Hollywood satire The Studio, office sci-fi drama Severance, and teen murder saga Adolescence were among the early Emmy Awards winners Sunday (Monday in Manila), at a ceremony where Hacks actor Hannah Einbinder delivered a rare political statement.
The Studio co-creator Seth Rogen won best actor in a comedy for his role as a floundering movie executive and best director. His Apple TV+ series is both a love letter to the industry and a searing send-up of its many moral failings.
The best comedy actress Emmy went to Jean Smart again, her fourth win for Hacks. Einbinder finally won best supporting actress as the long-suffering assistant to Smart’s late-night comedian.
Einbinder used her speech to describe the agency behind most of President Donald Trump’s recent immigration raids with an expletive–muted by broadcasting network CBS–before adding “Free Palestine.”
Television’s equivalent of the Oscars had promised to steer clear of politics.
In the drama categories, Severance and the medical procedural The Pitt will vie for the highly coveted Best Series prize, with pundits saying the race is too close to call.
Severance–a psychological thriller set largely in the near-future offices of a shadowy corporation–had the most nominations of any show this year with 27.
The premise: the “innie” employees of Lumon Industries quite literally leave their outside lives, memories, and personalities at the door, thanks to a dystopian new mind-splitting technology.
Severance star Britt Lower took best actress in a drama.
But The Pitt also scored an early win for supporting actress Katherine LaNasa.
It is a medical drama reminiscent of ER, with the twist that all 15 episodes are set consecutively during the same unbearably stressful shift at an inner-city Pittsburgh hospital.
Tackling everything from abortion rights to mass shootings, The Pitt has become a word-of-mouth sensation.
ER veteran Noah Wyle is the favorite to win best drama actor for his performance as the emergency room’s haunted leader.
Adolescence, arguably this year’s most talked-about TV hit, is the clear favorite to win best limited series–awarded to shows that end after one season.
The show follows a 13-year-old schoolboy arrested on suspicion of murdering a female classmate with a knife.
Owen Cooper, the 15-year-old who plays the boy, became the youngest ever male actor to win an Emmy, taking best supporting actor in a limited series. AFP
