2022 Emmys: ‘Ted Lasso’, ‘Succession’ and ‘The White Lotus’ prevail in a night with no surprises or emotions

It was a routine, almost robotic 2022 Emmy gala. Correct, but completely forgettable. Maybe the Oscars spoiled us, first with the ‘Moonlight’ / ‘La La Land’ debacle and then with that snap that overshadowed everything for several weeks. It seems that lately an awards gala isn’t such a thing unless something unexpected or shocking happens that goes viral on social networks. But in 74th American Television Academy Awardswhich was returning to normal after two years of pandemic, everything went according to the script, without hitches, without surprise twists and without too many emotions.

When it comes to prizes, the Academy played it safe. “Succession”, “Ted Lasso” and “The White Lotus” were the most nominated series this year and were the big winners of the evening., each of which wins, among others, the main prize in its category. For a moment, it felt like the night was headed for a surprise ending, but it was all a mirage. Yes, the Academy recognized the phenomenon ‘The Squid Game’ by awarding its direction and naming Lee Jung-jae best actor in what is perhaps the greatest and most unique? surprise of the night; and the two awards for “Colegio Abbott” (a complete success in the US) increased the chances that he would win over “Ted Lasso”. But finally they were at the gates to take the prize from the favorites.

The interpretative categories have left us the best moments of the gala, as well as some occasional records. The speech of the evening was undoubtedly that of Sheryl Lee Ralph (Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy for ‘Colegio Abbott’), who got up at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles with great emotion and started singing with her soul, putting the entire audience on their feet, before uttering a powerful speech of gratitude in which he encouraged everyone to pursue their dreams. On the other hand, Zendaya continues to solidify her status as one of the biggest stars of the moment. earning her second Emmy for her heartbreaking performance in “Euphoria” (in 2020 she became the youngest actress to win the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama), Internet Queen Jennifer Coolidge has (finally) won her Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a miniseries with the most speech. fun and surreal of the night; and Julia Garner got the feat of winning her third Emmy for her role in ‘Ozark’, perhaps another of the night’s few surprises. And likewise, Brett Goldstein won his second consecutive Emmy as a supporting actor in a comedy for the same character (Roy Kent), something that hasn’t happened since 2008 with Jeremy Piven and ‘Entourage (The entourage)’.

The ceremony, with its three hours of rigor, began punctually and fortunately did not last longer than necessary. Kenan Thompson, actor and comedian of ‘Saturday Night Live’, was tasked with presenting the gala, doing a fair and functional job without further ado, betting once again on the safe side (the boldest joke was the one at the expense of Leonardo DiCaprio and their young girlfriends, and that too was predictable). As usual, the evening was filled with speeches and tributes that only slow down the pace of the broadcast, but it wouldn’t be an awards gala without her In Memoriam (this year she left us amazing people like Betty White or Nichelle Nichols. ) or their honorary awards, in this case the Governors Award to Geena Davis for her work in the fight for the representation of women in the media through her organization The Geena Davis Institute.

Despite the absence of strong emotions, it cannot be denied that it was another year of great series and miniseries. Despite repeat winners from previous years in the drama and comedy categories, the Emmys have once again recognized a crop of quality-packed television drama that does nothing but aim higher and higher. The president and CEO of the Television Academy, Frank Scherma, said it very well in his speech: “Thank you for stretching this platinum era of television more than we could ever have imagined.”. I wish these galas would one day be as beautiful and fun as the series they reward.

The emptiness of “Better Call Saul” and “Only Murders”

Each year, some series have to walk out the back door with no prize in hand. In the main gala, ‘Yellowjackets’, ‘Separation’ or ‘The wonderful Mrs. Maisel’ were dropped, despite receiving many nominations. However, the ignore that did the most harm is that of ‘Better Call Saul’, who competed with the first part of his sixth and final season and was once again completely ignored. And now six seasons. The AMC series has garnered a total of 46 nominations throughout its history and has not received a single Emmy.. Its last chance will be in 2023, as thanks to the two-part split of its latest season, the series will be eligible for awards with its (acclaimed) latest batch of episodes. So will justice be done?

Another that was left without awards on the big night of television is “Murders only in the building”, which sounded like a favorite to dethrone “Ted Lasso”, but in the end he has to make do with the three statuettes he took home to the Creative Emmys (sound mixing, production design and guest star for Nathan Lane). Let’s see if there is more luck next season, because he deserves it.

You can now check out the full list of 2022 Emmy winners and where to watch all the nominated series.