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Emmys 2018: Best and worst moments

By Ashley Weyler

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A proposal, shocking wins, and stale jokes sum up this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards.

The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards is in the books. In the top ten major categories, I got three “will wins” right, and four “should wins” right. Not bad, but not great either. It just goes to show that Emmy voters were a bit unpredictable this year.

Game of Thrones won top honors with an Outstanding Drama Series win, in addition to an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama win for Peter Dinklage. Altogether, the hit HBO show won six of their 17 nominations. I thought for sure that The Handmaid’s Tale would win, so I’m happy to see Thrones get honored.

On the comedic side of the aisle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ruled the night with an Outstanding Comedy Series win, an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy win for Rachel Brosnahan, an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy win for Alex Borstein and directing and writing honors for creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. The Amazon Prime show won seven of their 11 nominations.

Read the complete list of 2018 Emmy winners.

But do you know what most people are going to remember about it? Some guy with long hair proposing to his girlfriend during his acceptance speech.

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They definitely won’t remember the 2018 Emmys for its hosting, which was lackluster at best. It wasn’t just the opening monologue that fell flat, many of the presenters’ bits fell flat, too. (What the heck was that Benicio Del Toro – Patricia Arquette – Ben Stiller bit about?)

The whole show felt like a bad Saturday Night Live episode. With Lorne Michaels producing, I expected much more.

Let’s take a look back at the 2018 Emmys’ best and worst movements.

Best: Henry Winkler finally wins an Emmy
If you grew up watching reruns of Happy Days (like me), you were surprised to learn Henry Winkler never won an Emmy for playing one of the most iconic characters in television history, Fonzie. So, when Winkler accepted his Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Emmy for playing Gene Cousineau on Barry, the entire room rose to their feet and stayed there. Alec Baldwin never looked so happy to lose. The Fonz quipped how he wrote his acceptance speech 43 years ago and then told his kids that they could go to bed. Only thing is his kids are in their 30s. It was perfectamundo!

Worst: The opening monologue
It was strange when the very first thing we see of the show is not the hosts, Colin Jost and Michael Che, but their Saturday Night Live buddies and friends singing a song… that didn’t even include them. That should have been the first clue that we were in for an unfunny night.

The opening monologue was long, awkward, and stale. The duo is much better during Weekend Update, although far from the best anchors they’ve had. But it felt like they took a bunch of rejected jokes from the show and threw them in for the Emmys. They didn’t seem like themselves. They seemed uncomfortable, which made me uncomfortable.

Hey, NBC, next time you have Emmy duties, just go with Jimmy Fallon.

Best: The Proposal
Glen Weiss is pretty well-known in the industry and has already won 11 Emmys for his directorial work on various awards shows and television specials. He won his twelfth Emmy last night for directing the Academy Awards. In his speech, he spoke about his mother, who had just passed away. He thanked his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen, and called her his sunshine, and exclaimed the reason he doesn’t call her his girlfriend, is because he wants to call her his wife.

Cynics most likely hated this moment, but hopeless romantics swooned! And honestly, it saved the show. Jost and Che should probably send them a fruit basket or something.

Watch the proposal here.

Worst: Claire Foy beats Elizabeth Moss for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama
I watch The Crown and am a fan. I think Claire Foy was brilliant as Queen Elizabeth. BUT, Elizabeth Moss is NEXT LEVEL as June on The Handmaid’s Tale. I’m not sure what happened here, but Emmy voters got it wrong.

And in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama, I was disappointed that not one of the three women nominated from The Handmaid’s Tale won. I’m assuming Alexis Bledel, Ann Dowd, and Yvonne Strahovski split the vote here. They deserved better, though!

Best: The unexpected winners
Some of my favorite moments included watching Emmy winners who had absolutely no clue they were winning, like Bill Hader for Barry and Merritt Wever for Godless. But Regina King tops them all.

King has been acting since the early 80s, getting her start on the show 227 as Brenda Jenkins. She’s a four-time Emmy nominee, having won twice before last night for supporting roles on American Crime. But she was genuinely stunned when they announced her name as the winner of the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Emmy for the Netflix Drama Seven Seconds.

Worst: The running Maya Rudolph/Fred Armisen bit
I love Maya, but this skit was weird, even for her. It went on for too long and just felt like filler. It seemed like yet another Saturday Night Live reject skit.

Next. 2018 Emmy predictions: Who will win vs. who should win. dark

Best: RuPaul’s Drag Race wins Outstanding Reality or Reality-Competition Program
Sashay, you stay! While RuPaul has won the Outstanding Host Emmy three years in a row, this is the first year Drag Race won. I’m personally excited because I watched this show for the first time this past season and became obsessed with it.

This win, in addition to Ryan Murphy’s win Oustanding Limited Series win for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, are big wins for the LGBTQ community. Somewhere, Miss Vanjie is jumping for joy!

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