The 2018 Emmys

Streaming services make history! Unfortunately, few people watched the show to notice

Cable gets a wake up call

For the first time in 17 years, HBO did not have the most Emmy nominations. Netflix took that crown with 112 nominations against HBO’s 108. In fact, the cable channel could barely hold its own against Netflix during the award show, with both winning 23 awards. Speaking of crowns, Netflix’s The Crown received 6 total nominations and took home two wins, one of which was the highly coveted Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Claire Foy. Of the 112 nominations, Netflix took home 23 golden trophies, with the promise to return next year, bigger and badder.

A little behind its big brother Netflix, Amazon took home 8 Emmys in total, all of which went to the same show which tied for second for most awards won for one show. Amazon’s golden goose is its new comedy, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the first show ever created by a streaming service to win Outstanding Comedy Series. The show also won several other important awards such as Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Rachel Brosnahan’s portrayal of the titular character. Game of Thrones took home the most awards, 9, but The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was right on its heels with 8, tying for second with Saturday Night Live.

Netflix and Amazon have both stepped up their game. Netflix took home three more awards than it did last year, while HBO’s count slipped from 29 awards last year to 23 this year. At this stage in the game, cable should really start thinking about how it will make itself new and important again.

Unfortunately, few people were watching

This brings us to a key factor of Monday Night’s Emmys. Television shows like the Emmys are dying, and no one seems at all worried. Every year, shows like the Emmys try to step up their game with jokes, more diversity (thank goodness), political movements, underdog winners, and more. For some reason, though, viewership is still declining.

Monday night’s Emmys were the least watched Emmys in history, with viewership down 11% since last year. Ratings are down in every market for this awards show, as was mimicked by the show itself. The Emmys proved that streaming services are on the up-and-up, and that cable is failing. Ironically, the Emmys themselves are a cable show – one that highlighted its own failure by giving trophies to the companies killing it.

Colin Jost and Michael Che, Monday night’s hosts, tried to salvage the show, poking fun at the first ever Emmys show, and highlighting how far we have come as a society. The two did a fabulous job at bringing humor to the night, while also trying not to get as political as years past have been.

Meanwhile, while no one was watching, the show tried to be less political

In the wake of last year’s #MeToo movement at the award show, with mostly everyone dressing in black to show solidarity, this year’s show was significantly less political. No one even so much as mentioned Leslie Moonves’s recent departure from CBS, or Brett Kavanaugh’s high school atrocities.

Let me be clear: it is ridiculous that actors and actresses have such a significant sway over our thinking, especially political thinking, since most of them have absolutely no background in politics and therefore are no more intelligent about such matters than anyone else. However, the general public puts them on a pedestal because of their success and fame, and therefore listens to them, even on political matters. It is because of this factor that I do love the political movements at these shows.

With all the power that actors and actresses are given, they should be putting it to good use, just as Rachel Brosnahan did during her acceptance speech Monday night, when she encouraged viewers to go out and vote in the midterm elections. It’s wrong to take advice from someone who has no experience or expertise in the field, but if the public is going to give someone that sway over them, I’m glad that they are using it for good – to encourage people to vote and make the change the country needs.