By Elisa Villanueva @BBELISACATS
Hosted by late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards were filled with celebration for acclaimed actors, an attempt of diversity and a whole lot of raunchy political jokes.
Many skits and humor were geared toward Republican candidate Donald Trump, who was previously a reality show personality on “The Apprentice”, which he was fired from after announcing his presidential campaign.
“Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don’t have to watch reality shows anymore because we’re living in one,” Kimmel said in his monologue.
“Game of Thrones” not only won twelve Emmys for the night, but also won bragging rights as the all-time Emmy champion, winning thirty-eight awards, the most out of any scripted series.
Some awards won by “Game of Thrones” in the 2016 Emmys included Best Drama Series (for the second year), Best Writing for a Drama Series (David Benioff and D.B. Weiss), and Outstanding Special Visual Effects. “Game of Thrones” will reportedly continue their series for two more seasons on HBO.
Another top winner of the night was “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” who won nine Emmys including Best Mini-Series or Movie. There were also numerous jokes about Simpson’s trial, which were portrayed in the award winning mini-series.
Marcia Clark, prosecutor from the O.J. trial, was present as actress Sarah Paulson’s guest, who played Clark on the show. “This must be very weird for you. Are you rooting for O.J. this time?” host Jimmy Kimmel says to Clark. Paulson won Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. Courtney B. Vance, who portrayed defense attorney Johnnie Cochran, also won Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
HBO series, “Veep”, won once again as Best Comedy Series which stars actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus who also won Best Lead Actress in a Comedy for the fifth time. During Dreyfus’ acceptance speech, she dedicated her Emmy to her father who had recently passed.
Netflix was also represented at the Emmys as the cast of the recently popular “Stranger Thing” (not nominated this year) rode their bicycles past the award show guests while also handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This was a reminisce from earlier this year when Chris Rock’s daughter and her Girl Scout troop came out to the crowd to sell their infamous Girl Scout cookies during the Oscars.
The Emmys also enlightened the diversity of nominees and winners, something that had been confronted after the Oscars. These winners include “Mr. Robot” Rami Malek, “American Crime” Regina King, “Master of None” Aziz Ansari and “Key & Peele” Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele.
The diversity we were all finally waiting for could have been caused by the Emmys’ new voting system.
According to Slate.com, “Ranked ballots were to be replaced by winner-take-all ballots – meaning a given voter would simply check off their choice, rather than rank each candidate from top to bottom – for 2016.” This gives shows and their actors that are looked as “underrated” to critics a fairer chance of winning if their fan base is attentive to voting.