REPORT
H
Game of Thrones kills at the Emmys
with a whopping 12 wins
BO shows "Game of Thrones" and "Veep" won
the top prizes at the Emmy Awards for the first
time, bringing a breath of fresh air to television's
biggest night on an evening that also made history for
black actresses. Jon Hamm finally snared an Emmy for
his lead role as Don Draper in AMC's 1960s advertising drama "Mad Men," winning a standing ovation from
the audience. "There's been a terrible mistake clearly,"
said Hamm, who clambered onto the stage rather than
walking up the stairs. "It's incredible and impossible for
me to be standing here." Hamm said playing a character like the secretive Draper for so long had been both
a blessing and a curse. "It doesn't come without a cost
and a lot of mental and emotional baggage that gets torn
through and weighs on you after a while," he told reporters backstage. But "Mad Men," a four-time best drama
series winner,
was shut out
of all the other categories
and had to be
content with
just Hamm's
Emmy
after
closing its final
season earlier this year.
Instead, the
18,000 voters
of the Television
Academy
threw
their support
behind the HBO medieval fantasy series "Game of
Thrones," which was the night's biggest winner with 12
Emmys. The top Emmy prize had always eluded the
series, which is based on George R.R. Martin's books
about blood-thirsty nobles and warring kingdoms, despite its 20 million viewers in the United States. On Sunday, it also won awards for writing, directing and for supporting actor Peter Dinklage. Backstage, co-creator Dan
Weiss said the "Thrones" team had known it would take
a while to win over the Television Academy. "We knew
there'd be some resistance to the idea that a show set
in this genre, as opposed to crime shows or Westerns,
could be a serious drama," he said. "(But) we knew if we
did our jobs and were fortunate to be blessed with the
cast and crew that we have, we'd get there eventually."
DIVERSITY RULES
HBO's "Veep" ended the five-year Emmy reign of ABC's
"Modern Family" as best comedy series. Julia LouisDreyfus won best comedy actress for the fourth consec-
utive year for her role as the egotistical President Selina
Meyer in the series, while Tony Hale, who plays her bag
man, was again named comedy supporting actor. "I think
we just get better with every season we do, but also she
became president so that gave us lots of challenges,"
"Veep" creator Armando Ianucci told reporters about the
show's rise to the top. "Everything Selina does now has
terrible international impact, so it made everyone raise
their game." On a milestone night for diversity, Viola Davis became the first African-American to win a drama
lead actress Emmy for her role as a tough criminal defense lawyer in ABC's "How to Get Away With Murder."
"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity," Davis said in an emotional acceptance speech. "You cannot win an Emmy for roles
that are simply not there." Davis thanked all the writers
and producers
"who have redefined what
it means to
be beautiful,
to be sexy, to
be a leading
woman, to be
black."
Two
other
black
actresses,
Uzo
Aduba
("Orange
is the New
Black")
and
Regina King
("American
Crime"), were also among Sunday's winners, while Jill
Soloway joined the small club of women to win a directing Emmy, for the transgender comedy "Transparent."
In the first Emmys for Amazon.com's foray into original
content, "Transparent" also won four other Emmys, including lead actor for Jeffrey Tambor. Tambor, 71, won
for his role as a father who transitions to a woman, and
he dedicated the award - his first Emmy - to the transgender community. "Thank you for your patience, thank
you for your courage, thank you for your stories, thank
you for your inspiration, thank you for letting us be part
of the change," he said. "Inside Amy Schumer," the noholds-barred female comedy which is written and directed by Schumer, proved a popular first-time winner
in the variety sketch series category.But Schumer, the
hottest new talent in comedy, could not dislodge perennial Emmy favorite "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,"
which won three Emmys for best variety series, writing
and directing.
22 | BOOM