Shōgun had historic wins in an epic 18-Emmy first season, Hacks scored an upset for best comedy on what was still a four-trophy night for The Bear, and Baby Reindeer had a holiday at an Emmy Awards that had some surprising swerves.
Shōgun, the FX series about power struggles in feudal Japan, won best drama series for its first, while Hiroyuki Sanada became the first Japanese performer to win an Emmy when he won best actor in a drama and co-star Anna Sawai became the second moments later when she won best actress.
“Shōgun taught me when we work together, we can make miracles,” Sanada said in his acceptance speech.
Along with 14 Emmys it claimed at the precursor Creative Arts Emmys and a directing win, it had an unmatched performance with 18 overall for one season.
Hacks was the surprise winner of the best comedy series award for the first time, topping The Bear, which most had expected after four big wins earlier in the evening.
Jean Smart won her third best actress in a comedy award for the third season of Hacks, in which her stand-up comic character Deborah Vance tries to make it in late-night TV. Smart has six Emmys overall.
Despite losing out on the night’s biggest prize after winning it for its first season at January’s strike-delayed ceremony, FX’s The Bear came back for seconds with major acting wins.
Star Jeremy Allen White won best actor in a comedy for the second straight year, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach repeated as best supporting actor.
A surprise came when Liza Colón-Zayas won best supporting actor over major competition.
“How could I have thought it would be possible to be in the presence of Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett,” Colón-Zayas said as tears welled in her eyes as she accepted the award on the stage of the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.
She is the first Latina to win in the category.
“To all the Latinas who are looking at me,” she said, “keep believing and vote.”
Netflix’s darkly quirky Baby Reindeer won best limited series. Creator and star Richard Gadd won for his lead acting and his writing and Jessica Gunning, who plays his tormentor, won best supporting actress.
Accepting the best limited series award, Gadd urged the makers of television to take chances.
“The only constant across any success in television is good storytelling,” he said.
“Good storytelling that speaks to our times. So take risks, push boundaries. Explore the uncomfortable. Dare to fail in order to achieve.”
Baby Reindeer is based on a one man-stage show in which Gadd describes being sexually abused along with other emotional struggles.
Accepting that award, he said, “no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better.”
Jodie Foster won her first Emmy to go with her two Oscars when she took best actress in a limited series for True Detective: Night Country.
The creator of The Bear was also a repeat winner. Christopher Storer took his second straight Emmy for directing, an award handed out by reunited Happy Days co-stars Ron Howard and Henry Winkler.
White said backstage that he was watching in the wings as Colón-Zayas won and “that was just the greatest.”
He also shouted out two acting wins the show had already scored at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, when Jamie Lee Curtis won best guest actress in a comedy for playing his mother, and Jon Bernthal won best guest actor for playing his big brother.
The Bear won seven times at that ceremony, totalling 11 overall for its second season.
The father-son hosting duo of Eugene and Dan Levy in their monologue at the top of the show mocked the very dramatic The Bear being in the comedy category.
“In honour of The Bear we will be making no jokes,” Eugene Levy said, to laughs.
The evening managed to meet many expectations but included several swerves like the win for Hacks and a quiet start to the night for Shogun, which didn’t win its first trophy until past the halfway point.
Elizabeth Debicki took best supporting actress in a drama for playing Princess Diana at the end of her life in the sixth and final season of The Crown.
“Playing this part, based on this unparalleled, incredible human being, has been my great privilege,” Debicki said. “It’s been a gift.”
Billy Crudup won best actor in a drama for The Morning Show.
Streep wasn’t the only Oscar winner trumped by a lesser-known name. Robert Downey Jr., the reigning best supporting actor winner for Oppenheimer, was considered the favorite to win best supporting actor in a limited series for The Sympathizer, but that award went to Lamorne Morris for Fargo.
“Robert Downey Jr. I have a poster of you in my house!” Morris said from the stage as he accepted his first Emmy.
Several awards were presented by themed teams from TV history, including sitcom dads George Lopez, Damon Wayans and Jesse Tyler Ferguson and TV moms Meredith Baxter, Connie Britton, and Susan Kelechi Watson.
