely touch. Ally McBeal, Grey’s Anatomy, Cheers, Martin and The Sopranos were among the beloved television shows celebrated with cast reunions on Monday night. In honor of the Primetime Emmy Awards marking its 75th anniversary, castmembers from a number of notable series reunited to present awards on re-created sets for many of the shows. The nostalgia-focused telecast also included Tina Fey and Amy Poehler teaming up for some "Weekend Update"-style commentary. The story. 

—Notable omissions. The In Memoriam segment of the Emmys paid a moving tribute to several television stars, creators and producers who died over the last year — but social media was quick to point out the omissions. Among the notable omissions from the video montage of the In Memoriam segment were Ryan O’Neal (Peyton Place, Bones), Ray Stevenson (Rome, Dexter, Ahsoka), Kevin Turen (Euphoria, The Idol), Richard Moll (Night Court) and chat show host Jerry Springer. The story. 

More from the 2023 Primetime Emmys... 

—Last Week Tonight switches categories, still wins Emmy

—Jennifer Coolidge thanks the "evil gays" for Emmys win

—Beef creator humbled by "life affirming" response in limited series Emmy win

—Succession creator Jesse Armstrong in best drama win Emmys speech: "We can now depart the stage"

—Roy Wood Jr. confirms his plea for a Daily Show host at Emmys

RDJ Is Having More Fun Than Anyone This Awards Season

►"Joy seems to follow him wherever he goes." It’s barely mid-January, but Robert Downey Jr. is already proving to be MVP of awards season, writes THR's man-about-town Chris Gardner. He's kissed Meryl Streep and hugged Jennifer Aniston, taken a dance break with Reese Witherspoon and made Cillian Murphy laugh. Chris takes a look back at some of Downey's most animated moments so far. The story. 

—🎭 In the GOAT conversation 🎭 Marlon Wayans will star as an all-time great athlete in GOAT, a psychological horror film from Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions and Universal. The film centers on an up-and-coming young athlete who is invited to train with a team’s retiring star, who will be played by Wayans. Justin Tipping will direct the feature, which came out of a pitch from Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie. Peele will produce along with Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper and Jamal Watson. The story.

—🎭 Key roles 🎭 Ryan Murphy's Monster anthology at Netflix, which will focus on the Menendez brothers case, has filled two key roles with big names. Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny will play José and Kitty Menendez, the parents of Lyle and Erik. The anthology series will be Bardem’s first major role in an American TV series. Sevigny has worked with Murphy several times in the past, appearing in two seasons of American Horror Story and the forthcoming Feud: Capote vs. the Swans at FX. The story. 

—"We're definitely leaning into a little more horror." The Wednesday scripts are in, and star Jenna Ortega is pleased with what she’s seen. “Everything is bigger, it’s a lot more action-packed," Ortega said on the Emmys red carpet. According to the actress, every episode “feels like a movie” — and though Wednesday’s narrative has evolved, the character "never really changes." The story. 

—"We’ll see what happens." As Yellowjackets season two viewers now know, Juliette Lewis' character met a tragic ending in the May 2023 finale of the hit Showtime series. Lewis, who has remained relatively quiet about her arc since the finale released, reflected on exiting the series at the 2023 Emmys — though she left the door slightly ajar to return for season three. When speaking to THR at the Emmys, Lewis seemed open to the idea of her character returning in a flashback or some other way. The story. 

—"It's extremely unlike anything I've ever done before." Rhea Seehorn has teased a reunion with Better Call Saul co-creator Vince Gilligan. While speaking to THR on the Emmys red carpet, the actress remained coy on what the series and role was, but shared some more about the role that Gilligan wrote specifically for her: "And he wrote it for me — which is hard to say without crying. And we will shoot in Albuquerque, with a lot of the same crew." The story. 

The Making of 'American Fiction'

►"Tragedy and comedy at the same time, and often the same day." THR's Patrick Brzeski spoke to American Fiction filmmaker Cord Jefferson, star Jeffrey Wright, DP Cristina Dunlap and more of the creative team about the making of the Academy Awards contender. Jefferson et al. discuss the challenge of producing a laugh-out-loud satire about the publishing and entertainment industries’ limited view of Black storytelling, that is also a poignant family drama. The story. 

—"[The script] was able to make fun of an industry and also challenge it to say there are ways in which you could be better." For THR, Brande Victorian spoke to American Fiction star Sterling K. Brown on how the film needles Hollywood’s limited depictions of Black life. The former This Is Us actor reveals he was seeking a role “that did not feel Randall Pearson-esque” and says writer-director Cord Jefferson’s script was one of the best he’d ever read. The interview. 

—🏆 Fiction love 🏆 The African American Film Critics Association on Monday announced the winners of the 15th annual AAFCA Awards as well as the organization’s picks for the 10 best films of the year. Neon’s Origin, Amazon's American Fiction and WB's The Color Purple all won multiple honors, with the latter two films leading with four wins apiece. The winners. 

TV Review: 'Death and Other Details'

►"Wildly derivative, periodically entertaining." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews Hulu's Death and Other Details. Mandy Patinkin and Violett Beane star in a 10-part locked-room murder mystery set on a luxury cruise ship. The review. 

In other news...

—Guy Ritchie's Gentlemen Netflix series sets premiere, releases teaser 

—TV ratings: True Detective solid opposite big NFL audience

—Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo to perform at 2024 Grammys

—Paradise is Burning wins best film at Swedish Film Awards

—How Rosamund Pike’s awards season style is influenced by her spicy Saltburn character

​​​What else we're reading...

—With Happy Days hitting 50, Michael Arkush interviews the surviving members of the original cast who share their memories of the iconic show [NYT]

—We're deep into awards season, and fully embracing the pomp and circumstance, but Emily Stewart is left wondering why we have awards for adults at all [Vox]

—Diksha Madhok looks at how the next few weeks will be key in Disney's ambitions in India as merger talks with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance step up [CNN]

—Richard Deitsch writes that Peacock’s NFL wild-card game, and the massive viewership it achieved, is likely just the start of the league's playoff streaming era [Athletic]

—Adam Wren and Natalie Allison have the five major takeaways from the Iowa caucus, including Haley and DeSantis' prospects, or lack thereof [Politico]

Today...  

...in 2015, Universal released cyber crime action thriller Blackhat in theaters. The original theatrical cut was a rare critical miss for filmmaker Michael Mann, and a box office bomb for the studio. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Sade (65), Lin-Manuel Miranda (44), John Carpenter (76), Debbie Allen (74), Marwan Kenzari (41), Keong Sim (55), Atticus Ross (56), Garth Ennis (54), Richard Bohringer (82), James Ellis Deakins (70), Johnny Tri Nguyen (50), Ricardo Darín (67), Julie Ann Emery (49), Caroline Munro (75), Richard T. Jones (52), Josie Davis (51), Birgitte Hjort Sørensen (42), Yvonne Zima (35), Jake Epstein (37), Renée Felice Smith (39), Kate Moss (50), Jennie Kim (28), Kabir Bedi (78), Shaun Benson (48), Jonathan Mangum (53), Carl Capotorto (65), Liz Larsen (65), Dameon Clarke (52), Max Joseph (42)