Emmy Awards 2018

Our live coverage of the 70th Emmy Awards has concluded. For more, see the winners’ list, photos from the red carpet, or CNN Entertainment’s coverage of the show.

Want to understand the state of the TV biz in 2018? Look no further than these awards.

All night long, HBO and Netflix were neck and neck. HBO has been #1 at the Emmys for the past 16 years, winning more awards than any other network, but Netflix has been steadily creeping up on HBO.

And this looked like the year Netflix might actually pull ahead. Instead: A TIE! Both HBO and Netflix picked up 23 Emmys this year.

HBO’s “Game of Thrones” won the final award of the evening, for outstanding drama.

The cliche, in this case, is true: Viewers are the ultimate beneficiaries while the two networks compete.

“Game Of Thrones” just took home the award for outstanding drama series.

D.B. Weiss accepted the award, and during his speech thanked the creator of the series: George R.R. Martin, who stood just next to him.

“Writing for these actors behind us is the honor of a lifetime. But we didn’t invent these characters. That was George R.R. Martin. The show could not be without the mad genius of George. Thank you for letting us take care of your people,” he said.

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” takes home yet another Emmy. This time it’s for “Outstanding comedy series.”

Here’s what the show’s producer, Daniel Palladino, said this when he accepted the award:

I had something memorized and it all dumped out. Thank you to the academy and to all of viewers who watch… To our families watching at home, particularly our mothers, and guys, they are available. Also to everyone at Amazon, it’s been a really great ride. You guys have been nothing but supportive from the very beginning. Thank you so much for that.

Comedian John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” took home the award for Outstanding Variety Talk Series for its third consecutive year.

After thanking his staff, Oliver jokingly referenced the proposal from earlier in the night – thanking Glenn Weiss’ fiance for saying yes to the marriage proposal.

“This could have been a very different evening. You really came through,” Oliver said.

Oliver also thanked his family, and noted that his 2 1/2-year-old son “hates” his show.

“If our show is anything, it’s the precise opposite of “Paw patrol,” Oliver said.

Hurricane Florence barreled down on south eastern parts of the United States over the weekend, and the recovery is just beginning, host Colin Jost somberly noted.

The host took a moment before commercial break to acknowledge the people in the Carolinas and Virginia “who are just beginning now to recover from Hurricane Florence.”

Jost went on to encourage viewers to donate to groups like the American Red Cross during the commercial break, adding that the charities also helped the the devastation in Houston and Puerto Rico.

Here are some other ways you can help those impacted by Hurricane Florence.

Claire Foy just won the Emmy for “Outstanding lead actress in a drama series” for her role in “The Crown.” Here’s what she said when she took the mic:

I know everyone is talking at the moment about women in the industry, but if that’s anything to go by, bloody hell. That’s technically not swearing. Sandra Oh, I just love you. Listen, thank you, Emmys. I had the most extraordinary two and a half years of my life. I’m not going to cry on this program. I was given a role that I never thought I would ever get a chance to play. And I met people who I will love forever and ever and ever. And the show goes on, which makes me so, so proud. So I dedicate this to the next cast, the next generation. I also dedicate this to Matt Smith. Thank you so much. This means so much. Thank you. 

Some were looking at Sandra Oh to win for her performance in “Killing Eve.” She would have been the first woman of Asian descent to win a lead-actress Emmy.

Emmy host Michael Che hilariously handed out “reparations Emmys” to some of the most iconic stars from black television. They included:

Marla Gibbs from “The Jeffersons”
Jimmie Walker from “Good Times”
Tichina Arnold from “Martin”
Kadeem Hardison from “A Different World”
Jaleel White from “Family Matters”
John Witherspoon from “The Wayans Bros.”

“You know, as a black comedian for so many years, our TV legends and heroes have gone unrecognized,” Che explained. “So this year as host, I took it upon myself to finally right some of those wrongs.”

Twitter, of course, was here for it:

In an unexpected twist, one winner took his moment in the spotlight to get down on on one knee.

Glenn Weiss – who won directing for a variety special for “The Oscars” – was on stage when he made the comment to his now-fiance: “You wonder why I don’t like to call you my girlfriend? Because I want to call you my wife.”

This prompted cheers from the audience.

She joined him on stage where he pulled out a ring that he noted was the same ring his Dad “put on my mom’s finger 67 years ago.”

“And to my sisters and brothers, I didn’t swipe it, dad knows I have it, okay?” he joked.

“Jan, I want to put this ring that my mom wore on your finger in front of all these people and in front of my mom and your parents watching from above. Will you marry me?” Weiss said.

Here’s how she reacted:

The Emmys opened with a song and dance highlighting the award show’s diversity this year. Then, for the next hour or so, the Television Academy gave at least eight Emmys in a row to white people:

Henry Winkler
Bill Hader
Alex Borstein
Amy Sherman-Palladino
Rachel Brosnahan
Merritt Wever
Jeff Daniels
Ryan Murphy

Regina King finally broke the streak, winning “Outstanding lead actress in a limited series or TV movie.” 

Twitter, of course, noticed well before that:

Note: This post has been updated.

