This Show Just Made History at the Emmys

Schitt's Creek, the little Canadian show about a fish-out-of-water family, made history at Sunday's Emmy Awards with a comedy awards sweep, something even TV greats including Frasier and Modern Family failed to achieve, the AP reports. The awards for the Pop TV series included best comedy series and trophies for its stars, including Catherine O'Hara and father-son duo Eugene and Daniel Levy. “It is absolutely incredible. I think my dad said it best earlier this evening: it’s a dream you don’t want to wake up from, to be honest. What an absolutely unbelievable way to end our series,” Daniel Levy said backstage. In his acceptance speech, he said the sitcom was about "the transformational effects of love and acceptance, and this is something we need more now than ever before,” encouraging people to register and vote to achieve that goal. Other winners, including Watchmen star Regina King, made a point that the Nov. 3 general election was near. Click here for the complete list of winners, or read on for more from the ceremony:

• HBO's Succession was the night’s big winner in the drama categories, winning best drama series, best writing, best directing, and best actor for Jeremy Strong.
• All the winners accepted their awards virtually in the pandemic-safe ceremony. References to coronavirus were an ongoing part of the ceremony, with essential workers—including a teacher and a UPS deliveryman—presenting awards and Jason Sudeikis ostensibly getting a COVID-19 test onstage.
• Host Jimmy Kimmel opened the show with a monologue that appeared to be defiantly delivered in front of a packed, cheering theater—until it was revealed they were clips from past Emmy shows. “Of course I’m here all alone. Of course, we don’t have an audience,” he said. “This isn’t a MAGA rally. It’s the Emmys.” With more than 100 long-distance video feeds with nominees ahead, “what could possibly go right?”
• Jason Bateman was one of the few people on hand at LA's Staples Center for Sunday’s show, sitting in the audience during Kimmel’s opening monologue. Bateman sat stone faced amid a collection of cardboard cutouts, trading jokes with Kimmel after the host pointed out he was there.
• Zendaya, 24, became the youngest lead drama actress winner for her role as a troubled teenager in Euphoria. “I know this seems like a really weird time to be celebrating,” Zendaya said. "But I just want to say there is hope in the young people out there. I know our TV show doesn’t always feel like a great example of that,” but thanked young people out there “doing the work.”
• E! host Giuliana Rancic had to miss the virtual pre-show after she tested positive for the coronavirus. Rancic announced in a video from home Sunday that she tested positive for the virus along with her husband and son. The show was hosted by Brad Goreski and Nina Parker.
• In a year with a record number of Black nominees, 35, there was a notable lack of diversity in the show’s early going, with Schitt’s Creek gobbling up comedy awards. There was a sign of change with the drama awards, which came in the latter part of the ceremony. The powerful series Watchmen, a graphic novel-adaptation steeped in racial pain, was voted best limited series and King won lead actress for her work on the HBO show. She was showered by confetti as she accepted in an armchair, wearing a T-shirt that honored police shooting victim Breonna Taylor. Her co-star, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a limited series. Uzo Aduba won the counterpart actress award for her portrayal of Shirley Chisholm in Mrs. America. Anthony Anderson, a nominee for black-ish, came on stage to make his disappointment vigorously known, saying the awards should have been “Howard University homecoming Black.” “This isn't what it should have been. ... But Black stories, Black performances and Black Lives Matter,” he said, urging Kimmel to shout with him.

(More Emmy Awards stories.)