The 5 Best And 5 Worst Moments Of The 2018 Emmys

The 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held Monday night in Los Angeles, and like all awards shows, they were a wild mix of good and bad, depending on where you were sitting and who you were rooting for. There were a number of unknown factors going in, including how often topics like politics and the #MeToo movement would come up in monologues and acceptance speeches, how streaming services would fare against premium cable awards contenders, and which celebrities would provide the night's best moments. As the night went on, the ceremony actually became one of the less predictable Emmys in recent memory, with surprise victories, jokes that didn't quite land despite the talented people telling them, and even a couple of true shockers that even the stars in attendance couldn't believe. So, to recap the night, here are our picks for the five best and five worst moments from the 2018 Emmys.

This year's Emmys opened with a promising, tongue-in-cheek song about how Hollywood has finally "solved" its diversity problem, complete with the diverse talents of Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Sterling K. Brown, Titus Burgess, Kristen Bell, Ricky Martin, and Andy Samberg (who, as a straight white man, was denied participation). It was ridiculous, yes, but everyone gave it their all, and it was a bunch of people you probably genuinely liked. Then hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che took the stage to deliver their own opening jokes, and the energy in the room changed. Something felt off and a little too stiff, particularly after a musical number in which a group of lovable stars just got really goofy. Perhaps the problem was that Che and Jost were removed from their usual Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" format, and the pressure was on. Perhaps the jokes were trying too hard to get a rise out of the audience. Whatever the case, this was an opening that just never quite landed.

To further emphasize the history of seven decades of Emmys, while also attempting to be funny at the same time, Che and Jost called up Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live favorites who co-star in the new Amazon series Forever) to act as Emmy history correspondents throughout the show. In theory, this had the potential to be an extremely funny recurring bit, especially when it became clear that the gag was going to be that Armisen and Rudolph were supposed to learn a bunch of Emmy facts, then didn't do any research. Then everything quickly fizzled, as Che and Jost simply cut to the pair at various points in the night to find them eating various kinds of food for a few seconds. Then they'd talk for a moment to run out the clock, Che and Jost would say they were out of time, and it was on to the next thing. Armisen and Rudolph are both brilliant comedians usually well-equipped to handle an "act like you didn't prepare anything" joke, but something about Che and Jost's lack of enthusiasm and the sheer brevity of the bits meant the laughs never quite arrived.

As usual, the Emmys got some truly delightful celebrities to present the evening's various awards, from Tiffany Haddish to Sarah Paulson to Millie Bobby Brown. The caliber of presenters was never in question, but what did start to become grating as the evening wore on was the format the producers chose for each category. Instead of having the presenters come out and banter for a moment before presenting the nominees and then reading out the winner's name, the nominee names came first, followed by the introduction of the presenters, who then bantered and read the winner's name. It created unnecessary distance between nominees and winners, created space between the announcement of the awards and the arrival of the presenters that didn't need to be there, and just generally felt awkward. It feels harder for a presenter to explain the importance of the category they're about to award when the nominated talent has been put on full display before they've even walked to the microphone. It was a nice effort to break up the expected order of things, but it didn't really work.

Sometimes the worst bits become the worst because you can see the ways in which they could have been the best. Case in point: Michael Che's "Reparation Emmys" segment, in which he attempted to highlight the lack of diversity in previous Emmy ceremonies by way of a pre-taped bit in which he presented trophies to various black TV stars, including Jaleel White, Marla Gibbs, and John Witherspoon. There were certainly some laughs to be had here, but it all seemed undercut by Che's apparent determination to act like he didn't need to be there. Plus, there was a joke about bagging groceries at Trader Joe's — a dig at the recent revelation that Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens was doing that job recently — that felt like pointless knife-twisting, and to top it all off, it was revealed that the Emmys Che was giving away were supposedly stolen from Bill Cosby's collection. What started as a funny chance to highlight overlooked legends turned into something else, and that's disappointing. 

Throughout its six seasons on FX, spy drama The Americans was a show that critics and devoted fans loved, but the Emmys... didn't. The show simply kept getting overlooked for major awards, but its nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (Matthew Rhys), and Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series (Keri Russell) Monday night suggested a possible, if slim, chance at final glory for one of the best shows of its era. First, showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg won an Emmy for writing the series finale, "Start," and their exuberant response seemed like enough. Then Rhys won for his final season of acting, and a spark of hope grew into a small flame. Then, sadly, the flame was extinguished when Russell — who seemed like an obvious choice to take home the trophy — lost out to Claire Foy (who is, it should be made clear, also deserving). The show's Outstanding Drama loss to Game of Thrones (a far less interesting choice given that it still has another blockbuster awards season ahead of it, among other things) was the final gut punch to fans and critics who've been evangelists for the show for years, and a reminder that the Emmys don't always pick the most vital and interesting work in a given year. All art is subjective, and so are all awards shows. The Americans should have won more awards, yes, but time will be very kind to this brilliant show.