We’ve heard a couple of Jesus jokes tonight. Here’s one from Emmy host Michael Che at the beginning of the show:

Che: “My mother’s not watching tonight.”
Jost: “What?”
Che: “She says she doesn’t like watching white award shows because y’all don’t thank Jesus enough.”
Jost: “That’s true.”
Che: “The only white people that that anything – that thank Jesus at award shows are Republicans and ex-crackheads.”

Then Che brought it up again after six Emmys had been awarded: “I just want to say, six awards, all white winners. Nobody thanked Jesus yet. One lady won twice and still didn’t thank Jesus.” 

That one invited a smartphone alert from Fox News, which noted the joke “raised eyebrows.”

Bill Hader just won outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for “Barry.”

“Uhh, I didn’t think this was going to happen,” Hader said, before thanking the rest of the cast – “really great actors that made me look really good” and sharing the award with them.

Rachel Brosnahan wins “Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series” for her role in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

In her acceptance speech, Brosnahan said “one of the things I love the most about this show – while I have you captive for another two seconds – it’s about a woman who is finding her voice anew.”

Speaking to the times, she said, “It’s something that’s happening all over the country right now. One of the most important ways that we can find and use our voices is to vote. So if you haven’t already registered, do it on your cellphone right now. Vote, show up, and bring a friend to the polls. Thank you so much.”

The Emmys just got started and it’s already making a statement.

This year’s awards has the most diverse group of nominees in Emmy history. So, with help from a few familiar faces – singer Ricky Martin, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” star Titus Andromedon – “Saturday Night Live” cast members Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson joked about solving Hollywood’s diversity problem in a jokey song and dance number titled “We Solved It,” which paid tribute to the diverse list of nominees this year.

Thompson: “One step closer to a black that’s right. I’m going to go ahead and say it. We solved it.”
McKinnon: “Seriously? So diversity is not a problem in Hollywood anymore?”
Thompson: “Nope. We solved it.”
McKinnon: “Whoa. That is wonderful news.”
Both: “We solved it! We’ve gotten with the times there’s room for all our voices but mostly Shonda Rhimes welcome Asian people, we gave you that one show who can forget the amazing Sandra Oh.” 

There’s a chance history could be made tonight.

If Sandra Oh takes home the outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her role on “Killing Eve,” she will be the first woman of Asian descent to do so.

Oh is up against Claire Foy from “The Crown,” Tatiana Maslany from “Orphan Black,” Elisabeth Moss from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Keri Russell from “The Americans” and Evan Rachel Wood from “Westworld.”

In the category of outstanding lead actress in a comedy series, a win for Issa Rae of “Insecure” or Tracee Ellis Ross of “Black-ish” would mark the first win for an African-American actress in the category since Isabel Sanford won for “The Jeffersons” in 1981.

Pamela Adlon from “Better Things,” Rachel Brosnahan from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Allison Janney from “Mom” and Lily Tomlin, from “Grace and Frankie” are also nominated.

“Game of Thrones” is back and led the nominations with 22 nods, including outstanding drama against last year’s winner, “The Handmaid’s Tale.” “The Americans,” “The Crown,” “Stranger Things,” “This Is Us” and “Westworld” will also compete for top drama.

Elisabeth Moss was nominated for lead actress in a drama for her work in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” as were “The Crown’s” Claire Foy, Keri Russell in “The Americans,” Sandra Oh in “Killing Eve,” “Westworld’s” Evan Rachel Wood and “Orphan Black’s” Tatiana Maslany.

“Ozark’s” Jason Bateman, Sterling K. Brown and Milo Ventimiglia from “This Is Us,” Ed Harris and Jeffrey Wright in “Westworld” and Matthew Rhys in “The Americans” are vying for best actor in a drama series.

Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” landed 16 nominations. The show is in the running for outstanding comedy, along with “Barry,” “Black-ish,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “GLOW,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Silicon Valley” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

Glover was also nominated for outstanding lead actor in a comedy, along with Anthony Anderson for “Black-ish,” Ted Danson for “The Good Place,” Larry David for “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Bill Hader for “Barry” and William H. Macy for “Shameless.”

The contenders for outstanding lead actress in a comedy are Pamela Adlon for “Better Things,” Rachel Brosnahan for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Allison Janney for “Mom,” Issa Rae for “Insecure,” Tracee Ellis Ross for “Black-ish” and Lily Tomlin for “Grace and Frankie.”

The nods for Glover, Anderson, Brown, Wright, Rae, Ross and Oh – who made history as the first woman of Asian descent to be nominated as lead actress in a drama – factored into a quarter of the nominees in acting categories being people of color.

Netflix also made a bit of history.

The streaming giant dethroned HBO for most nominations, a title the cable network had held for almost two decades.

Netflix had 112 nominations to HBO’s 108. (CNN and HBO share parent company WarnerMedia.)

Click here for a list of the nominees.

With “Game of Thrones” back in contention, the competition at Monday’s Emmy Awards will be fierce. Click through to see our predictions for the shows and performances with the strongest fighting chance.

Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars will come out to honor the best in television at the 70th annual Emmy Awards. CNN’s Christi Paul and Victor Blackwell preview some of the nominees.

Note: Our live coverage will kick off just before 8 p.m. ET.

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