Television’s biggest night has returned, and it’s been well worth the wait. Held at the Peacock Theater at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles, the 75th Emmy Awards was truly special, and the entire world was fortunate enough to experience it.
Tonight’s ceremony aired about four months after its original date due to the SAG-AFTRA strike last year. Due to the long anticipation, there was a different feeling in the atmosphere, and all of the industry’s brightest stars were in attendance.
Hosted by Black-ish star Anthony Anderson, the 2024 Emmy’s opened in grand fashion. It featured a beautiful monologue from the actor, who paid homage to some of the great television shows of years past. With the help of an amazing–and hilarious—choir, Anderson recited the theme songs from classics such as Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Good Times, The Facts of Life, and Miami Vice.
Beyond being able to reminisce about our favorite shows and see some of our favorite characters reunite on the stage for “television’s biggest night of the year,” we also can celebrate the production’s showrunners, as the executive production team was a trio of industry veterans.
We got to see the cast of Martin onstage for a special cast reunion, and the four spoke about their run on Fox, Emmy snubs, and the gratitude for the opportunity to share this moment with the audience.
It was a stellar night for Black women, as Quinta Brunson won Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series, for her role as Janine Teagues in Abbott Elementary. Brunson’s win makes her the first Black woman to win in the category in over 30 years — prior to her win, the last Black actress to win the award was Isabel Sanford for The Jeffersons in 1981. Similarly, Ayo Edebiri took home the Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series for playing Sydney Adamu in The Bear. Edebiri was also up against Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary) and Jessica Williams (Shrinking) in this category. She joins the ranks of fellow Black actresses Jackée Harry (1987) and Ralph, who won the award in 2022.
In her acceptance speech, Edebiri says to her parents, “thank you so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and Black and proud of all that. It’s probably not, like, a dream to immigrate to this country and have your child be like, ‘I want to do improv!’ but you’re real ones.”
Sam Richardson took home an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series for playing Edwin Afuko in Ted Lasso.
Presented by Brunson and five-time Emmy nominee Marla Gibbs, Niecy Nash-Betts won the Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Emmy for her powerful performance in Netflix’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. In what was a stirring acceptance speech, she thanked her cast, the streaming service, her partner, Jessica Betts, and herself. In a powerful moment, the Los Angeles native gave a nod to her oftentimes misrepresented counterparts.
“Finally, I accept this award on behalf of every Black and Brown woman who has gone unheard, yet overpoliced,” the visibly emotional Nash-Betts said. “Like Glenda Cleveland, like Sandra Bland, like Breonna Taylor. As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power, and I’m going to do it until the day I die.”
After a great win by Rupaul’s Drag Race for Reality Competition Series, Anderson introduced Arsenio Hall, who presented the award for Scripted Variety Series, which went to Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. Later in the evening, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah received the statue for Variety Talk Series, a much deserved win for Noah and his team during his final season as the show’s host.
The show also included an in memoriam tribute, which featured Tina Turner, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, Clarence Avant, Richard Roundtree, Harry Belafonte, and more.
