72nd Primetime Emmy Awards 2020 were unlike any other Emmys in the entire history. Due to the pandemic and given safety precautions, the awards were held virtually with comedian Jimmy Kimmel as the host. The empty chairs in the Staples Centre in Los Angeles were filled with cardboard cut outs of celebrities and footage of previous Emmy audiences laughing and cheering were run between Kimmel’s jokes to somehow wave off the bizarre nature of this year’s ceremony and give the show a familiar atmosphere.
The Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek swept the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony by winning in all seven categories in the Comedy section. In other categories HBO’s Watchmen and Succession scored four wins!
Schitt’s Creek – Outstanding Comedy Series
The wealthy Rose family, owner of a very successful video store – magnate Johnny (Eugene Levy), his wife and former soap opera actress Moira (Catherine O’Hara), and their spoiled adult children David and Alexis (Dan Levy and Annie Murphy) lose their fortune because of their defrauded business manager. They are forced to rebuild their lives with their sole remaining asset: a small town named Schitt’s Creek, which Johnny had bought for David as a joke birthday gift in 1991. The Roses relocate to Schitt’s Creek, moving into two adjacent rooms in a run-down motel. As the family adjusts to their new lives, their well-to-do attitudes come into conflict with the more provincial residents of Schitt’s Creek, including mayor Roland Schitt (Chris Elliott), his wife Jocelyn (Jenn Robertson), and the motel’s manager Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire).
Watchmen – Outstanding Limited Series
The series takes place 34 years after the events of the comic series. In the comic’s alternate history of the 20th century, vigilantes, once seen as heroes, were outlawed due to their violent methods. In 1985, Adrian Veidt, formerly known as the vigilante Ozymandias, created a fake attack on New York City by a squid-like alien that resulted in millions within New York being killed, coercing nations to work together against a common threat and to avert a nuclear holocaust. Veidt’s actions disgusted his former companions, with Rorschach planning to tell the world of Veidt’s misdeeds before he was vaporized by Doctor Manhattan, who subsequently left the planet. Unbeknownst to him, Rorschach had sent his journal to be published beforehand.
The show takes place in 2019 Tulsa, Oklahoma. A white supremacist group, the Seventh Kavalry, inspired by Rorschach’s writings and masked image, wage violent war against minorities and the police that enforce special reparations for victims of racial injustice. On Christmas Eve 2016, during an event that came to be known as the “White Night”, the Kavalry attacked the homes of 40 police officers working for the Tulsa Police Department. Of those who survived, only two stayed with the force: Detective Angela Abar and Police Chief Judd Crawford. As the police force was rebuilt, laws were passed that required police to not disclose their profession and to protect their identities while on the job by wearing masks, which includes allowing for costumed police officers. As Crawford’s police force attempts to crack down on the Seventh Kavalry, Abar finds herself at the center of two competing plots to kidnap Doctor Manhattan, who has been working with Hooded Justice, the original masked hero and survivor of the Tulsa massacre.
Succession – Outstanding Drama Series
Succession revolves around the Roy family who own a media group called Waystar Royco. The head of the family, patriarch Logan Coy (Cox) suddenly experiences a decline in health. His four children oldest son Connor (Ruck), power-hungry Kendall (Strong), rude Roman (Culkin), and politically savvy Siobhan (Snook) – all with varying degrees of shares to the company, begin to prepare for a future after their father’s demise and each begins competing for the paramount position within the company.
