Review: Eugene and Dan Levy hosted positive Emmys show themed around age
LA TimesOn Sunday night from the Peacock Theater, the 76th edition of the Primetime Emmy Awards were broadcast, and let’s all take a moment to appreciate the fact that there have been 76 of these things. Will Smith accepting the writing for a drama series award for “Slow Horses.” When I spoke to the hosts in advance of the event, Dan said, “We’re going to keep it light and bright,” and Eugene said, “You want it to be funny, but maybe it’s a kinder, gentler approach.” And this was one of the least waspish awards shows in memory, with few jokes at the expense of actors or shows, apart from one about “The Bear” being a comedy without jokes. “Even though we’re on ABC, Emmy is watching CBS,” Dan joked in reference to the latter’s demographic, and supposed that Eugene would be excited about the new “Matlock” reboot because he’s in the demographic that’s “in the know.” When presenter Billy Crystal got a reaction from the audience after mentioning it had been 50 years since his first talk show appearance, he asked, “You’re applauding that I‘m old?” Selena Gomez described co-presenters Steve Martin and Martin Short as “two guys who are this far away from being childless cat ladies.” Maya Rudolph, left, Seth Meyers, Kristen Wiig and Bowen Yang in a segment at the Emmys for the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.” As usual, nostalgia was woven into the fabric of the evening. A sort of diversity block began with a white-tuxedoed John Leguizamo declaring, “I’m one of Hollywood’s DEI hires,” DEI standing for diligence, excellence and imagination, by which standard, he said of the assembly, “We are all DEI hires.” He went on to speak of the days when Latinos rarely played Latinos and available characters were restricted to “the spicy sexpot, the Latin lover, the maid, the gangbanger.” Acknowledging progress, the actor, who took out an ad in the New York Times imploring the Academy to bring more Latinos into the industry, noted that “it turns out not complaining doesn’t change anything. What I see here tonight makes me almost happy and certainly less angry.” Leguizamo then introduced Cris Abrego, the first Latino chair of the Television Academy, who spoke up for inclusion and who passed the show off to Matt Bomer and Joshua Jackson, who introduced Governors Award honoree Greg Berlanti, who spoke of being a closeted gay kid, in a time before the internet and advocacy groups, when the only way he could tell if someone was gay “was if he Liza Colón-Zayas implored viewers to vote during her acceptance speech for supporting actress in a comedy for “The Bear.” As to the political world raging outside the theater, there were a few nods.
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