Kenan Thompson will host the 74th Emmy Awards. Photo / AP
Kenan Thompson will host the 74th Emmy Awards. Photo / AP
Emmy Awards host Kenan Thompson and the ceremony's producers are promising a feel-good event — a phrase not applicable to several of the top nominated shows.
The best drama contenders include the violently dystopian 'Squid Game', bleak workplace satire 'Severance', and 'Succession', about apowerful and cut-throat family. Even comedy nominee 'Ted Lasso', the defending champ, took a dark storytelling turn.
But after several pandemic-constrained awards seasons, Monday's 74th Primetime Emmy Awards will be big and festive, executive producers Reginald Hudlin and Ian Stewart said.
They're taking a page from last year's scaled-down ceremony and its club-style table seating for nominees.
This image released by Apple TV+ shows Adam Scott in a scene from "Severance". Scott was nominated for an Emmy for best lead actor in a drama series. Photo / AP
"They had a ball. They had a party. They celebrated themselves," Stewart said, recalling a comment made by actress Sophia Bush at the evening's end: "Oh, my God, I actually had fun at the Emmys."
The tables will be back, and again reserved for nominees — and their "significant", Stewart said — but there will be some 3,000 other guests seated traditionally in the temporarily reconfigured 7,000-seat Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
"When the nominees are having a great time, that translates on screen," Hudlin said, citing the "passionate, touching" speeches delivered by winners.
Thompson, the veteran Saturday Night Live cast member taking his first turn as Emmys host, said he wants to enjoy the ceremony and to make sure others do, too.
This image released by HBO shows Brian Cox in a scene from "Succession". Photo / AP
"This should be a night of appreciating artistry and creativity and removing the stress of it all out. I get it — it sucks to lose, and everybody's picking outfits and trying to do the red carpet thing," Thompson said. "But at the same time, it's an awesome thing to be in the room on Emmys night, and I don't want that to get lost in the stress."
He said he doesn't expect anything mirroring the Will Smith-Chris Rock confrontation which cast a shadow over the Oscars earlier this year.
Although HBO's 'Succession', which won the best drama series award in 2020, and 'Ted Lasso' from Apple TV+ are considered the frontrunners for top series honours, there's potential for surprises. Netflix's 'Squid Game', a global sensation, would be the first non-English language drama series to win an Emmy.
On the comedy side, ABC's acclaimed newcomer 'Abbott Elementary' could become the first broadcast show to win the best comedy award since the network's 'Modern Family' in 2014. It's also among the few contenders this year, along with 'Squid Game', to field a substantial number of nominees of colour.
At the Emmy Creative Arts ceremonies held earlier this month, the mockumentary-style show, about educators in an underfunded Philadelphia school, won the trophy for outstanding comedy series casting. 'Succession' won the drama series casting award.
This image released by ABC shows Quinta Brunson in a scene from "Abbott Elementary". Photo / AP
'The Crown', last year's big winner, wasn't in the running this time because it sat out the Emmys eligibility period. The dramatised account of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and family life will return for its fifth season in November, as Britain mourns the loss of its longest-serving monarch, who died Thursday at age 96.
The 74th Emmy Awards red carpet begins at noon on E!
