Schitt’s Creek, Succession and Watchmen win big at this year’s Emmys

I’m not a massive fan of awards shows, but even less so the Emmys. While all awards shows generally land up into some form of a popularity contest rather than always based on true merit, the Emmys has often been the awards that are most guilty of this where popular actors and characters from TV series get nominated over and over again on pure reputation alone while many fantastic performances get lost along the way.

This year, however, things are actually different. Although there are certainly a few missing people who probably deserved to be nominated, as I look at the list of winners, it’s hard to argue that in most categories the winner didn’t deserve it. Schitt’s Creek, Succession and Watchmen cleaned up the majority of the awards in their categories, with Schitt’s Creek pulling a complete clean sweep of the comedy awards in what must be a first for the show.

Along with those big three winners, 24-year old Zendaya also made history by becoming the youngest nominee to ever win the Emmy for Lead Actress (Drama) in HBO’s Euphoria. She beat out the likes of Laura Linney and Jennifer Aniston. Including the technically-minded Creative Emmy Awards dished out over the course of five nights last week (which saw The Mandalorian walk away with five awards for Visual Effects, Cinematography and more), Zendaya’s win helped boost HBO to a total of 30 wins overall, the most of any network.

Here is the full list of winners and nominees.

SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY

WINNER: Daniel Levy -Schitt’s Creek

Mahershala Ali – Ramy
Alan Arkin – The Kominsky Method
Andre Braugher – Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Sterling K. Brown – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
William Jackson Harper – The Good Place
Tony Shalhoub – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kenan Thompson – Saturday Night Live

DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

WINNER:Schitt’s Creek – “Happy Ending”

The Great – “Pilot”
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – “It’s Comedy or Cabbage”
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – “Marvelous Radio”
Modern Family – “Finale Part 2”
Ramy – “Miakhalifa.mov”
Will & Grace – “We Love Lucy”

WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

WINNER:Schitt’s Creek -“Happy Ending”

The Good Place – “Whenever You’re Ready”
The Great – “The Great”
Schitt’s Creek – “The Presidential Suite”
What We Do In the Shadows – “Collaboration”
What We Do In the Shadows – “Ghosts”
What We Do In the Shadows – “On the Run”

LEAD ACTOR, COMEDY

WINNER: Eugene Levy – Schitt’s Creek

Anthony Anderson – Black-ish
Don Cheadle – Black Monday
Ted Danson – The Good Place
Michael Douglas – The Kominsky Method
Ramy Youssef – Ramy

LEAD ACTRESS, COMEDY

WINNER: Catherine O’Hara – Schitt’s Creek

Christina Applegate – Dead to Me
Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Linda Cardellini – Dead to Me
Issa Rae – Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross – Black-ish

DRAMA SERIES

WINNER: Succession

Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things

COMEDY SERIES

WINNER: Schitt’s Creek

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to Me
The Good Place
Insecure
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
What We Do in the Shadows

LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA

WINNER: Zendaya – Euphoria

Jennifer Aniston – The Morning Show
Olivia Colman – The Crown
Jodie Comer – Killing Eve
Laura Linney – Ozark
Sandra Oh- Killing Eve

LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA

WINNER: Jeremy Strong – Succession

Jason Bateman – Ozark
Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us
Steve Carell – The Morning Show
Brian Cox – Succession
Billy Porter – Pose

SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA

WINNER: Billy Crudup – The Morning Show

Nicholas Braun – Succession
Kieran Culkin – Succession
Mark Duplass – The Morning Show
Giancarlo Esposito – Better Call Saul
Matthew Macfadyen – Succession
Bradley Whitford – The Handmaid’s Tale
Jeffrey Wright – Westworld

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA

WINNER: Julia Garner – Ozark

Helena Bonham Carter- The Crown
Laura Dern – Big Little Lies
Thandie Newton – Westworld
Fiona Shaw – Killing Eve
Sarah Snookv – Succession
Meryl Streep – Big Little Lies Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY

WINNER: Annie Murphy – Schitt’s Creek

Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
D’Arcy Carden – The Good Place
Betty Gilpin – GLOW
Marin Hinkle – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kate McKinnon – Saturday Night Live
Yvonne Orji – Insecure
Cecily Strong – Saturday Night Live

LIMITED SERIES

WINNER: Watchmen

Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox

LEAD ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

WINNER: Regina King – Watchmen

Cate Blanchett – Mrs. America
Shira Haas – Unorthodox
Octavia Spencer – Self Made
Kerry Washington – Little Fires Everywhere

LEAD ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

WINNER: Mark Ruffalo – I Know This Much Is True

Jeremy Irons – Watchmen
Hugh Jackman – Bad Education
Paul Mescal – Normal People
Jeremy Pope – Hollywood

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

WINNER: Uzo Aduba – Mrs. America

Toni Collette – Unbelievable
Margo Martindale – Mrs. America
Jean Smart – Watchmen
Holland Taylor – Hollywood
Tracey Ullman – Mrs. America

SUPPORTING ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

WINNER: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – Watchmen

Jovan Adepo – Watchmen
Tituss Burgess – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend
Louis Gossett Jr. – Watchmen
Dylan McDermott – Hollywood
Jim Parsons – Hollywood

WINNER: RuPaul’s Drag Race

The Masked Singer
Nailed It!
Top Chef
The Voice

VARIETY TALK SERIES

WINNER: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

WINNER: Succession – “Hunting”

The Crown – “Cri de Coeur”
The Crown – “Aberfan”
Homeland – “Prisoners of War”
The Morning Show – “The Interview”
Ozark – “Fire Pink”
Ozark – “Su Casa Es Mi Casa”
Succession – “This Is Not For Tears”

DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE, OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL

WINNER: Unorthodox

Little Fires Everywhere – “Find a Way”
Normal People – “Episode 5”
Watchmen – “It’s Summer And We’re Running Out of Time”
Watchmen – “Little Fear of Lightning”
Watchmen – “This Extraordinary Being”

WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

WINNER: Succession – “This Is Not For Tears”

Better Call Saul – “Bad Choice Road”
Better Call Saul – “Bagman”
The Crown – “Aberfan”
Ozark – “All In”
Ozark – “Boss Flight”
Ozark,- “Fire Pink”

WRITING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE, OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL

WINNER: Watchmen – “This Extraordinary Being”

Mrs. America – “Shirley”
Normal People – “Episode 3”
Unbelievable – “Episode 1”
Unorthodox – “Part 1”

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As for the event itself, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic the live show saw winners presented with their awards either in their homes (via people in hazmat tuxedos) or a social bubble that was set up beforehand. Similarly, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the awards show on a set rather than a big auditorium, with a few guests joining him along the way and perhaps setting a precedent for what awards shows in our immediate future may look like until the pandemic is under control.

As for the awards, did your favourite shows all win or did you feel quite a few people got snubbed along the way?

Last Updated: September 21, 2020