The Bear began its rampage through the 2024 Emmys with three acting wins and a directing win, while Baby Reindeer has taken home four Emmys including best limited series.
“I know the industry’s in a slump right now,” actor-creator Richard Gadd said upon accepting the top limited-series prize for his Netflix show. “[But] no slump is ever broken without a willingness to take risks,” he said, adding “there’s no set formula to this.” Gadd was a relative unknown before breaking out in a big way with his drama of stalking, striving and abuse.
Meanwhile drama frontrunner Shogun finally won one after coming away empty-handed through a pair of earlier categories.
The Bear star Ebon Moss-Bachrach took the prize for best supporting actor in a comedy to kick off the 2024 Emmys. A few moments later came two more Bear wins when Jeremy Allen White won best actor in a comedy and Liza Colón-Zayas scored best supporting actress in a comedy, becoming the first Latina to do so in the category. And Christopher Storer would later win for directing a comedy series, shortly before Shogun’s Frederick E.O. Toye won for best directing of a drama.
“I’m so grateful for this show and to work with these beautiful people,” said The Bear’s Moss-Bachrach, who plays the voluble Richie on the hit Chicago show, keeping it simple.
Taking the stage, White offered a poignant moment that “this show [The Bear] has changed my life; it has instilled a faith that change is possible… you’re never actually alone.”
Colón-Zayas said she hadn’t written a speech because she couldn’t imagine doing so in the presence of nominees like Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett. She ended her remarks with a call to arms. “To all the Latinas who are looking at me, keep believing and vote. Vote for your rights.”
John Leguizamo also had a passionate plea about race in Hollywood, noting an ad he took out in the New York Times in June urging Emmys voters to recognize more people of color.
The actor said that he was “almost happy and certainly less angry because tonight is one of the most diverse groups of nominees in Emmys history.” He noted that was a “DEI” hire: “Diligence, Excellence and imagination.” (Leguizamo did get a quip in about The Bear as “the charming story of white people obsessed with Michelin stars and making kale taste good.”)
Presenter Candice Bergen had an equally political moment when she noted the Dan Quayle-driven furor over her Murphy Brown character’s decision to have a child on the show as a single mom more than three decades ago. “Today a Republican candidate would never attack a woman for having kids. So my work here is done,” she said, giving a jibe to vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance over his disparaging remarks about women who didn’t have children. She added a “meow” for maximum feline effect.
Keeping with the theme of motherhood, an homage to TV mothers featured Connie Britton noting a bygone time “when married couples slept in separate beds, which led to the question of ‘how did she become a mom in the first place?’”
Alan Cumming, accepting the award for reality competition series for his salty human-chess game The Traitors, also took a cheeky approach to the state of social affairs. After saying that there was “something in the water in Holland” where many reality formats begin, he quipped, “So let’s find it, let’s drink it and all America’s problems will be solved.”
On the subject of politics, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver landed the Emmy for scripted variety series. But the host of the HBO series kept it apolitical, focusing on his beloved dog who recently died. He dedicated the show “for all dogs…you all deserve a treat,” outlasting the play-off music to do so. Trenchant comedian Alex Edelman, who landed best writing for a variety special for the broadcast of his live show Just For Us, was equally heartfelt talking about the death of his good friend and director Adam Brace shortly before their show opened on Broadway.
Oliver’s former series The Daily Show took the other late-night top prize, winning best talk series. Longtime leader Jon Stewart — who returned to the Comedy Central airwaves earlier this year to host one night per week — stepped to the 2024 Emmys mic after the win to make some self-deprecating jokes about how hard that one day of work truly was.
At the start of the 2024 Emmys telecast, co-host Eugene Levy took a poke at the unconventional categorization of the leading comedy nomination-getter in Emmys history. “I love the show,” he said. “And some of you might be expecting us to make a joke about whether The Bear is really a comedy. But in the true spirit of The Bear we will not be making any jokes.”
Co-host and son Dan Levy also offered a cheeky quip about another critically beloved nominee, Reservation Dogs, earning a lot of Emmys love in its final season (like their Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek). “The Television Academy found a show that was creatively thriving for years and said ‘hey, look what we discovered.’”
The slow start for FX’s Shogun, the most nominated show in history, has been a developing narrative, though many of the major awards at the Emmys had yet to be handed out. Billy Crudup won for supporting actor in a drama for his role as the complex Cory on The Morning Show, besting two actors from Shogun.
In winning for director, Toye thanked influences like Kurosawa for “letting me steal from them every day.” Shogun won a jaw-dropping 14 creative arts Emmys — a record — and has been nominated for an equally record-breaking 25 Emmys overall. Anything short of a best drama win would be a major upset.
Also Sunday, Elizabeth Debicki took supporting actress in a drama for playing Princess Diana in the latest season of The Crown. Jean Smart took supporting actress in a comedy — her sixth Emmy overall — for playing the cutting comic Deborah Vance on Hacks, offering a warm award speech that stood in contrast to what her character might have said.
Hacks also took a best writing for a comedy series, with winner Paul Downs thanking anyone who has “seen the show or been seen by the show,” noting the weird comedy kid he and fellow creators Jen Statsky and Lucia Aniello (sort of) were.
Netflix’s Baby Reindeer has been on a mini-run, defying some historical trends that have gone against controversial real-life stories.
Jessica Gunning took the prize for best supporting actress in a limited series for her role as the chilling Martha in the show, while Gadd also won for writing in a limited series and best actor for a limited series “I never ever thought I’d get my life together,” he said after winning the first prize. “And here I am over a decade later picking up one of the biggest writing awards. If you’re struggling, keep going. Keep going.”
In a very 2024 moment, Fargo star and supporting actor in a limited series winner Lamorne Morris, upon realizing he was out of time, said “I’ll do another thing on my podcast and thank the rest of the people I forgot to thank.”
The line of the night through the first half of the show, though, might have come from Slow Horses creator Will Smith, who upon taking the awards podium for winning a writing Emmy, deadpanned “Despite my name, I come in peace.”
This story will be updated as the show continues. See all the red carpet looks.