71st Primetime Emmy Awards

71st Primetime Emmy Awards
Promotional poster
Date	September 22, 2019 (Ceremony) September 14–15, 2019 (Creative Arts Awards)
Location	Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Highlights
Most awards	Fleabag (4)
Most nominations	Game of Thrones (14)
Outstanding Comedy Series	Fleabag
Outstanding Drama Series	Game of Thrones
Outstanding Limited Series	Chernobyl
Outstanding Competition Program	RuPaul's Drag Race
Outstanding Variety Talk Series	Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Website	http://www.emmys.com/
Television/radio coverage
Network	Fox
Viewership	6.9 million[1]
Produced by	Don Mischer Done and Dusted
Directed by	Hamish Hamilton
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The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2018 until May 31, 2019, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on September 22, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, California, and was broadcast in the U.S. by Fox; it was preceded by the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 14 and 15.^[2]

The show did not have a host for the fourth time in its history, following the telecasts in 2003 (when the ceremony also aired on Fox), 1998 (on NBC), and 1975 (on CBS).^[3]

The nominations were announced by D'Arcy Carden and Ken Jeong on July 16, 2019.^[4] Game of Thrones led the nominations with fourteen, including nine for acting and three for directing, followed by When They See Us with eleven and Barry with nine. Including its nominations at the Creative Arts Awards, Game of Thrones established a new record for most Emmy nominations received in the same year by any comedy or drama series with 32, while Pop TV received its first ever Primetime Emmy Award nominations with Schitt's Creek.^[5][6][7]

For the first time in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, two programs originating from the United Kingdom won two of the three major awards. Fleabag won the most major awards with four including Outstanding Comedy Series,^[8] followed by Chernobyl with three including Outstanding Limited Series.^[9]

Game of Thrones broke or tied several records with its wins: it became the first series in history to win Outstanding Drama Series for an eighth season and tied the record for most wins in the category with four. It also, including its Creative Arts wins, tied its own record for most Emmys won by a series in a single season, while cast member Peter Dinklage established a new record for most wins for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series with his fourth win for the series.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

Watched by 6.9 million viewers in the United States, it was the lowest-rated Emmy broadcast in history, amounting to a 32% drop from the 2018 ceremony.^[1]

Winners and nominees

On April 9, 2019, it was announced that American Horror Story: Apocalypse, the eighth season of the horror anthology series American Horror Story, and the second season of The Sinner would be ineligible for the Limited Series categories unlike their previous seasons, and instead be moved to Drama due to "continuing story threads, characters and actors reprising those same character roles from previous seasons", therefore making the series less fit for an anthology format. For similar reasons, the second season of American Vandal was moved from Limited Series to Comedy. None of the shows were nominated.^[15][16][17]

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold:^[18][a]

Bill Hader, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series winner

Billy Porter, Outstanding Lead Actor in Drama Series winner

Jodie Comer, Outstanding Lead Actress in Drama Series winner

Jharrel Jerome, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie winner

Michelle Williams, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie winner

Tony Shalhoub, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series winner

Alex Borstein, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series winner

Peter Dinklage, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winner

Julia Garner, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series winner

Ben Whishaw, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie winner

Patricia Arquette, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie winner

Programs

Acting

Lead performances

Supporting performances

Directing

Writing

Most major nominations

Programs that received multiple major^[b] nominations are listed below, by number of nominations per work and per network:

Most major wins

Ceremony information

Thomas Lennon served as announcer for the "host-less" ceremony^[19]

The ceremony took place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles with no host; comedian and actor Thomas Lennon served as an announcer for the ceremony, injecting with jokes and commentary as winners approached the stage to receive their Emmy.^[20] Televised by Fox, the ceremony began with a ruse where Homer Simpson appeared in an augmented-reality stage to host the event, before an animated piano dropped from the ceiling to land on The Simpsons' character. With the event now "host-less", Anthony Anderson rushed on stage in a skit where he insisted that "We’re going to go without a host tonight!"^[19] and pushed the first presenter Bryan Cranston to the stage to welcome the audience^[21] and introduce a montage of video clips. The ceremony continued in such fashion with only Lennon and montages and clips filling the time between presenters.^[19]

Several winners made notable "statement speeches" while accepting their awards. After winning the award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Alex Borstein said:^[21]

My grandmother was in line to be shot into a pit... she turned to a guard and she said "What happens if I step out of line?" and he said "I don't have the heart to shoot you but somebody will". And she stepped out of line, and for that I am here and for that my children are here, so step out of line ladies, step out of line.

The winner for outstanding supporting actress in a limited series or movie, Patricia Arquette (The Act), in her acceptance speech said "I'm grateful at 50 to be getting the best parts of my life" and paid tribute to her sister, Alexis Arquette, who had died in 2016.^[21] Michelle Williams, after winning the award for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie for Fosse/Verdon, made references to the gender and racial wage gaps in the film industry, as well as the Time's Up movement:^[21][22]

The next time a woman, and especially a woman of color—because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white, male counterpart—tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her, believe her, because one day she might stand in front of you and say thank you for allowing her to succeed because of her workplace environment and not in spite of it.

In the In Memoriam presentation, a photograph of conductor Leonard Slatkin, who is alive and working in Ireland, was mistakenly used and captioned as André Previn, who died in February 2019.^[23][24][25]

The telecast was watched by 6.9 million viewers in the United States, making it the lowest-rated Emmy broadcast in history, amounting to a 32% drop from the 2018 ceremony.^[1]

Presenters

The awards were presented by the following people:^[26][27]

Performers

In Memoriam

Halsey sang "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman. The following people were included in the In Memoriam presentation:^[28]

Notes

References

External links

• Emmys.com list of 2019 Nominees & Winners
• Academy of Television Arts and Sciences website
• 71st Primetime Emmy Awards at IMDb